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Papers of a resident of Glenville include a notebook containing measurements of lumber, a memo book of logs sold, a tally book of rafts floated down the Little Kanawha River, a stock certificate in the Gilmer County Fair Association, and West Virginia Department of Agriculture statistics for 1920.

L. Henry Smith (b. circa 1805) was an attorney in Bruceton Mills, Preston County, West Virginia, in the mid-nineteenth century. He and his wife, Martha, had nine children, including Lucian H. Smith (b. circa 1830) and William W. Smith (b. circa 1848). Papers of the L. Henry Smith family chiefly include receipts, bills, notes, and letters from 1823 to 1878 and primarily concern Henry Smith, Lucian Smith, and William Smith, though materials from other family members are included. Box 1 contains financial materials for Jacob Smith from the 1830s and 1840s; receipts for purchases made by Henry Smith between the 1850s and 1870s (mostly for sewing supplies such as fabric, trimmings, and lace); promissory notes; and other financial items. Box 2 contains letters to various members of the Smith family from the 1850s to the 1870s. Topics chiefly include merchandising; Henry Smith's legal and financial matters in Preston County; and news of friends and family in the Bruceton Mills and Uniontown, Pennsylvania, areas. Several letters from the 1860s relate to buying blue cloth to make Civil War uniforms and substitutes in the Union army. Letters from the late 1860s related to West Virginia University, where William Smith was a student. Box 3 contains miscellaneous items primarily related to West Virginia politics in the 1870s and West Virginia Governor John Jeremiah Jacob.

Letters, legal and land papers, tax receipts, and other papers of Benjamin, John F.C.L., Benjamin F.M.V. and J.A.J. Lightburn in Lewis County. Included are a pocket account book of the Lightburn Mill, 1836-1855; 32 items bearing on General J.A.J. Lightburn's Civil War activities, including correspondence, orders, and reports (including battle reports in connection with the Atlanta campaign, 3 items, June-July, 1864); correspondence between J.A.J. Lightburn and Soule & Co., relative to pension claims; agricultural implement advertisements, 1890; notebooks of sermon outlines written by General Lightburn who was ordained a Baptist minister in 1867; and newspaper clippings bearing on the Lightburn family.

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.

Business correspondence and papers, including land grants and deeds, 1761-1881, surveys, wills, and account books of William McCoy, Sr. and Jr., of Pendleton County. There are papers on the administration of estates; management of property in Mercer, Pendleton, and Randolph counties, and in Augusta and Highland counties, Virginia, for absentee owners; and on farm operations. There is material on the Central Bank of Virginia at Staunton; the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike Company; and on military units in the eastern parts of West Virginia during the Civil War, including letters, orders, and requisitions. Also includes record of land transaction between Levi Hollingsworth and Robert McCulloh regarding 11,435 acres in Pendleton County (1803).

The business papers of Moses H. Crouch, a farmer and miller who lived near Huttonsville, Randolph County, West Virginia, in the nineteenth century. Chiefly contains receipts, deeds, promissory notes, and other financial and legal documents related to Crouch's business and property from the 1840s to the 1890s. Receipts and account information document the sale of dry goods and textiles, including meat, coffee, tobacco, sugar, tea, oatmeal, peaches, silk, thread, and chambray. Legal materials include deeds, insurance information, tax documents, and other information related to land tracts owned by Crouch. While most of the materials are Moses Crouch's papers, there are also documents for George Long, Andrew Crouch, and John Crouch. Early materials from 1802, 1821, and 1830 consist of land indentures. Also included are two account ledgers, from 1839 to 1899 and from 1853 to 1870, that record purchases of grains such as flour, corn, flax, and wheat by the pound and by the bushel and note payments on accounts.

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.

Papers of a pioneer Monroe County family, including a manuscript ciphering book, 1790, a diary of a journey to southwestern Ohio, 1810, a manuscript militia manual and company roster, and various business, church, and legal papers of county militia captain, Peter Larew. The papers of his son, John M., include a general merchandise account book, the estate papers, and various business and legal documents. The collection also contains a series of letters, 1876-1892, from John Larew's sons in California commenting upon school teaching, agriculture, and travel in the Far West.

Papers mainly related to the Civil War in southern West Virginia, including correspondence, maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, muster rolls, and other material. Highlights of the collection include material regarding Captain John V. Young of the 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry; Captain James S. Cassady of the 7th West Virginia Cavalry; Captain W.D. Thurmond and his company of Partisan Rangers; and the 8th and 13th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry units. The collection is organized into seven series, including: 1. Correspondence (1841-1888, undated); 2. Maps (1861-1935, undated); 3. Miscellaneous (1851-1867); 4. Photographs (undated); 5. Sketches (1898, undated); 6. Newspaper Clippings (1861-1938, undated); and 7. Muster Rolls (1864, undated).

Yearly diaries in 39 volumes by Sarah Morgan McKown of Berkeley County, West Virginia, regarding everyday domestic and agricultural activities, local auctions, births, weddings, deaths, emigrations, churches, and religious activities. Also mentioned are the Civil War and its personalities. An index to the Sarah Morgan McKown diaries can also be found in the control folder--includes errata, pages missed on microfilming.