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Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of: a Monroe County, West Virginia, farmer and politician; his wife, Harriette Boswell Alexander; their daughters, Isabel and Alice Beulah; Alice's husband, Frank Hereford, U.S. senator from West Virginia; and his daughter, Katherine Hereford Stoddard. There is one folder of business papers, 1820-1841, of Thomas Edgar; a few letters from Caperton's son, John, while a cadet at the Camp of Instruction, Richmond, 1861; a folder of letters concerning Isabel's trips through the American West, the British Isles, and Europe; and a folder on family genealogy. Subjects include mid-nineteenth century life in Union, Monroe County; the excitement in Virginia following John Brown's raid; Washington, D.C., and the slavery controversy, 1860; the secession crisis in Virginia; impressment of material in Monroe County by Union troops; the effect of the war on the social and economic life of Richmond; work of the Ladies Relief Hospital in Lynchburg; and the aftermath of war in Virginia.

Papers of William Price (1803-1881), a Monongalia County, West Virginia, resident, member of the Wheeling Convention, and state legislator, 1869-1873. Includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, legal documents, and pictures. The correspondence, 1858-1912, concerns farming, the cattle business, and observations on the Civil War. Land papers also relate to Greene County, Pennsylvania. There is a diary and memo book of William Price, 1861-1863, containing two references to his membership in the Wheeling Convention, 20 June 1861; an account book, 1885-1890; a journal maintained by Price during two business trips to Philadelphia in 1865; and a novel, "Charlotte Temple" published in 1807 owned by Mary Swon, with her family history inscribed on the back pages. There are also letters from Monongalia County citizens commenting on legislative enactments. Correspondents include R.L. Berkshire and Alexander Martin. An addendum of 2001/06/29 contains typescript transcriptions of the papers of William Price and family.

Extracts from a diary of a tour of the eastern states by a resident of Meadville, Pennsylvania, with descriptions of travel through Greenbrier, Fayette, Kanawha, and Cabell counties, (West) Virginia. Subjects covered include descriptions of buildings, as well as musings about diversions and people of various U.S. cities, including Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. (where Reynolds attended a session of Congress and heard Clay, Calhoun and Buchanan), Richmond, Charlottesville (he visited Monticello), Charleston, and a number of smaller Virginia cities. There are also descriptions of "natural wonders", including Weirs Cave, Devil's Bake Oven, the Natural Bridge, White Sulphur Springs, and Kanawha Falls.

Correspondence, business and legal papers, notebooks, speeches, historical essays, genealogical records, clippings, and printed material of a Buckhannon lawyer, state jurist, member of Congress (1927-1929), and West Virginia Secretary of State (1933-1948). The collection also includes papers of O'Brien's father, Emmett J., a member of the state's first Constitutional Convention; letters from O'Brien's brother, Lieutenant A.L. O'Brien, 1874-1887, a West Point graduate serving at forts Assinniboine, Belknap, and Spokane in the Montana Territory and Washington State; letters of Henry M. White, O'Brien's brother-in-law, and a lawyer with the Immigration Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission; a diary of a trip to Texas in 1907; and genealogical records of the Joseph Hall, William Norris, O'Brien, and Jacob Reger families. Subjects include West Virginia Wildlife League; Methodism in Upshur County; an expedition in pursuit of Sitting Bull; the Rush Holt contested election of 1934; the McAdoo-Smith contest of 1924; the Townsendites; presidential election of 1936; state politics; pioneer history of West Virginia; and the Vandalia Company.