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Papers of Asa Philip Randolph, a prominent civil rights and labor leader, who founded and edited The Messenger, an influential black radical labor newspaper of the 1920s and who organized and presided over the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the only independent, viable black trade union in the American labor movement. Much of the correspondence deals with raising subscriptions for The Messenger, gaining an International Charter as an independent affiliate to the American Federation of Labor and the early organizing strike actions against the Pullman Company. This correspondence emphasizes the difficulties of convincing black workers of the feasibility of an independent fledgling black trade union; the necessity of organizing black workers for the benefit of the whole labor movement; and the challenge of maintaining jurisdictional independence from competing trade unions with predominantly white membership, such as the Hotel Workers union. These letters also reflect Randolph's desire to attain full civil rights for blacks.

Record books of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Ohio Valley Lodge No.13. Volume one contains membership and financial records; and volume two contains records of meetings, 1914-1918, including attendance and annual election results.

Three photograph albums of Harry Snedden Laird (September 11, 1868-October 1, 1952), a civil engineer, and resident of Preston County, West Virginia (WV). They document dam and railroad construction projects. The first album contains 50 photographs, arranged chronologically (1912-1913). The photos record construction of Cheat Lake dam ("Cheat Haven"); subjects include: a coffer dam, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge, and turbine form construction. The album also contains an annotated document which gives the measurements for "Bridges Required on Harrisville-Southern Railroad" (1914). The second album contains 47 photographs (1910-1913). Subjects include: Cheat Lake dam construction, continued from the first album (1913); identified individuals in Harrisville, WV associated with Harrisville and Cornwallis Railroad (1914); Rockville Bridge near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Western Maryland Railroad (WMRR) tracks; and railroad bridge and tunnel construction, likely east of Frostburg, Maryland (MD) (1910). The third album contains 109 photographs, most of which are labeled (1910-1911). Photographs depict construction work on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad and WMRR near Mt. Savage, Frostburg, and Cumberland, MD. Highlights include a photo of Helmsetter's Farm in Cumberland and two photos of a Hurley Track Laying Machine in use for WMRR (all 1911).

Diary and memoir of a Confederate soldier, railroad laborer, and shop owner from Grafton. The memoir begins with Mugler's birth in Alsace-Lorraine in 1838, and covers his immigration to the United States; enlistment in the United States Army in 1851; military duty in New York, Boston, Rhode Island, Texas, California, and the Washington Territory where he participated in the expedition against the Yakima Indians as a member of Company B, Third Regiment, United States Artillery, under Phil Sheridan; and his return to Orange County, Virginia, where following the passage of the Secession Ordinance he enlisted in the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry serving as chief musician. The memoir concludes with Mugler's military career during 1861-1862. The diary covers the remainder of his military service, 1862-1864, and his confinement as a war prisoner at Elmira, New York, 1864-1865. Following the war, Mugler returned to Washington, D.C., and eventually gained employment with the National Cemetery Corps, working at various Virginia battlefields. While in Virginia he served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention of 1867. He worked at the National Cemetery at Grafton and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, eventually becoming superintendent of painters on the Road Division in West Virginia. After 1874 he worked briefly as a self-employed painter, and then opened a paint and hardware store in Grafton which he managed until the end of his life. Subjects include the Battle of Mine Run, the retreat from Antietam, the Battle of the Wilderness, prison life at Elmira, New York; reconstruction in Virginia; railroading and the railroad towns of Keyser, Oakland (Maryland), Parkersburg, Fairmont, and Wheeling; the strikes of 1877; interviews with Generals Ord and Sheridan; the Murphy Temperance Movement and W.C.T.U. activities; the Liberal Republican movement of 1872; the Greenback Party; the Chicago World's Fair of 1893; political figures such as John S. Carlile, John G. Carlisle, John T. McGraw, John W. Mason, Frank Hereford, John E. Kenna, John A. Logan, James G. Blaine, and "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.

Photographs, ephemera, and genealogy (1658-1996) of the John Samuel Simms family of West Virginia. Ephemera includes a certificate for completion of classes from West Virginia University Department of Mining Extension (1935), a State of West Virginia Department of Mines Certificate for passing a mine foreman exam (1918), a State of West Virginia Elementary School Diploma (1915), a certificate of proficiency from the New River State School for completion of stenography courses (1925), household bills (telephone, furniture, etc.) (ca. 1920s), and a dance card for an event at Luna Park, Charleston, West Virginia (ca. 1920s). Most photographs in the collection are identified with names, dates, and locations. Notable photographs are of railroad workers on the line near Little Elk Creek in Swiss, WV (ca. 1910); a large group of men and women at a dedication of an O.E.S. home (1935); a mail carrier at a home in Jodie, WV (ca. 1900-20); Simms family and friends in front of their West Virginia homes (ca. 1900-20); two photographic portraits of Charles and Minerva Summers Simms (ca. 1870s) in 12" x 14" oval wooden frames; and a group portrait of a Charleston, WV Elks Club minstrel production (ca. 1920s).

Correspondence of W.K. Marshall, a West Virginia railroad engineer, includes letters received from his wife and sons in Callaghan, Virginia, as well as the letters he wrote to them. This collection also includes letters from Marshall's brother and niece. Marshall's correspondence concerns the following subjects: personal and family matters; employment conditions on the railroad; railroad accidents; trade union and fraternal society insurance plans. Letters from Marshall's wife touch on people and events in Callaghan, Virginia and on the family's farm work.

Notes compiled by Philip Bagdon which were used by Dr. Roy Clarkson to complete his history of the logging town of Cass entitled Beyond Leatherbark: The Cass Saga. Bagdon's notes, composed of maps, tables and quotes from newspapers, correspondence and business records, are arranged chronologically and topically covering subjects important to the history of Cass, the Greenbrier River valley and east central West Virginia. Subjects mentioned are land purchases, timber appraisals, railroads, conservation and forest management, the lumber industry, and local social and economic development. Prominent names mentioned are Joseph K. Cass, James C. Lacey, John G. Luke, Edwin Mower, S. E. Slaymaker, E. P. Shaffer.