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W&L's Cumming on WMRA's “Virginia Insight” Today

Letters to the editors of Rockbridge County’s newspapers–200 years’ worth–was the subject of conversation when Washington and Lee journalism professor Doug Cumming appeared on NPR affiliate WMRA’s “Virginia Insight” program on Dec. 8, 2011. He discussed the new book that he edited, The Lexington Letters: Two Centuries of Water Under the Bridge.

Cumming, a former newspaper reporter in Atlanta, Providence and Raleigh, collected about 400 letters to the editors of the local newspapers. W&L students and community researchers initially read 8,000 letters and transcribed 1,367 of the most interesting ones. The epistles cover a wide range of topics and, as Cumming has indicated, make local history come alive through local voices. The project that led to the book also featured in a play written and directed by Kimberly Jew, associate professor of theater at W&L,  that was produced at the Lime Kiln Theater in Lexington last May.

Listen to the program below:

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