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The Official Website of the State of West Virginia

Sweeping through generations

10/25/2022

Years ago, Wanda Hott received a broom from her sister as a Christmas gift. She’d needed one—something sturdy and reliable—but this wasn’t just any broom. It was a Jim Shaffer creation. A West Virginia resident, like Hott, Shaffer is known for his many decades of fashioning impeccable brooms from straw and wood. Hott’s new broom would do a fine job sweeping up a mess, but more than that, the care and craft that had gone into the product were clear.  
“I looked at it, and I remembered that my great-great-grandmother had handmade brooms at one time,” Hott says. “So I started learning on YouTube.”
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