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Court cases, 1775-1933, and county record volumes and private account books of Lewis County, 1817-1932. The private accounts include records of a harness maker, millers, druggists, printers, and general merchants. A checklist of the bound volumes is available, as well as a chronological, subject, and name index to the suit papers.

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.

A ledger and financial records of Logan Osborne (1836-39) also containing the will of Balamm Osborne. The ledger contains accounts of an assortment of general store goods from perishables such as food and candles to durable goods such as tools and carriages. There are Osborne family deeds, land contracts and letters about family matters and debt (1808-89). There are early nineteenth century state bank script from Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. There are land indentures and legal papers from eighteenth century Virginia, mainly of Matthew Rankin and Thomas Rutherford who contended for property in Ohio County. There is the thirty-eight page diary of Cleon Moore, a Confederate soldier from Charles Town. As a volunteer regiment member he was eyewitness and participant in the siege and capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. His unit was again called out prior to Virginia's secession resolution. He recounts their early maneuvering, stationing and being consolidated in the Virginia Second Cavalry which served at the First Battle of Bull Run. The account ends with the early 1862 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley of General "Stonewall" Jackson. There is Civil War related material of Logan Osborne including records of loans to the Confederate government, letters to family and friends recounting and justifying the events and cause of the Confederacy and an 1861 January 28 broadside, entitled: "To The People of Jefferson County...", of Logan Osborne as a Unionist candidate to the Virginia Secession Convention. Also there are early West Virginia political papers pertaining to Jefferson County such as an attempt to move the county seat to Sheperdstown. Also included are George Shutt business letters and certificates as a geologist; certificates from the United Daughters of the Confederacy to Mary M. Shutt; and Osborne family history, genealogy and obituaries of descendents.

Papers of Dr. Margaret Byrnside Ballard (1900-1991), regarding the history of Monroe County, West Virginia, and the Ballard family. As a genealogist and author of local history, she was an avid collector of the historical materials contained in this collection, most of which relate to her family and Monroe County. The collection includes personal papers, business records, historical and genealogical research material, scrapbooks, bibles, memorabilia, artifacts, photographs, broadsides, paintings, and postage stamps. See the Historical Note for more information about Dr. Ballard.

Daybooks for the practice of Dr. Marmaduke Dent (1801-1880), a physician in Monongalia County, and for a general store in Granville.

Two business ledgers of an early general merchandise store located at Mt. Morris, PA. In the earlier ledger, dated Oct. 24, 1851-May 31, 1855, the business was probably owned by L.A. Morris and E.F. Morris. The second ledger dates ca. 1877-1913. By 1913 the store was known as Morris & Younginger. The names of many residents living along the Mason-Dixon Line and Upper Monongalia County, WV, appear in the two ledgers.

Correspondence, bills, receipts, and memoranda books of Gordon, Gordon, Jr., Jacob, George H., and Mrs. F.R. Mullen of Charleston. Subjects include farming operations; the management of a small store in Kanawha County, West Virginia; Barboursville College; and the State Free Silver Headquarters. The collection includes letterheads, business cards, and calendars of Charleston mercantile establishments, ca.1877-1914; and some Ku Klux Klan papers, 1928, of Dr. A.G. Mullen of Galesburg, Illinois.