Shearer, Kathy.

The idea for the Dante History Project grew from Kathy Shearer's earlier work to help the people of Dante get a sewer system.

In 1988, the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that over 300 homes in Dante were dumping raw sewage into Lick Creek. While working with residents to alleviate the sewage problem, Shearer visited with family after family who told her stories of life in a different time when Dante was a booming coal town.

On June 27, 1997, Shearer presented her idea for a community history project.

Shearer began working with seniors collection collection copies of old photographs participants helped to identify individuals and tell stories of the town's past. The Dante Senior Center hosted several history lesson meetings where individuals would gather to hear lectures and to discuss particular aspects of the history of Dante. By the conclusion of the project, Shearer had interviewed 43 individuals and the community had gathered and copied over 900 photographs of the town.

A traveling exhibit that grew from the community history project opened on April 15, 1998 at the Russell County Public Library in Lebanon, Virginia. After the opening of the exhibit, residents suggested that a book telling the story of Dante and its residents was needed to complete the work of the project. In 2001"Memories from Dante: The Life of a Coal Town" was published with grant support.