Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Date range 1887 Subjects Coal mines and mining

Arthur I. Boreman Papers 17.75 Linear Feet Summary: 17 ft. 8 1/2 in. (42 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
Personal and business papers of Arthur I. Boreman (1823-1896), lawyer, U.S. senator, circuit court judge, and first governor of West Virginia. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to his judgeship and to the law firm of Boreman and Bullocks, Parkersburg, WV. Series include correspondence, notes on cases tried before Judge Boreman, envelope cases of material regarding legal cases in which Boreman was involved, financial material, and political and judicial printed material. Correspondence includes letters to Boreman from Francis H. Pierpont (1866-1867), which concern politics in West Virginia, the admission of Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state, the Virginia debt, and Reconstruction in Virginia. There is little other material relating to the governorship or political activities. Additional correspondents include J.W. Davis, John J. Davis, D.D.T. Farnsworth, D.H. Strother, J.G. Jackson, Charles J. Faulkner, and E.W. Wilson. Also includes manuscripts of speeches; muster rolls; household accounts; civil and court case papers concerning oil well drilling and sales; railroad property inventories and operation; coal prices, shipping data, and strikes; liquid fuel transportation; and steam and tow boat cargoes, navigation data, and names of boats in service on the Ohio River. There is also genealogical information on P.G. Van Winkle and Ebenezer Zane, and a letter and deposition by J.H. Diss Debar. For more details and box-level contents list, see Scope and Content Note. For more information on Arthur I. Boreman, see Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Emory L. Kemp Papers regarding Industrial History 154.83 Linear Feet 152 document cases, 5 in. each; 92 document cases, 4 in. each; 68 document cases, 2.5 in. each; 32 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 1.5 in.; 7 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each; 4 flat storage boxes, 4 in. each; 1 small storage box, 6.5 in.; 1 index card box, 12 in.; 2 oversized items, 1.5 in. total; 2 microfilm reels, 1.75 in. each; 146 oversized folders, 18 in. 6.31 Gigabytes 678 files, formats include ASC, BK!, CAP, CHP, CIF, DOC, DOCX, ED, ELK, JPG, FRM, M4A, MON, MOV, MP4, PAP, PDF, PPT, PPTX, R2D, RTF, TIF, TRE, TXT, VGR, W51, WMA, WP, WPD, WPS, XLSX.

Kemp, Emory L.

This collection includes materials from Dr. Emory L. Kemp's career of researching, documenting, and preserving historic structures. Kemp was a practicing civil engineer from 1952-1959, then taught civil engineering, historic preservation, and the history of technology from 1962-2003 at West Virginia University. He served as an expert consultant for the preservation of many historic engineering structures, including bridges, waterways, and mills. He also published regularly and remained active in several professional organizations.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Goff Family of Harrison County, West Virginia Papers 2.7 Linear Feet 2 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 oversize folder, 0.25 in.; 1 artifact box, 1.5 in.

Goff family
Papers of the Goff family of Harrison County, West Virginia. This collection is minimally processed. Includes the papers of Nathan Goff III, grandson of Nathan Goff Jr. (1843-1920), as well as his daughter Laura Ellen Goff Fireman (later Davis). Also includes correspondence of Howard Caplan, the Administrator of the Estate of Nathan Goff III, and H. Dotson Cather, the brother-in-law of Mrs. Goff Fireman Davis who may have been involved in Goff's estate. Formats in the collection include correspondence, ephemera, programs, invitations, plats, photographs, clippings, and much more. Nathan Goff's correspondence includes mostly business but also some family and personal correspondence. Correspondence includes both incoming and typescript copies of outgoing letters, as well as a few cards and telegrams. Subjects include mines, farming, livestock (especially sheep and horses, with special concentration of Clydesdale material), politics, land, wells, oil and gas leases, Citizens Publishing Company, the Waldo Hotel, the Nicholas Land Company, West Virginia Consolidated Coal Company and its Hardman Mine, Illinois State Fair, engineering, books, finances, and more. Mrs. Goff Fireman Davis's correspondence mainly concerns her father's estate. There are also two folders of material pertaining to Nathan Goff Jr., mostly correspondence and financial information (box 1, folders 17-18, 1884-1919). See Historical Note for additional information.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Gravely and Moore Studio, Photography Business in Charleston, Negatives 14.79 Linear Feet 32 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 index card box, 15 in.; 1 document case, 2.5 in (box 25a)

Gravely and Moore Studio
Negatives and other material from the Gravely and Moore Studio of Charleston, West Virginia. The majority of items within the collection are cellulose acetate negatives; the collection also includes glass plate negatives, prints, two photograph albums, and other material, as well as a card catalog documenting business transactions with customers. The collection is organized into customer project files as established by the Studio; the contents of these files are stored in envelopes usually containing one or two negatives, but they can contain up to a dozen or more. There are approximately 3,500 customer project files containing an estimated 11,000 items, most of which are negatives. The majority of photographs within the collection are portraits of individual adults. Other subjects include portraits of children; group photographs; businesses and advertising; members of the military; civil servants; civic organizations; missionaries; and aerial photographs, among others.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

John W. Mason (1842-1917) Papers 13 Linear Feet Summary: 13 ft. (29 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 index card box, 11 in.); (1 oversize folder, 2 items)

Mason, John W., 1842-1917
Correspondence, legal papers, photographs, and printed materials of John W. Mason (1842-1917). Mason was a circuit court and state Supreme Court judge, member of the Virginia State Debt Commission, and commissioner of Internal Revenue. The general correspondence contains personal and business letters, as well as manuscript speeches, notebooks, and reports. The period while Mason was circuit judge is particularly sparse. Also includes Internal Revenue correspondence consisting of about 8,500 pages in letter press copy books. Roughly half of the collection is devoted to his legal papers and printed materials concerning law in general. Subjects include early development of the Republican Party in West Virginia; political campaigns in West Virginia from 1870-1916; Monongalia Academy; industrial development; Internal Revenue Service (1889-1893); the Virginia Debt question; early banking development in Grafton; and the development of coal companies, particularly around Fairmont. Correspondents include Arthur I. Boreman, A.W. Campbell, Stephen B. Elkins, Benjamin Harrison, Francis H. Pierpont, and others.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Marian McQuade Papers 25 Linear Feet 24 ft. 11 1/2 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (19 record cartons, 15 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (1 tape box, 4 in.)

McQuade, Marian, 1917-2008
Much of this collection documents the efforts of Marian McQuade as the founder of Grandparents Day including information she collected on centenarians of West Virginia. There are also miscellaneous publications and artifacts belonging to her husband, Joseph McQuade, that pertain to coal mining.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Ronald Lewis, Historian, Papers 33.46 Linear Feet 33 ft. 5.5 in. (1 document case, 5 in.; 1 document case, 4 in.; 1 document case, 2.5 in.; 26 record cartons, 15 in. each.) 4.46 Gigabytes 745 files, formats include .pdf, .wpd, .doc, .jpg, .tif, .xls, .ppt, etc.

Lewis, Ronald L., 1940-

This collection contains materials of various formats used and created by historian Dr. Ronald Lewis throughout his career. There are records and course materials from classes taught by Dr. Lewis at the University of Delaware and, primarily, at West Virginia University (WVU). It includes other documents relating to his work as a faculty advisor to graduate students in WVU's history department. There is extensive documentation of his research, most of which was done on Appalachian history and West Virginia coal mining, including articles he has written, facsimiles of primary and secondary sources used in his research, and A/V materials like oral histories. Records generated from Dr. Lewis's scholarly activities are included, such as book and article reviews and conference presentations. There are also materials relating to his other professional pursuits, such as his membership in historical organizations and correspondence with other professionals in the field. This collection provides a broad overview of the work of an historian in an academic institution.

The dates provided are reflective of material creation, except within the Welsh Miners and Scott's Run subseries. These dates, listed in folder titles, reflect the content and were determined by the donor when he created and titled these files. Please be aware that the dates may not be accurate for every item within the folder/box but rather reflect the general timeframe of the subject matter.

Born digital and audiovisual materials exist within the collection as floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and cassettes.

Addendum of 2024 May 29 includes similar materials but reflects Dr. Lewis's more recent work. There are materials relating to his work as a professor and faculty member, the development of two books and other publications, and documentation of his career. Common formats include lecture notes, facsimiles of research sources, and correspondence; digital materials exist within the addendum as floppy disks, zip disks, and CDs.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.