Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

A framed lithograph of the James Barns residence in Cumberland Township, near Carmichaels, PA with an insert consisting of a drawing of the first successfully operating engine in Greene Co., ca. 1833, located in the Barns woolen factory on Muddy Creek, near Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. Included is an account by the donor about the Barns family of north central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. Mention is made of abolitionism, agricultural trends, James Barns, William Shinn Barns, George Brown, Madison College, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, Asa Shinn, Uniontown, PA, Waitman T. Willey, and the woolen industry.

Publications regarding horse training and animal breeding published by the Beery School of Horsemanship, which was founded by horse trainer Jesse Berry as a correspondence school in 1905. Also contains publications regarding livestock and agriculture, and other miscellaneous material. See "Scope and Content Note" and "Historical Note" for further information.

Originals and copies of clippings and photographs concerning the life and career of Izetta Jewel Kenny Brown Miller. Her career included work in the theater, Women's Suffrage Movement, radio, agriculture, television, and politics. Her first husband was William Gay Brown, Sr., West Virginia Congressman from Kingwood, and her second marriage was to Dr. Hugh Miller of the faculties of George Washington University and Union College. In 1922 and 1924, Mrs. Brown ran for the nomination as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from West Virginia. She twice seconded the nomination of John W. Davis at the Democratic National Convention.

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.

Correspondence, minutes, newspaper clippings, publications, photographs, and other papers (1965-95) of Dr. Joanna Strosnider Nesselroad documenting the organization and administration of the nation's first Head Start Program. Dr. Nesselroad began the first Head Start Program in McDowell County in 1965, and has served as West Virginia's regional training officer and as a national consultant for the Program. There are also letters, newspaper clippings, publications, photographs, slides, and other papers (1930-86) of a former West Virginia University Agriculture professor, W.W. Armentrout. Subjects include milk production and distribution, agricultural economics, broiler industries, and the West Virginia University College of Agriculture. Also includes financial records of the Armentrout Memorial.

Papers of Hu Maxwell (1860-1927), historian, editor, and author of several county histories of West Virginia, along with papers and records of other family members. There are manuscripts of fiction, verse, and local history written by Maxwell, as well as a number of his manuscripts and publications dealing with forestry which were prepared while he was a member of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Maxwell kept a diary during the years 1901-1919 while residing in Morgantown, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., which is extensive for the period of World War I and which contains notes on the diary of Rufus Maxwell (1855-1907). See scope and content note for more detail.

Papers of the Nathan Ochs family of Shelby and Jefferson County, Kentucky, document the family history from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and chiefly concern his children. Letters from siblings Simon, Nathan Jr., and Sallie Ochs are written from Kentucky to their brother, Charles, in California between 1884 and the early 1900s. Topics chiefly include the weather, their farms (crops, animals, and farm workers), family news, and their mother's illness and death. Genealogical records document the history of the family beginning with Nathan Ochs, who was born in Germany in the 1820s. These materials include naturalization papers for Nathan Ochs, genealogical charts for his descendants, and a narrative history of the family written by Shirley A. Ochs Cocke in 1970.

The minutes, reports, correspondence, newsletters, by-laws and membership lists of a trade association composed of dealers in feed, seed, fertilizer, agricultural implements and other farm supplies. The Association is active in lobbying the legislature and advising state agencies in the establishment of rules and regulations concerning commerce in agricultural goods. Its conventions, newsletters and series of publications contains articles and presentations on relevant topics by experts in taxation, management, salesmanship and agri-business technical developments. The papers, thus, reflect efforts by the association to inform, protect and promote the interests of its membership.

An agricultural education program sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development administered through the West Virginia University Office of International Programs in cooperation with the West Virginia University College of Agriculture and Forestry. Reports and publicity releases on projects undertaken by the WVU College of Agriculture in East Africa to help the nations of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to develop agricultural educational programs on the secondary and collegiate level. In Kenya as a part of Egerton Agricultural College the program assisted in farm mechanization and dry cropland management. In cooperation with Makerere University of Uganda they assisted in plant husbandry achieving a marked improvement in potato cultivation. Also to be noted is the report and scrapbook of Fran W. Bennett, a member of a three man WVU team that helped in the establishment of Arapai Agricultural College in Uganda.