Humanities Council releases fall issue of People & Mountains

PRESS RELEASE

Charleston—The West Virginia Humanities Council has released the Fall 2026 edition of its  digital magazine, People & Mountains. It can be accessed from the Council’s website:  wvhumanities.org. 

This issue profiles award-winning journalist and historian Rick Atkinson, who will present the  2026 Betsy K. McCreight Lecture in the Humanities at the Capitol Theater, October 15, at 7:30  p.m., in Charleston. For more than four decades, the Council’s annual McCreight Lecture has  connected West Virginia audiences to some of the nation’s premier public intellectuals.  

Atkinson, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former Washington Post journalist, is the author  of the New York Times best-selling The British Are Coming. The first volume of his widely  hailed Revolution Trilogy has earned numerous honors. The second volume, The Fate of the  Day, continues the sweeping narrative of the American Revolution, capturing the conflict’s  critical middle years with vivid storytelling and insights. Atkinson also served as a historical  advisor for Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series The American Revolution, which  commemorates the Revolution’s 250th anniversary. Several titles on more recent conflicts  preceded these efforts, including the much-acclaimed Liberation Trilogy, which chronicles the  American military’s role in Europe during World War II—the first volume of which, An Army at  Dawn, won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2003. 

For more information about the lecture, contact Council Program Officer Kyle Warmack,  warmack@wvhumanities.org, 304-346-8500.

The Fall issue also highlights an often overlooked tool of weavers. Fiber artist Enrica McMillon  of Elkins explains how box tape looms were used, what they produced and why they were  essential to life on the frontier. This article is part of the nationwide By the People:  Conversations Beyond 250 initiative, developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils  and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. West Virginia Folklife filmed demonstrations by traditional musicians and artists. The finished material will be deposited in the  Smithsonian and featured in e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Both West Virginia  Folklife and e-WV are projects of the Council. 

Additionally, People & Mountains looks at the fascinating hunting and writing career of Preston  County’s George Bird Evans, who championed a philosophy of conservation, ethics and personal  restraint. This issue also includes photos from a celebration of folklorist Gerry Milnes held at the  

Council headquarters in May. The West Virginia Humanities Council successfully nominated  Milnes to be a 2026 National Heritage Fellow and this year’s sole recipient of the prestigious  Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship. 

People & Mountains is published by the West Virginia Humanities Council three times a year. It profiles the Council’s work and developments in the humanities statewide. It is available for free  on the Council’s website: wvhumanities.org.