Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Subjects Steamboats

Arthur I. Boreman Papers 17.75 Linear Feet Summary: 17 ft. 8 1/2 in. (42 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
Personal and business papers of Arthur I. Boreman (1823-1896), lawyer, U.S. senator, circuit court judge, and first governor of West Virginia. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to his judgeship and to the law firm of Boreman and Bullocks, Parkersburg, WV. Series include correspondence, notes on cases tried before Judge Boreman, envelope cases of material regarding legal cases in which Boreman was involved, financial material, and political and judicial printed material. Correspondence includes letters to Boreman from Francis H. Pierpont (1866-1867), which concern politics in West Virginia, the admission of Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state, the Virginia debt, and Reconstruction in Virginia. There is little other material relating to the governorship or political activities. Additional correspondents include J.W. Davis, John J. Davis, D.D.T. Farnsworth, D.H. Strother, J.G. Jackson, Charles J. Faulkner, and E.W. Wilson. Also includes manuscripts of speeches; muster rolls; household accounts; civil and court case papers concerning oil well drilling and sales; railroad property inventories and operation; coal prices, shipping data, and strikes; liquid fuel transportation; and steam and tow boat cargoes, navigation data, and names of boats in service on the Ohio River. There is also genealogical information on P.G. Van Winkle and Ebenezer Zane, and a letter and deposition by J.H. Diss Debar. For more details and box-level contents list, see Scope and Content Note. For more information on Arthur I. Boreman, see Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Atkeson-Morgan Family Papers 1.9 Linear Feet Summary: 23 in. (4 document cases, 1 flat storage box)

Atkeson-Morgan Family

Papers of John and Sarah Atkeson-Morgan documenting Atkeson-Morgan family history and the history of the Morgan home and farm in Putnam County, West Virginia for period ca. 1840-1900.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Bradford Noyes (b.1860) Typed Document 0 Linear Feet Summary: 46 pages

Noyes, Bradford (b. 1860)
Various subjects discussed include Indian attacks, turnpikes and taverns, the first telegraph system, natural gas illumination, Civil War manufacture of saltpeter, schools and economy in post-Civil War Charleston, salt and chemical industries, carrier pigeons, steamboats on the Kanawha River, and the coming of the railroad to Charleston. Persons mentioned include M.F. Maury, Jr., J.P. Hale, and J.Q. Dickinson.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles A. Julian, Collector, Historical Postcards of Wheeling 0.7 Linear Feet 7 1/2 in. (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 oversize folder, 2 items)

Julian, Charles A.
Historical postcards and other material documenting the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Includes ca. 600 postcards in two notebooks (each in its own box) of mostly photographic postcards recording views of Wheeling. Topics include Baltimore and Ohio Railroad depot, bridges, businesses, churches, flood of 1907, homes, hotels, ice skating, parks (Oglebay and Wheeling), roads, schools, steamships, street scenes (with automobiles, pedestrians, and trolleys), theaters, and wharf, among others. There are also two postcard booklets, seven historical photographs of downtown Wheeling (8 in. x 10 in.), two commemorative ceramic tiles for the Wheeling Hill Tunnels (1965, 1966), and two oversize prints of drawings by Loeschen of Wheeling (1995, 2009).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles R. Williams, Collector, Papers 0.2 Linear Feet Summary: 1 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Williams, Charles R.
An 1851 letter to Rebecca Coplin from Harriet Burdett of Pruntytown, West Virginia, on community health, family affairs and Methodist church matters. A merchandise account book, 1859-63, of an unidentified general store owner and inn keeper; steamboat bills of lading for the Kathryn and French of the Little Kanawha Packet Line (Creston-Parkersburg), 1899 and 1905. There are also mimeographed sketches on the history, topography, scenery, agriculture, geology, rural development and natural resources of West Virginia by a Wood County agricultural extension agent, C.R. Titlow.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Courtney Family Papers 0.4 Linear Feet Summary: 5 in. (1 document case)

Courtney family
Papers of a Monongalia County, West Virginia, farm family residing near Maidsville include: the farm account books of John and John J. Courtney, 1831-1877; family Bible records and photographs; college essays of Alpheus Courtney, a West Virginia University student; manuscript ciphering book, 1817; diary of Ulysses J. Courtney, 1878-1883 (7 vols.) pertaining to lumbering, farming, and livestock operations, and community religious and social life; correspondence; steamboat bills of lading, invoices of mercantile stores; Civil War bounty receipts; a record of lumbering operations, 1878; and records of the Bethel (Methodist) Church. Subjects include the construction of the Monongahela Valley Railroad; frontier conditions in Iowa; Morgantown Bridge Company; and Methodism within the Baltimore and West Virginia conferences. Correspondents include Alston G. Dayton.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

C.R. Rector, Compiler, Papers 0 Linear Feet Summary: 1 item (19 pages)

Rector, C. R., Compiler
This is a history, "Westward Down the Ohio," relating highlights of Ohio River history, ca.1750-1880, in West Virginia. Subjects include early exploration, settlement, and transportation, especially the steamboat era. Mention is often made of events occurring in Parkersburg and its vicinity as being typical examples of the history of the Ohio Valley.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

E.C. Smith, Student, Diary Regarding Experiences While at West Virginia University 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 2 items (diary and transcript)

Smith, E.C.

Diary by E.C. Smith, a student at West Virginia University (WVU), regarding his experiences in 1874. Activities documented include academic (preparing papers, Greek and Latin studies, reading Charles Darwin, etc.), literary society (elections, debates, recitations), military cadet (drills, lectures, marching), and Methodist Episcopal Church events (including sermons and other activities). He also attended a commencement (June 18). Recreational and social activities are also recorded, including baseball, boating, swimming, croquet, and amateur musical performances; and picnics, dances, visiting friends from the Morgantown Female Seminary, and eating at restaurants. Names of professors and fellow students are recorded. Alexander Martin, the first President of West Virginia University, is reported to have delivered two sermons, and a lecture on astronomy. There are references to carriage, railroad, and steamboat travel, and to the towns and cities of Morgantown, Fairmont, Grafton, Parkersburg, Ravenswood, Point Pleasant, Spencer, and Harper's Ferry. Includes transcript of 108 pages.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Fleming Family Papers 5.8 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 2 1/2 in. (14 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 4 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1 item)

Fleming family

Business and personal papers, pamphlets, clippings, and photographs of Benjamin Fleming (1806-1891), and his son Thurston Worth (b.1846), relating to various business enterprises carried on by the family in Fairmont. These included a large trade in manufacturing, importing and selling hats and furs, general merchandising, fertilizer and hardwood sales.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Jacob S. Hayden Diary 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Hayden, Jacob S.
Chronicle written by Hayden, Mayor of Fairmont, of his trip to the west coast. He describes the perils of a steamboat trip from Pittsburgh to Independence, Missouri, and the joys and hardships of travel by wagon across the Great Plains to California. Indian encounters, river crossings, inclement weather, scarcity of water, thieves, and firing squads are some of the topics noted.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.