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Papers of a Monongalia County, West Virginia, farm family residing near Maidsville include: the farm account books of John and John J. Courtney, 1831-1877; family Bible records and photographs; college essays of Alpheus Courtney, a West Virginia University student; manuscript ciphering book, 1817; diary of Ulysses J. Courtney, 1878-1883 (7 vols.) pertaining to lumbering, farming, and livestock operations, and community religious and social life; correspondence; steamboat bills of lading, invoices of mercantile stores; Civil War bounty receipts; a record of lumbering operations, 1878; and records of the Bethel (Methodist) Church. Subjects include the construction of the Monongahela Valley Railroad; frontier conditions in Iowa; Morgantown Bridge Company; and Methodism within the Baltimore and West Virginia conferences. Correspondents include Alston G. Dayton.

The boyhood memoirs of an elderly Monongalia County resident, entitled, "Our Daily Bread" relating rural life in the early years of the twentieth century. There is mention of home remedies, farming, country stores, school, church, holidays, transportation and folkways. He describes in detail seeing the first automobile in the western part of the county. Also contains some genealogical notes on William White and family, White is the surveyor who named that portion of the county, Battelle District.

Surveys of rural residents conducted by WVU Agricultural Experiment Station. Inquiries about farm land conditions, size of operations, profitability and the respondents opinions about the local community and its economic prospects. The 1924 survey was taken only in the Easton-Avery section of Monongalia County and contains an accompanying map with individual family farms number coded. The 1958 survey, a selection from around the state, is more indicative of demographics especially of out migration of family members to urban areas.

Papers of William Price (1803-1881), a Monongalia County, West Virginia, resident, member of the Wheeling Convention, and state legislator, 1869-1873. Includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, legal documents, and pictures. The correspondence, 1858-1912, concerns farming, the cattle business, and observations on the Civil War. Land papers also relate to Greene County, Pennsylvania. There is a diary and memo book of William Price, 1861-1863, containing two references to his membership in the Wheeling Convention, 20 June 1861; an account book, 1885-1890; a journal maintained by Price during two business trips to Philadelphia in 1865; and a novel, "Charlotte Temple" published in 1807 owned by Mary Swon, with her family history inscribed on the back pages. There are also letters from Monongalia County citizens commenting on legislative enactments. Correspondents include R.L. Berkshire and Alexander Martin. An addendum of 2001/06/29 contains typescript transcriptions of the papers of William Price and family.

Letters sent to Z.T. McBee and members of his immediate family at Clinton Furnace in Monongalia County, mainly from Jackson Steele of Kansas, concerning crops, business conditions, and prices.