KAREN VURANCH Storyteller, actress, and writer Karen Vuranch weaves together a love of history, a passion for stories and a sense of community. She is known for her traditional storytelling, plays based on oral history, and living history presentations of famous American women. She brings history to life through her unique performance style, which combines storytelling and drama to create an engaging presentation. She has an M.A. in Humanities from West Virginia Graduate College and teaches Introduction to Theater and Speech and Appalachian Studies for the Concord University Campus in Beckley. Through her interest in the humanities and belief in the importance of communities, Karen has built a reputation gathering oral history interviews and turning those true life experiences into performances. She feels it is important to preserve the personal and family stories of a community. She conducts residencies with elementary through high school students, teaching them to interview their family members and, in turn, tell their family stories. Recently she received a letter from a woman in West Virginia who took part in a group session Karen conducted when she was gathering oral history for a new play. The woman wrote, “Thank you for your workshop. I never thought before that my life was important. Now, I know that I am part of my country’s history.” Karen Vuranch is available for performances, workshops and residencies. She performs regularly for conferences, banquets, schools and arts events.
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Clara Barton, photograph by Matthew Brady, 1865. Clara Barton National Historic Site, National Park Service.
[civil war issue]
Clara Barton: Civil War Nurse By Karen Vuranch As Clara Barton lay on her deathbed at the age of 90, her thoughts traveled back to her work on the battlefields of the American Civil War. To be sure, Barton’s selfless service during the war earned her a place in the annals of American history. But, she continued to achieve recognition after the battlefields. Clara Barton was famous even in her lifetime. She was the first woman ambassador for the United States, representing the nation at the Geneva Convention, the first woman prison warden in America, the first woman hired by the federal government in her own name, and, most importantly, the founder of the American Red Cross, as agency she created at the age of 60 and directed for more than 20 years. This agency is her legacy and is still a driving force in the United States today. But, despite these achievements, it was her experiences as a nurse on the Civil War battlefields that she thought of as she lay dying. While she certainly served in the capacity of a nurse, Barton had no training in the field of nursing. In fact, she was working as a
