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Correspondence, speeches, business and legal papers, newspaper clippings, and photographs of the founder of Mother's Day. The collection includes papers of Anna's father, Grandville E. Jarvis; the notes and typescript drafts of "Recollections of Ann M. Jarvis, 1833-1905," by Anna Jarvis; and the papers of the Fairmont songwriter, William Lynett. Subjects include Jarvis' efforts to institute Mother's Day on a state basis, and her later protest against the commercialization of the day of remembrance; Jarvis coal and farm lands in Taylor County; real estate holdings in Philadelphia; Quaker City Cab Company; and her activities in the library department of a Philadelphia insurance company. Correspondents include Mrs. W.R. Hearst, Spessard L. Holland, John T. McGraw, John W. Mason, Matthew M. Neely, and Jennings Randolph.

The bulk of these papers deal with Miss Jarvis' work as the founder of Mother's Day, her attempts to persuade state governors to issue proclamations to establish the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day, and her later protests against the commercialization of the holiday, as well as the efforts of other organizations to promote Mother's Day.

Newspaper clippings, mainly from Doddridge and Harrison county, concerning marriages, deaths, family histories, letters from World War I service men, nurses, and from former residents who had moved, or gone to other states to teach, including a series of letters from L.P. Willis from the Phillippine Islands and Japan. Mr.Willis was employed as a teacher and Head Of the Bureau of Education in Japan, and the Phillipines for twenty years. Also, included in the collection are tax and school tuition receipts, orders,unsigned copy of Thomas Hickman's will, deed and other papers of several members of the Hickman family of Harrison county. A photostat copy of a form letter from the State Medical Society Committee on Examination of the Medical Botany of the State addressed to Dr.P. Davis from Wheeling, 1868.

Correspondence, speeches, essays, clippings, and account books of a Clarksburg lawyer, Republican state senator, and Harrison County local historian. Subjects include the history of Clarksburg and Shinnston; the Progressive Movement, women's suffrage, and prohibition in West Virginia; West Virginia Wesleyan College; West Virginia Historical Society; Methodism in Harrison County and the state; Methodist missions in Korea, China, India, the Philippines, and the United States; gristmills and covered bridges in West Virginia; America First Day [1922]; Edward Grandison Smith; Parkersburg Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; family and personal history; history of the Mason-Dixon Line; the (Clarksburg) 50-Year Club; Nutter Fort Methodist Church; and the Harrison County Fair. Also, tape recordings of an interview relating to Mr. Harmer's career as an attorney in Clarksburg.

Correspondence, legal papers, speeches, clippings, photographs, and printed material of a Randolph County prosecuting attorney, mayor of Elkins, judge of the Twenty-second Judicial Circuit, Democratic politician, and state governor, 1933-1937. Also features personal correspondence in Series 10.