FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 3, 2021

For More Information:
Glenville State College
Public Relations Department
(304) 462-4115 

GLENVILLE, WV – Mark Turner, a photographer and author based in Bellingham, Washington, has donated several boxes of glass plate negatives to the Glenville State College (GSC) Archives.  

Mark Turner was raised in West Virginia and is the son of former Glenville State chemistry professor Byron Turner. The elder Turner was instrumental in preserving a historical record of life in Gilmer County and at Glenville State. In addition to collecting several glass negatives with early campus scenes, he worked with 16mm cameras and other audio/visual devices to capture campus events during his tenure. He also used the glass plate negatives he collected in lab classes to demonstrate how chemical processes were necessary in capturing these early types of images.

Many of the glass plate negatives donated by Turner were purchased in Palestine, West Virginia in 1974 by his father, while others were taken around the town of Glenville, West Virginia and the Glenville State College campus. It is believed that Mildred Arbuckle, the wife of John E. Arbuckle, took many of Glenville photos. John and Mildred Arbuckle were the original owners of the John E. Arbuckle House, now more commonly known as the Glenville State Alumni Center.

“Regardless of the price you can sell glass plate negatives for, I think these are invaluable,” said Robert F. Kidd Library Director and Archivist Jason Gum. “They preserve a time in history very unlike our own, allowing us to expand our minds and see what came before us. Items like these can transport us to the past and show us how far we have come.”

Gum plans to hold an exhibit in the GSC Fine Arts Center Gallery at the beginning of the fall semester to showcase several of the donated glass plates from Mark Turner that picture both the town of Glenville and Glenville State College.

“I am very grateful to Mr. Turner and his family for thinking of the Glenville State College Archives and trusting me with the glass plate negatives that have been in their family since the 1970s,” Gum added.

The GSC Archive houses historic materials and articles related to the development of Glenville State College and the history of north-central West Virginia. The collection is available for research by members of the campus community and the public.  

For more information about the Archives, contact the Kidd Library at (304) 462-6160.