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Selected Highlights of Recent Byrd Center Programs and Activities During 2005 and 2006 the Byrd Center organized and hosted a wide range of educational programs. The Center worked with Shepherd University and groups in West Virginia while building partnerships nationally and internationally.  Senator Byrd with Byrd Center director Ray Smock following the Senator’s address on the Constitution.  A long line formed to meet Senator Byrd after his Constitution Day address at Shepherd University. On September 16, 2005, Senator Robert C. Byrd inaugurated Constitution Day at Shepherd University with a nationally televised address covered by C-SPAN. Responding to Senator Byrd’s initiative Congress enacted a law marking September 17 as the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Senator Byrd included a provision requiring schools and federal agencies to set aside time to study the Constitution on or about the anniversary date. Senator Byrd’s address at Shepherd University was attended by over 400 people.
 Senator Byrd’s address was the first in a series of Byrd Center annual addresses on the Constitution. The series will be called The Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the U. S. Constitution. Mr. Moses, a decorated World War II veteran, was a long-time leader in West Virginia on matters of civil liberties, and was a founder of the Eastern Panhandle chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
  Russian delegates meet in Byrd Center Reading Room. In July 2005, working with the Open World Program of the Library of Congress and the National Peace Foundation, the Byrd Center hosted eight Russian young adults. Each visitor stayed with a host family in the Shepherdstown area, providing each of them with personal exposure to American culture. The delegation traveled to civil society organizations in West Virginia and Maryland that deal with issues and services relating to young people. The group visited the National Conservation Training Center, Harpers Ferry Job Corp, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, the Maryland State House, and the Chesapeake Beach, MD, City Council. Discussions were held with Shepherdstown Mayor Peter Wilson, Jefferson County School Board member Alan Sturm, Jefferson County Councilman Dale Manuel, Maryland State Delegate Karen Montgomery, Maryland Common Cause director James Browning, and Glenna Alison of the Panhandle AIDS Network.
 In February 2006 the Center hosted a screening and discussion of Winter Soldier, a documentary film that chronicles the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans Against the War. One hundred twenty-five veterans (including a young John Kerry) testify in the film about war crimes and atrocities they either participated in or witnessed in Vietnam. Bill Crandell, one of the organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation, spoke with the audience after the showing.
 The exhibit Born of Rebellion: The Story of West Virginia Statehood was on display in the Byrd Center lobby from March 20 – April 20, 2006. The educational exhibit tells the story of the creation of the West Virginia through informational text, photos, maps, and images organized into four informational areas: Divergence, The Civil War, The Birth of West Virginia, and Statehood. Created by West Virginia University College of Creative Arts graphic design students of professor Eve Faulkes in collaboration with the West Virginia Humanities Council, Born of Rebellion is part of the We The People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities and made possible by the support of the Columbia Gas Transmission. Of the visitors who chose to participate in the poll associated with exhibit, 28 voted in opposition to statehood for West Virginia while 46 supported creation of the Mountain State.  In conjunction with the Born of Rebellion exhibit Dr. John Stealey, Shepherd University Distinguished Professor of History, presented a lecture titled "Virginia's Extremity, Western Virginia's Opportunity." History re-enactor Pat Cooper also appeared during the time of the exhibit, drawing a crowd for her presentation “Belle Boyd: Confederate Spy.” At left, Professor John Stealey examines the Born of Rebellion exhibit prior to his lecture on West Virginia history.
 Fall 2006 programs included the second annual Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the Constitution presented by Joseph Onek, the senior policy analyst for the Open Society Policy Center and Senior Counsel at the Constitution Project. Onek spoke on Follies and Failures: Constitutional Checks and Balances after 9/11.
 In September the Center hosted an evening with authors Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann who discussed their new book The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back On Track. A reception and book signing followed the discussion. For more on their book, click here.
 Tom Mann (l) and Norman Ornstein (r) with Byrd Center director Ray Smock..
 In November James Pfiffner, Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, lectured on the topic The President, Iraq, and The Public.
The Center was the venue for debates among local candidates for the West Virginia Legislature. John Doyle and Bob Murto, squared off in debate for the 57th District seat, while Bob Tabb debated Earl Wilbourne for the 56th District seat.  In December Ray Smock moderated a discussion at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, featuring Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, who talked about their book, the Broken Branch and what the new Democratic Party majority in both Houses of Congress needed to do to help fix the “broken branch.” This program, held Dec. 5, 2006, is available as a podcast on the website of the National Constitution Center.
 Ken Sullivan, director of the West Virginia Humanities Council, presented a talk about the creation of the new Encyclopedia of West Virginia, which was ten years in the making and engaged six hundred authors. The encyclopedia is a major new resource of information on the Mountain State and its people. For sample articles and to learn more about this remarkable publication click here.
 Alan Sturm examines the papers of Congressman Harley O. Staggers, Sr.  Archivst Suni Johnson (standing) with student intern Jessica Benner. Archivist Suni Johnson initiated the process of accessioning Senator Byrd’s papers so that future researchers will be able to delve into the events and accomplishment of the Senator’s long career. Interns Jessica Benner and Michael Kyne assisted in the process of organizing and indexing the documents and photos found in the Senator’s files. Volunteer Alan Sturm, a member of the Jefferson County Board of Education, assisted with the sorting and identifying of items in the papers of Congressmen Harley O. Staggers Sr. and Jr. which are also housed at the Center. Mr. Sturm, a long-time educator and observer of West Virginia politics, has been an invaluable resource to the Center.  Director Ray Smock and David Hostetter, Director of Programs and Research, serve as adjunct instructors of history at Shepherd University. Utilizing the Byrd Center classrooms, Smock has taught upper level courses on the Reconstruction Era as well as a new course on public history. Hostetter taught survey courses on recent world history, U.S. History since 1865, and African History.
 ACSC members gather for the 2006 annual meeting held at the Thomas J. Dodd Center in Storrs, CT. The Center staff continues to work with the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, a network of centers that contain congressional archives and/or conduct programs that strive to inform and educate students, scholars, policy-makers, and members of the general public on the history of Congress, legislative process, and current issues facing Congress. Ray Smock is serving his second term as president of the ACSC.
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