The  Roberts/Harvey Archives is located in the front of our newly restored Museum and Archives Building at the corner of Winters Gap Avenue and Kingston Avenue. For those of us who labored so long and hard,  the building has blossomed into a beautiful showplace and work center for the Oliver Springs Historical Society. I could easily weep tears at the memory of our dear Mr. Sonny Harvey, who was brought by his son Buster down to the Archives not long before he left us. I remember speaking to him as I showed him the sign proclaiming “Roberts/Harvey Archives”, showing him all the handwork that had been done to that room as we labored alongside the shortline crew from the Regional Corrections Facility in Petros. I remember looking into his face as we went from detail to detail, showing him the woodwork that was all made either in my shop or onsite as the prisoners helped me run the machinery I had brought down onsite for two and a half years. My heart was always to craft a room that would be befitting such noble champions of our town and history as were Mr. Snyder Roberts and Mr. C.S. Harvey Jr.. Every piece of trim, rosettes, crown, and oak tongue and groove wainscot was milled out by us expressly for this room. I tip my hat to the shortline crew, many of which were as noble in the pursuit of excellence for the project as any of the Society members. Thanks to my dear friends Teresa Freels and Pat Stansberry , we have been steadily bringing picture books, documents, original vintage prints and photographs, court transcripts, etc., down to the file safes. When we first started to occupy the Archives room, I brought down several of my personal picture books that I donated to the Archives. Many of them were taken from materials generously shared by Mr. Harvey, who told me early on, “ If I’ve got it, you can have access to it”. There, my friends, is the spirit of Mr. Harvey shown to me, and I will do no less. The notebooks we have are but a drop in the bucket. We are adding more almost daily. Our goal is to have a Town Archives that will be the pride of Oliver Springs and the envy of many others. Our Archive team remains dead center of our mission, with full color quarterly newsletters with 16 pages of tantalizing tales from our rich past chronicling unsolved murder mysteries, updates on our archive and museum renovation progress, fundraising reports, stunning photographs of old town people and places, and feature articles that highlight a wide variety of historical reminiscences. We also create (since 2002) a yearly calendar, with each month featuring a previously unpublished photograph with article describing the featured photograph. Our work is never done, which is why we never run out of engaging photos and stories...

Meet Our Archivists

Teresa Freels Hall is a lifelong resident of this area. She got her start living in the Windrock community, where her father Frank Freels was a longtime coal miner. Teresa is a 1965 graduate of Oliver Springs High School. She wears many hats for our society, from coordinating efforts ranging from commemorative brick orders and placement to facilitating public events (ladies' Day, October Sky Festival, Movie Night, etc.). Teresa is whip smart and loyal to her friends, and is a whirling dervish of activity when focusing on Archive tasks such as scanning and documenting photo collections, ancient documents, etc. She is, in a word, irreplaceable.

Pat Clowers Stansberry is a vital part of our preservation efforts. She is certified "Oliver Springs", and is an OSHS grad, c. 1962. Pat is a highly valued member of our team, focusing on historical records such as census and tax records, birth and death records, land deeds, etc. She has committed herself to organizing voluminous hardcopies of photos and documents that reside in our archives room. 

Robbie Underwood began the digitization of the pictorial history of Oliver Springs back in 2001. Prior to that the only photos we had were prints that were contained in various private collections, and a few photo volumes at the Library. None of it was digitized. Robbie became involved in this effort quite by accident, having searched to no avail for photos to create a Historical Society calendar. It was through the magnanimity of Mr. C.S. Harvey Jr. that Robbie was able to compile enough photos to create a calendar for the year 2002. Each succeeding year brought the same struggle to procure photos that were compelling enough to create a calendar that was worthy of the name. Since that time Robbie has been on a mission to locate and scan every photo and document relating to our proud history that he can find. Many people have come forward through the years with stashes, boxes, albums, of private collections, and to those people we are forever grateful. For many years Robbie compiled this collection as a personal mission, but after the passing of Mr. Sonny Harvey it became obvious that the Historical Society had nothing of the kind with which to compile a true archive. It was at that realization that Robbie was appointed to the position of Archivist and Historian. 

From 2001 until the present, we have scanned many thousands of photos and documents, as well as doing much research to tie elements of our history together with the people who made the history.