Faculty, staff and students are invited to celebrate the book launch of WVU History Department’s William Hal Gorby today (March 7) at 7 p.m. in person in the Robinson Room of the Morgantown Downtown Library or virtually via Zoom. This is a “must attend” event for those interested in Appalachian history.
Published by WVU Press, Gorby’s “Wheeling’s Polonia” examines immigrants’ migration from Poland and other Eastern European countries to Wheeling, West Virginia, while uncovering the process of forging a distinct Catholic working-class culture in the wider region.
Reviewed for Ohio Valley History, John J. Bukowczyk writes of Wheeling’s Polonia: “Gorby's study of Polish immigrants in South Wheeling and Benwood underscores both the variety in the Polish immigrant and ethnic experience in the United States and the importance of immigrant labor in this one particular corner of America's great—and seemingly late—industrial heartland that iron, coal, steam, and steel made.”
Gorby also was the recipient of the Eberly College Outstanding Teaching Award, as well as WVU’s Nicholas Evans Excellence in Advising Award.
Come out and support our extraordinary colleague.