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Military records, business papers, and correspondence of a brigadier general, Kingwood attorney, state legislator, secretary of the West Virginia Horticultural Society, state adjutant general, and state Selective Service director. Other papers include a letter book, West Virginia National Guard, 1903-1907; state Selective Service memoranda, 1940-1947; and a "Historical Record of Selective Service in West Virginia." Other subjects include the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad, Pierce's coal mining, public utilities, oil, timber, gas, fruit growing, and other business activities. Correspondents include William G. Conley, William M.O. Dawson, Davis Elkins, William E. Glasscock, Walter S. Hallanan, Lewis B. Hershey, Homer A. Holt, Harley M. Kilgore, J. Howard McGrath, Edward Martin, Clarence W. Meadows, E.F. Morgan, Matthew M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Chapman Revercomb, and Howard Sutherland. This collection also includes the business and legal papers, ca.1840-1890, of James H. Carroll, Kingwood attorney and editor of the PRESTON COUNTY HERALD.? Subjects include the presidential elections of 1856 and 1884 in West Virginia.? Other papers relate to Kingwood and area mercantile firms, and the operation of the PRESTON COUNTY JOURNAL, 1891-1894; and a circulation record of Preston County newspapers, 1889-1897. Correspondents include Gideon D. Camden and Henry G. Davis.

An 1851 letter to Rebecca Coplin from Harriet Burdett of Pruntytown, West Virginia, on community health, family affairs and Methodist church matters. A merchandise account book, 1859-63, of an unidentified general store owner and inn keeper; steamboat bills of lading for the Kathryn and French of the Little Kanawha Packet Line (Creston-Parkersburg), 1899 and 1905. There are also mimeographed sketches on the history, topography, scenery, agriculture, geology, rural development and natural resources of West Virginia by a Wood County agricultural extension agent, C.R. Titlow.

Letters and business records of the mercantile establishment of David L. Wilson in Moorefield. Subjects covered include: property rentals, crops, labor costs and lumbering.

Diaries, correspondence, notes, receipts, and newspaper clippings of a lumberman and stockman from Morgantown, West Virginia. Subjects include Johnson's agricultural activities, his extensive timber dealings in Monongalia County, and the rafting of logs to Pittsburgh and intermediate points on the Monongahela River.

Correspondence, legal and business papers, mercantile records and tax receipt books of Isaac McNeel, who operated a store at Edray and Mill Point, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, served as sheriff of the county, operated a gristmill, raised livestock, and was appointed provost marshal of the county in 1862 by the Confederate Army. The collection also includes letters and school reports of McNeel's sons, Winters and Summers, while students at Washington and Lee and the Medical and Law Departments of the University of Virginia, 1893-1897. Other school material pertains to the Hillsboro Male and Female Academy and the Lewisburg Female Institute. Subjects include mercantile and cattle trade with Baltimore and Richmond; business conditions in the l850s and in Richmond during the Civil War; slave hiring; ginseng trade; agriculture; the American Party, 1855; Henry A. Wise; Virginia Secession Convention; effect of the Union blockade on Richmond commerce; speculation in whiskey, tobacco, and cattle during the Civil War; and postwar economic and political conditions in the Pocahontas County area.

The photographs and negatives of the Gerbrick Studio of Martinsburg whose most prominent proprietor was Jacob H. Gerbrick. There are group and individual portraits as well as pictures of business and industry, modes of transportation, schools, churches, residences, clubs and organizations, and social events. These photographs reflect life in Martinsburg and the extreme Eastern panhandle, including unique events such as strikes or floods, annual events such as festivals and parades, and everyday occurrences of the inhabitants. There are also images of the apple industry, Gerbrick family, Shepherd College, and Storer College.

Papers of a livestock broker, farmer, and merchant of Mingo Flats, Randolph County, who was associated with John T. McGraw in the development of Marlinton and the purchase and sale of land, coal, and timber in neighboring Pocahontas County. There are some items of Civil War interest, while the bulk of the correspondence relates to the marketing of ginseng, beeswax, wool, venison, animal pelts, and farm machinery. There is significant correspondence relating to state politics and railroads. Correspondents include J.M. Bennett, J.N. Camden, David Goff, John J. Jackson, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, John T. McGraw, and The Pocahontas Development Company. Also includes some material of G.E. Jarvis, father of Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day.

This collection consists of an account book maintained by James E. Yates, a livestock trader in Rappahannock County, Virginia, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.