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The microfilm collection contains 10 diaries and inserted supplementary letters, clippings, and photographs kept by Presbyterian missionary Mary Behner during her years as the first director of The Shack, a settlement house in the Scotts Run Area of Monongalia County. In addition to the microfilm, there is an addendum to this collection dating from 2006. It includes a photograph album kept by Anna Santore DeLancy, who was a Sunday School teacher at the Shack, a Presbyterian neighborhood house operating in Pursglove, West Virginia. Anna was the recreation director after the founder Mary Behner Christopher left in 1938. The photographs document the people and activities of the Shack in the 1930s. There is also correspondence between Bettijane Burger and people who knew Mary Behner Christopher, and clippings regarding the history of the Shack, among other material.

Treasurer's report 1818-1821, order and receipts 1819, commissioner's report, including treasurer's and master's report, 1823; 1827-29; 1831-32; 1837; 1839-49. Information given in reports includes: number of schools in operation, number of children eligible to attend and number in attendance, length of terms, commissioner's and master's names, types of books used and cost of book and tuition.

Various Pittenger family members wrote these letters, mostly to other family members. The most frequent correspondent is Abraham Pittenger, a farmer, teacher, and local government official in Hancock County. The letters detail farming and marketing of farm goods, educational developments, affairs of the Presbyterian Church, and family events. The collection also provides significant information about the early Republican party, secession crisis, Civil War and Reconstruction.

A history of the schools of Aurora, Preston Co. from their founding by early settlers of German descent to the present efforts to reconstruct the recently fire destroyed building. Mentioned are changes in location, types of schools, school principals, funding and various costs such as those for construction. Some early funding, especially to aid poor children, was raised locally by money accumulated in a literary fund. In the nineteenth century other funds were acquired from the Peabody Educational Fund, a national fund created by George Peabody to assist needy public schools. Early settlers mentioned in the establishment of schools are John Stough, Christian Whitehair, Jacob Ridenour, Abraham Wotring and Peter Heckart. Those influential in education after the pioneer era are Franklin V. N. Painter, C. M. Malcom, the Stemple family, Frank J. Pyles, Glenn Wright and Kenneth Parsons.

Papers collected by Roy Bird Cook, a Lewis County native and Charleston pharmacist, who in his role as historian, researcher, and author, was a pioneering and effective advocate for the preservation of West Virginia history. This collection includes the papers he collected in connection with his research, including documentation of the Civil War in West Virginia, Stonewall Jackson and his family, and genealogy of North Central West Virginia, among other topics. Materials include letters and papers of the Hays family, including Samuel L. and Peregrine Hays of Gilmer County (1836-1884, 1952-1962, undated [includes facsimiles]); records of the Confederate 31st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and later correspondence, clippings, and papers about the regiment and its members (ca. 1856-1955, undated [includes facsimiles]); various collections of individual and family papers and Civil War correspondence (1793-1974, undated [includes facsimiles]); original and copies of Stonewall Jackson letters and papers, as well as papers pertaining to Jackson family members (1801-1963, undated [includes facsimiles]); and materials related to the history of pharmacy and medicine, with a special focus on West Virginia (ca. 1832-1961, undated [includes facsimiles]). There is also an extensive series of bound notebooks containing manuscripts, transcriptions, clippings, genealogies, pamphlets, and images regarding the following topics: Stonewall Jackson, Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, Colonel George Jackson, and Thomas Jackson Arnold; the Civil War, including historical sketches of battles as well as originals and copies of soldiers' diaries, journals, and letters; Lewis County; Charleston and the Kanawha Valley; Douglas S. Freeman; Granville Davisson Hall; Camden family; George Washington; and other topics.

Includes genealogy and Civil War records collected by Roy Bird Cook of Lewis County, West Virginia. Series 1 through 5 were compiled by Marcellus W. Zimmerman. They include correspondence, church records, academic records, genealogical records, research manuscripts, and clippings regarding primarily the genealogy and history of Lewisburg and Greenbrier County, and the life and career of Confederate Brigadier General Alexander W. Reynolds. Series 6 through 8 were collected by Roy Bird Cook. They include military records and clippings regarding West Virginia units, the Confederate 31st Virginia Infantry, and other Confederate units from Virginia; there are also business and miscellaneous records, including ledgers, clippings, research notes, etc. Series 9 includes oversized material from earlier series.

Nine Teacher's Daily Register for schools in various counties, dated 1880, 1884-5, 1886-7, 1892, 1894, 1904, 1905 and 1907. Some schools are in Monongalia County.