Collections

Start Over Date range 1921 Subjects Unions. Level Collection

Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Division 103, Archives 5.5 Linear Feet 5 ft. 6 in. (12 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 wrapped package, 5 in.); (1 wrapped package, 1/2 in.)

Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, Division 103

Records of a local union of street car employees in Wheeling, West Virginia. There are minute books, correspondence, contracts, agreements, boards of arbitration hearings, and financial records, including membership figures and lists of members from the founding of the local to the late 1950s. The correspondence concerns mainly intra-union issues of seniority, transfers of membership, and local union governance, but there are also a few letters about Division 103's support of other organized workers and about the American labor movement. The records also include one folder of legal documents submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission for consideration in its drafting of safety regulations for motor carriers. There is also an addendum [2010 February 03] of a copy of the March 1918 issue of "The Motorman and Conductor," a publication of this union.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

A. Philip Randolph, Civil Rights and Labor Leader, Papers 0 Linear Feet Summary: 45 pages

Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
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.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Clarence Edwin Smith (1885-1959) Papers 19.4 Linear Feet Summary: 19 ft. 5 in. (44 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (8 ledgers, 8 1/2 in.); (2 wrapped packages, 1 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1 item.)

Smith, Clarence Edwin, 1885-1959
Correspondence, business and legal records, account books, news releases, clippings, and family papers and photographs of a U.S. Marshall (1916-1922); editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1925-1959) and Wheeling REGISTER (1933-1935); Democratic politician; member of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (1935-1939); and businessman. Subjects include: Smith's student days at Virginia Military Institute; West Virginia National Guard; Monongah Mine Relief Committee; Associated Press; Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Eighteenth Amendment; presidential elections and national and state politics, 1916-1956; John W. Davis; Alfred E. Smith; post-World War I radicalism and reaction; Ku Klux Klan; United Mine Workers; National Miners' Union; labor conflict, 1920s; U.S. Railway Administration; New Deal agencies; and Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. Correspondents include Van A. Bittner, William E. Chilton, William G. Conley, John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Eugene V. Debs, James A. Farley, William Green, Averell Harriman, Homer Adams Holt, Rush Dew Holt, Hugh S. Johnson, Louis Johnson, Harley M. Kilgore, H.G. Kump, John L. Lewis, William A. MacCorkle, J. Howard McGrath, Clarence W. Meadows, M.M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Jennings Randolph, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Clarence W. Watson, and James O. Watson. There are also papers of Clarence L. Smith (1850-1905), editor of the Fairmont INDEX (1889) and founder of the Fairmont TIMES (1900), which include a domestic diary of his wife, 1876-1910; minute book of the Fleming Association, 1890-1894; papers of Clarence Edwin Smith, Jr., 1940-1941; papers of Thomas Barns (1750-1836), and his sons, John S. and James F.; Marion County millers and manufacturers, 1795-1908. There are also papers of Waitman T. Willey and a taped interview with C.E. Smith, 1956. Correspondents include John L. Lewis, George B. McClellan, Matthew M. Neely, Francis H. Pierpont, John J. Cornwell, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. There are also papers, 1917-1950, of Smith's brother, Earl H. (1880-1941), co-founder and editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1900-1925), state legislator, officer in the National Guard, and state commander of the American Legion. Subjects include World War I; Woodrow Wilson; American Legion; and state and national politics, 1918-1940. Correspondents include John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Sam T. Mallison, M.M. Neely, Jennings Randolph, and Howard Sutherland. The collection also includes papers, 1908-1940, of Herschel H. Rose, Smith's son-in-law, Fairmont attorney, Democrat politician, and circuit court judge. M.M. Neely is a correspondent. Financial records include account books, 1826-1893, of Thomas Barns, John S. Barns and Company, Barns, Fleming and Company (1857), James R. Fleming, woolen and flour milling, shoe manufacturing, and general merchandise operations in Marion County; account book of Mary Fleming Smith, 1888-1912; Fairmont Newspaper Publishing Company, 1919-1949; Fairmont Broadcasting Company, 1932, 1947-1949; and Jackson Coal Company, 1917-1924.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Clarence Edwin Smith (1885-1959) Papers 1.25 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 2 1/2 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each); (2 folders, 1 1/2 in.); (1 scrapbook, 3 in.); (1 oversize folder, 3 items)

Smith, Clarence Edwin, 1885-1959
Correspondence, business and legal records, account books, news releases, clippings, and family papers and photographs of a U.S. marshal (1916-1922); editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1925-1959) and Wheeling REGISTER (1933-1935); Democratic politician; member of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (1935-1939); and businessman. Subjects include: Smith's student days at Virginia Military Institute; West Virginia National Guard; Monongah Mine Relief Committee; Associated Press; Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Eighteenth Amendment; presidential elections and national and state politics, 1916-1956; John W. Davis; Alfred E. Smith; post-World War I radicalism and reaction; Ku Klux Klan; United Mine Workers; National Miners' Union; labor conflict, 1920s; U.S. Railway Administration; New Deal agencies; and Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. Correspondents include Van A. Bittner, William E. Chilton, William G. Conley, John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Eugene V. Debs, James A. Farley, William Green, Averell Harriman, Homer Adams Holt, Rush Dew Holt, Hugh S. Johnson, Louis Johnson, Harley M. Kilgore, H.G. Kump, John L. Lewis, William A. MacCorkle, J. Howard McGrath, Clarence W. Meadows, M.M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Jennings Randolph, Adlai E. Stevenson, Clarence W. Watson, and James O. Watson. There are also papers of Clarence L. Smith (1850-1905), editor of the Fairmont INDEX (1889) and founder of the Fairmont TIMES (1900), which include a domestic diary of his wife, 1876-1910; minute book of the Fleming Association, 1890-1894; papers of Clarence Edwin Smith, Jr., 1940-1941; papers of Thomas Barns (1750-1836), and his sons, John S. (delegate to Second Wheeling Convention) and James F.; Marion County millers and manufacturers, 1795-1908. There are also papers of Waitman T. Willey and a taped interview with C.E. Smith, 1956. Correspondents include John L. Lewis, Matthew M. Neely, Francis H. Pierpont, and John J. Cornwell. There are also papers, 1917-1950, of Smith's brother, Earl H. (1880-1941), co-founder and editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1900-1925), state legislator, officer in the National Guard, and state commander of the American Legion. Subjects include World War I; Woodrow Wilson; American Legion; and state and national politics, 1918-1940. Correspondents include John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Sam T. Mallison, M.M. Neely, Jennings Randolph, and Howard Sutherland. The collection also includes papers, 1908-1940, of Herschel H. Rose, Smith's son-in-law, Fairmont attorney, Democrat politician, and circuit court judge. M.M. Neely is a correspondent. Financial records include account books, 1826-1893, of Thomas Barns, John S. Barns and Company, Barns, Fleming and Company (1857), James R. Fleming, woolen and flour milling, shoe manufacturing, and general merchandise operations in Marion County; account book of Mary Fleming Smith, 1888-1912; Fairmont Newspaper Publishing Company, 1919-1949; Fairmont Broadcasting Company, 1932, 1947-1949; and Jackson Coal Company, 1917-1924; Fairmont Coal Company founding mortgage document, 1901 (box 2, folder 4).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Coal Miners' March Telegram 0 Linear Feet Summary: 1 item

Two-Page telegram from the Williamson Kiwanis Club to the Prosecuting Attorney of Boone County concerning an armed group of UMWA miners preparing to march through Logan County to Mingo County.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Huett Nestor, Compiler, Papers 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Nestor, Huett.
Archives of the Fairmont Labor Temple, 1921-1940, including certificate of incorporation, bylaws, financial records, minutes, and correspondence. There are also notes on the labor movement in Marion County, compiled by Huett Nestor, concerning the membership and officers of local unions, and a list of "Prominent Members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. from Marion County."
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Richard M. Hadsell, Collector, Records Regarding History of Coal Industry 0.29 Linear Feet Summary: 3 1/2 in. (2 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

Hadsell, Richard M.
Correspondence, reports, petitions, agreements, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles relating to the soft coal industry and labor conditions, generally in southern West Virginia. Subjects covered include the eight-hour day; strikes; consolidation of coal operations; freight rates; government contracts for coal; Paint and Cabin creeks, 1912-1913; working conditions in the Polack Cigar Factory, Wheeling, 1914; investigation of the Gay Coal and Coke Company, Logan County, 1917; investigation of the Wheeling Can Company, 1918; labor conditions in West Virginia, 1917; publicity releases of Winding Gulf Operators Association, 1923-1925; and eviction of miners; labor conditions in Logan County, 1923. Correspondents include D.T. Evans, Carl Hayden, W.E. Borah, M.M. Neely, Van A. Bittner, J.P. White, F.J. Hayes, Mary "Mother" Jones, Thomas Haggerty, Woodrow Wilson, and J.J. Cornwell.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Rush Dew Holt (1905-1955) Papers 156.21 Linear Feet 156 ft. 2 1/2 in. (360 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 4 in.); (14 document cases, 2 1/2 in.); (1 flat storage box, 5 in.); (1 flat storage box, 3 1/2 in.); (2 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (3 flat storage boxes, 2 1/2 in. each); (9 flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); ( 44 photos in photograph filing cabinets) 11.7 Gigabytes 131 TIFF files, 2 PDF files

Holt, Rush Dew, 1905-1955
Papers of Rush Dew Holt, Sr. (1905-1955) relating to his personal and political activities. Types of material include publications, clippings, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera, among others. The collection is divided into six series: Personal and Political Papers (1840-2000 and undated), Artifacts (1939-1952 and undated), Legislative Records (1920-1955 and undated), Constituent Services (1923-1954 and undated), Press and Media Activity (1925-2003 and undated), and Administrative Files (1937-1940).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Seneca Glass Company Records 31.63 Linear Feet 11 document cases, 5 in. each; 15 records cartons, 15 in. each; 5 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 1 1/2 in.; 2 rolled storage tubes, 6 in.; 16 ledgers, 6 ft. 5 in.

Seneca Crystal

Catalogs, reports, contracts, correspondence, blueprints, drawings, certificates, deeds, and photographs of Seneca Glass Company, a Morgantown glass manufacturer noted for its production of handmade lead crystal glassware. The materials of this collection give insight into some of the daily activities of the company and its union such as determination of wages, settling of labor grievances, plans for expansion and modernization, productivity statistics, and stock inventories. Specifically noteworthy are the earliest certificate of incorporation in West Virginia, original construction blueprints by Elmer F. Jacobs, and early catalogs of the company's product line. There are also extensive addenda of Seneca Glass records that were acquired in 2005, 2019, and 2021; a contents list for the 2005 addendum can be found in the control folder onsite.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Smokeless Coal Operators Association Records 0.71 Linear Feet Summary: 8 1/2 in. (1 folder, 1 1/2 in.); (4 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

Smokeless Coal Operators Association

Production statistics and extracts from the historical files of the Smokeless Operators Association (until 1958 the Pocahontas Operators Association) showing the history of coal mining in the Pocahontas field and production, sales, and distribution statistics for the years 1930 and 1933-1961. There are weekly, monthly, and yearly reports on net tons produced, hours, worked, and tonnage lost because of labor problems, mine disability, or lack of market. There are lists of the coal companies operating in the Pocahontas district during these years. Some files include reports on net production by grade.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

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