West Virginia Archives and History is pleased to announce that the following individuals were recognized as West Virginia History Heroes during a West Virginia History Day at the Legislature program and ceremony held at the Culture Center on the Capitol Complex in Charleston on Feb. 22:

• Morgan Bunn of Raleigh, NC, nominated by the Friends of Old Stone Cemetery. Morgan Bunn founded the Friends of the Old Stone Cemetery in 2013 and serves as the restoration expert. She has led workshops to teach proper cemetery preservation and restoration techniques, conducted tours of the cemetery to bring awareness to the historical space and the need to preserve it as a piece of Lewisburg’s history, and spoken about the burial ground at different events and meetings in and around the community. Bunn also created a database of the people buried in the cemetery and wrote three books about the graveyard, donating proceeds from book sales to the cemetery restoration.
• Peggy Boso Ryan of White Sulphur Springs, nominated by the Greenbrier Historical Society. Peggy Boso Ryan is co-chair of the Volunteer Committee of the Greenbrier Historical Society and is a wonderful volunteer herself. She has developed recruitment methods and organized a reception for prospective volunteers that have led to an increase in the number of excellent volunteers. In addition, Ryan has increased outreach activities with local schools, arranging visits, providing historically oriented educational materials, and helping with activities when the students arrive. Whether getting ready to provide refreshments for a book signing or being a bright and cheerful face and voice on the front desk and telephone, she is always there to help.

West Virginia History Heroes are nominated by historical, genealogical, preservation, museum, patriotic or like organizations from across the state. The purpose of the annual award is to give state-level recognition to individuals chosen for dedicated service on behalf of an organization’s programs or for a recent significant contribution to state and local history through research, interpretation, publication, or preservation. The West Virginia History Hero award is a one-time only recognition.

In addition to the Archives and History Commission, co-sponsors of West Virginia History Day are the Mining Your History Foundation, Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, Inc., West Virginia Association of Museums, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Historical Society, and West Virginia Humanities Council.