A West Virginia University curator who researches and documents West Virginias cultural heritage will give the next Benedum Distinguished Scholar lecture at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, in the Mountainlair Rhododendron Room.
John Cuthbert, curator and director of the WVU Librariesspecial collections, will speak on A Brief Introduction to West Virginia Art History. The lecture is open to the public.
Dr. Cuthbert is one of three recipients of this years Benedum Distinguished Scholar awards for research. Other winners are mechanical engineering Professor Ismail B. Celik and physiology Professor William T. Stauber.
“I am greatly honored by this award,”said Cuthbert, whose award is in arts and humanities.”Above all, to me it represents a recognition and an endorsement of the value of my efforts through the years to broaden perceptions of West Virginias cultural heritage, which is too often very narrowly defined.
“Considering the breadth and significance of the research that takes place at WVU , it is heartening to know that scholarship in this field is so highly appreciated,”he added.
Cuthbert joined the WVU Libraries in 1979 and has been curator and director of special collections since 1997. Before that, he was interim curator of the regional history collection and director of the University art collection.
His research into West Virginia arts and humanities encompasses art, music, architecture and history. Through WVU Press, he has published Early Art and Artists in West Virginia (2000), David Hunter Strother: One of the Best Draughtsmen Our Country Possesses (1997), Vernacular Architecture in America: A Selective Bibliography (1987), The Edden Hammons Collection (1984) and West Virginia Folk Music: A Descriptive Guide to Field Recordings (1982). He also established the West Virginia Historical Art Collection.
Cuthbert has received recognition of late for his work. Early Art and Artists in West Virginia has been hailed as a landmark work in its field and described as”the most beautiful volume ever published in or about West Virginia.”In 2001, the West Virginia Humanities Council presented him with the Charles H. Daugherty Award in the Humanities.
A native of New Hampshire, Cuthbert has had a lifelong interest in the arts and humanities. He has a bachelors degree in geography and music from Worcester State College, a masters degree in musicology from the University of Massachusetts, and a masters degree in visual arts and doctorate in musicology with a minor in American history from WVU . The Morgantown resident paints and plays music in his spare time.
The last Benedum lectureDevelopment of Skeletal Muscle Pathology from Repeated Strains by Dr. Stauberwill be 4 p.m. Monday, April 15, in the Mountainlair Rhododendron Room.
The Benedum and Distinguished Professors of WVU established the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Awards in 1985-86 to honor and reward University faculty for excellence in research, scholarship or creative endeavors. The awards recognize either a single recent achievement of note or a long, distinguished career that is still ongoing. The program is funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and coordinated by the Office of Academic Affairs and Research.