Richard Fauss at work in the basement of the WV Cultural Center

Richard Fauss is the film archivist at The West Virginia State Archives, housed at the West Virginia Cultural Center in Charleston. For 25 years, he has been collecting any and all footage relate to the state. He has been making VHS copies of these materials, giving them to the West Virginia Library Commission for use by the public.

Recently he has been making some DVD versions of these films. This week he donated a DVD copy of Rev. Snodgrass’ landmark travelogue, “West Virginia, the Beautiful”(1929) after a patron in Lewisburg contacted him. ( Part of this film is available in the landmark DVD collection, “Treasures of American Film Archives.” The collection also includes the WV short documentary, “One-Room Schoolhouses.”)(1935) Hopefully during the coming years, he or other staff members of the WV State Archives will continue to collect all footage about the state, and also make DVD copies of the films. The WV State Archives has already posted quite an impressive collection of historical footage on their website. I for one hope that for the indefinite future, West Virginia teachers, students, and everyone will have access to these wonderful films that have been made about our beloved Mountain State.

Complete description of early WV travelogue -

WEST VIRGINIA, THE BEAUTIFUL - 192976 M. 1929 B&
W VHS Silent WV. Div. of Culture & History
This film was made by amateur filmmaker Rev. Ottis Snodgrass. The black and white, silent film shot in 1929 takes the viewer on a journey along the path of US Route 60, The Midland Trail, from the Kentucky border through West Virginia and to the
Virginia border. Important landmarks, from the site of the State Capitol building destroyed by fire in 1921, and the beginning phases of the new capitol; to the Greenbrier and the view from the overlook at what would becomeHawks Nest State Park are included in this film. Everyday life along US Route 60 - the salt works, a chemical plant, tourist camps, colleges and various modes of transportation - automobiles, passenger and logging trains, a ferry and steamboat are brought to life. At the end of the film, Snodgrass provided the words to the state song The West Virginia Hills for a sing-a-long.Note - part of this film was shown at The South Charleston Museum’s WV film series several years ago. Hopefully the entire film will be shown when the new Mound/Midland Trail Interpretive Center opens next to The La Belle Theater later this year.Richard Fauss biography  Richard was born and raised in Cumberland, Maryland. He attended PotomacState College and West Virginia University, where he graduated with a Masters degree in history in 1976. It was during this period that he became interested in documentary film research, compiling “A Bibliography of Labor History inNews Film,”which was published by the WVU Institute for Labor Studies.  Thebibliography covers the major newsreel collections and ABC News and numbers 1924 pages. He has been an employee of the Archives Section of the  WV Divisionof Culture & History for more than twenty years. He looks after the audio visual collections of the West Virginia State Archives which includes television news, documentaries and home movies.  During those years he has assisted many documentary film history projects done in the state, ranging from “West Virginia - a Film History” to ” West Virginiansat War” and many other productions. Recently he assisted Mari-Lynn Evans in her 3-part production of “The Appalachians” and provided materials to Russ Barbour in his two feature feature documentaries, “Ken Hechler - In Pursuit of Justice” and Barbour’s film on Gov. Marland.   In 2001 “Treasures of American Film Archives” was released on DVDand included two early documentaries made in West Virginia from the collections of the West Virginia State Archives. The Treasures DVD is a landmark work of orphan and “lost” films stored in many of theleading film archives in this country. He has worked toward creating indexes and improving the physical condition of the massive collection of 16 mm films, videotapes and sound recordings in the collection.  He has helped filmmakers around the country gain easy access to the materials. Fauss has been a member of  the Association of Moving Image Archivistssince 1987.  He is a longtime member of the WV Labor History Associationand is active as a leader in Cub Scouts.  He is married to his colleague Debra Basham with whom he has two sons. He lives in Elkview, WV.

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