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Records regarding the history of the White Day Creek region of Marion County, WV. There are also photocopies of primary sources of information supplementary to the White Day Creek book, including: letters and financial ledger of the Watson family (1820-1890); essay titled "Smithtown Local History" (1922); business ledger of George Washington Stevens, a cobbler (1890s); deeds and estate sale documents of William Morris (1854); grist mill business ledger of Sam Smith (1894); financial ledger and "folk wisdom" of Levi Devault (ca. 1875-1900); and the history of the Weaver family, including estate sale information (1854). The history of education in Marion County is documented in the photocopied "1992 Dedication of the Snodgrass One-Room Schoolhouse Museum; October 30, 1992." (Original in Printed Ephemera Collection.) This dedication program also features a reminiscence of Ethel Ferrell (b. 1898), a Marion County school teacher.

Papers (including correspondence, legal documents, and accounts) of James McGavock (1728-1812), his son James McGavock (1764-1838) and his grandsons James McGavock (1804-1839) and Stephen McGavock (1807-1880). Many of the papers concern lead mines at Fort Chiswell, Va, slavery, agriculture, aspects of the Revolutionary War, and other. Included are a list of parish levies before 1776; receipts for supplies issued at Fort Chiswell, Wythe County, Va. and at Fort Patrick Henry, Tenn. for an expedition, 1776-1777, against the Cherokees; and county tax and fee bills for Augusta, Bedford, Botetourt, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, Washington and Wythe counties, Va. The collection includes genealogical information on the McGavock and Boyd families and letters written by members of the Cloyd family and by John Williamson McGavock while attending the University of Virginia.

The racial and ethnic ephemera collection contains various materials regarding race, ethnicity, and racism in the United States. The collection includes papers and items that promote racial prejudice and propaganda. The collection also contains items and papers that exemplify the fight for civil and equal rights. African Americans are the most broadly represented group in the collection. Other ethnic groups include Native Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and Cuban Americans. Ku Klux Klan pamphlets and anti-immigration publications are also included. Through this collection, the American struggle of racism and prejudice is realized.

This collection includes manuscripts, printed and newspaper materials collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. This collection includes papers concerning many phases of West Virginia History, although centered on Preston, Taylor, and Monongalia counties. Includes marriage licenses from Preston County, 1881-1947; newspaper clippings from Morgantown newspapers; a meeting invitation from the Monongalia County Historical Society, 1947; newspaper clippings on the emancipation of slaves in Taylor County; and a concert program from the Morgantown Musical and Literary Society, 1880.

The Thomasina E. Jordan collection contains the personal and professional papers of American Indian activist Thomasina E. Jordan. The collection includes awards, certificates, correspondence, newspaper articles, and photographs. The Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act, H.R. 984 granted federal recognition status to six native tribes in Virginia. This act provides eligible ethnic groups services and benefits provided by the federal government to federally recognized tribes, without regard to the existence of a reservation for the tribe. The act was named in honor of Thomasina E. Jordan.