Collections

Includes 2 bound volumes of minutes of the meetings of its Board of Trustees (1807-1910), yearly reports of the various principals, miscellaneous correspondence, business papers, bills and receipts.

The collection includes school census materials for the following years: 1910, 1915, 1916, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1940. The census materials are separated into the categories of Black children, with the term "colored" used on the forms, and White children.

Additional papers of Benjamin Fleming and several members of the Fleming family. Manuscript items include land grants and deed Monongalia County, letters, account and tax statements. Printed items include Sabbath School program, Fairmont, 1861; concert and commencement programs of Fairmont State Normal, 1892, 1897, 1906; Alfred Fleming Cemetery Association, proposed organization pamphlet. A clipping scrapbook contains some poetry by Thurston Worth Fleming, biographical sketch of Col. William Fleming and genealogical information on the Fleming family.

Business and personal papers, pamphlets, clippings, and photographs of Benjamin Fleming (1806-1891), and his son Thurston Worth (b.1846), relating to various business enterprises carried on by the family in Fairmont. These included a large trade in manufacturing, importing and selling hats and furs, general merchandising, fertilizer and hardwood sales.

Historical and genealogical typescripts, clipping scrapbooks, copies of family and court records, and personal recollections of the Guyandotte Valley area of Cabell, Wayne, and Lincoln counties compiled by F.B. Lambert. Several typescripts deal with the religious institutions of the area, the development of road, river, and rail transportation, and the spread of education in the valley. Other materials deal with the frontier and Indian history of the Guyandotte country and the collection includes a school commissioner's book for 1819. Barbourville school record book, 1863, and a minute book of the Barboursville Common Council, 1950-1911.

Diaries of Thomas M. Leeper, 1886-1950 (Box 1). Samuel Leeper wrote a few of the first entries, and some family members wrote some of the last entries documenting Thomas Leeper's last days. Subjects in the diaries include family life; work life; weather; encounters with visitors, friends, and neighbors; and travels. Counties traveled include Calhoun, Clay, Lewis, Harrison, Marion, Wirt and more. Inserts in the diaries include receipts, penciled sketches, and other paraphernalia. Added entry at the end of the 1950 diary: "Thomas M. Leeper died 3:30 the morning of July 31-1950, funeral August 2 in Methodist Church, preacher-Rev. McKinney."