Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Paper ephemera, including: illustrated letterhead titled "Offices of J.W. Wiles" featuring portrait of J.W. Wiles and photo of the "Wiles Block" building in Morgantown, WV; there is also letterhead for the "Star Glass Company" and "Union Realty and Development Co.," both of Morgantown; illustrated envelopes for the "Hotel Morgan" of Morgantown, "The Waldo" of Clarksburg, and "The Ruffner" of Charleston. Signed calling card of J.W. Wiles. There is an extensive collection of greeting cards, including Valentines. There is also a printed invitation card for a luncheon with President and Mrs. Taft (1912). Addendum of 2019/06/17 includes four greeting cards from the Young family of Morgantown, including two large Valentine cards (including windmill and seesaw graphics; undated), one small Valentine card (undated), and one Christmas card (booklet, "One Christmas Back in Grandfather's Time"; 1952).

Photographs by James Edwin Green of the Green family from Foxburg, Pennsylvania (PA) and St. Marys, West Virginia (WV). Includes over 500 glass plate negatives and 1 1/2 inches of film negatives documenting subjects from ca. 1900-1918 including: the James Edwin Green family; Foxburg, PA; St. Marys, WV; the Taylor Farm, St. Marys, WV; agriculture; railroads; oil derricks; Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) reunions; the World War I era, and transportation. There are pictures of the Daniel Rupert family and Taylor family as well. Also includes exemplars of commercial packaging of glass plate negatives and film negatives.

Papers of the Kendall Family of Mannington District, Marion County, West Virginia. Family names Hibbs and Cunningham also appear frequently in the collection. Contains the following series: correspondence; financial records; land records; legal records; legal correspondence; election records; funeral records; oil, gas, and coal records; subjects; photograph; and scrapbook. Election records includes a list of voters (1908) and a poll record for a U.S. Presidential election (1928). Oil, gas and coal records contains leases and agreements concerning drilling and mining on Kendall family land in the Mannington District (ca. 1900-1930). The Scrapbook contains pension records regarding Minerva Hibbs, widow of William W. Hibbs who served with the 12th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War; it also contains a printed invitation to a "Mother's Day Service" and two hand-written tributes to mothers, among other items.

The leases in this collection grant oil and gas rights to companies operating in Tyler County.

Includes records of meetings, by-laws, and actions of the stockholders and directors of the Lowther Oil Co, New Martinsville, Wetzel County, West Virginia, from the first general meeting of the stockholders of the Company held on 13 Aug.1900 to 29 Apr.1905 (1 volume); index of accounts of Lowther Oil Co. (1 volume); and: index of accounts of Lowther-Kaufmann Oil Co. (1 volume).

Papers of Rush Meadows, a Charleston, West Virginia, mining engineer and mine operator, containing correspondence, maps, reports, and photographs on companies involved in coal, oil and gas production in Appalachia, the Rocky Mountain states, and Latin America.

Papers, maps, and photos of William C. Stiles and Samuel B. Stiles, developers associated with J.C. Rathbone and J.N. Camden in the oil industry of Wood County, in particular of the oil boom town of Volcano. Most of the papers are business correspondence, receipts and oil drilling records dealing with family owned business in Parkersburg and Volcano, namely the Zero Oil Company, the Power Oil Company, and the Jackson Land and Mining Company. There are family photographs, and records and correspondence about Volcano in which the Stiles had substantial holdings. On August 4, 1879, there was a fire in Volcano which nearly destroyed the whole town and which was presumed to be due to arson with the intent to hurt the family's financial fortune. The history of Volcano is reflected in subsequent Pinkerton reports, news clippings, and correspondence between S.B. Stiles and local historian H.E. Metheny.

A Morgantown based investment company that acquired and leased land in the oil and gas fields of north central West Virginia. The contents of the record book are chiefly stockholder meeting reports about audits, leases, royalties and agreements. Prominent company members named in the volume are Charles S. White, I. C. White, R. T. Cunningham, A. F. Ramsay, William S. Stevenson, T. M. Jackson, Clarence B. Dille and J. Lewis Williams. Although not the company president, I. C. White, an eminent geologist, was instrumental in its creation and operation. White, a renowned specialist in oil, gas and coal geology, initiated the anticlinal theory of oil and gas deposits and on its basis speculated correctly that there were ample deposits in the Mannington region. The company attained land holdings and leases in an oil and gas producing region encompassing Monongalia, Wetzel, Marion, Harrison, Doddridge and Lewis counties. The minutes also mention associated companies such as the Eureka Pipe Line Co., South Penn Oil Co. and the Fisher Oil Co.