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 World War, 1914-1918

Joseph Ozanic, Labor Leader, Papers 5.1 Linear Feet Summary: 5 ft. 1 in. (7 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 records carton, 15 in. each); (1 framed item, 1 in.)

Ozanic, Joseph
Joe Ozanic went to work in the coal mines of Mt. Olive, joining in 1909, UMW Local 728. After serving briefly in the army during World War I, Ozanic returned to work in the mines at Mt. Olive. In 1932, Ozanic joined the Progressive Mine Workers of America, a rival organization to the United Mine Workers, serving both as president of PMWA District 1 and as national president. During the 1940s, Ozanic was an organizer for the American Federation of Labor. These papers reflect Ozanic's involvement with the Progressive Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor. Material from his career as a union leader includes correspondence, financial records, speeches, certificates, newspaper clippings, photographs, broadsides, scripts for plays, union convention proceedings, contracts, bylaws, constitutions, and miscellaneous publications. Subjects include the National Labor Relations Board, American labor unions during World War II, the Union Miners' Cemetery at Mt. Olive, Illinois, AFL organizing drives, miners' marches in Illinois, Mother Jones, and John L. Lewis. Among the correspondents are Joe Pecik, John Fancher, and Vivian Pleska. Ozanic's personal papers include family correspondence, receipts, certificates, memorabilia, and photographs. The correspondence includes postcards from Ozanic to his wife and son from various places in the United States and Ozanic's certificate of competency as a coal miner, issued by the Illinois Miners Examining Board in 1917.
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Lewis Family Papers 6.9 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 10 3/4 in. (14 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 folder, 1/4 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1/2 in.); (4 boxes, 12 in.)

Lewis family
Personal and business papers of the Lewis family, mainly of John D. (1800-1882), Charles C., Sr. (b.1839), and Charles C., Jr. (b.1865), of Kanawha County. For the period 1825-1875 there are papers of various members of the Ruffner, Dickinson, and Wilson families of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, and other states. The business papers relate to farming operations, the purchase and sale of slaves, salt manufacturing and trade, the Old Sweet Springs Company, coal, iron, oil, lumbering, railroads, and real estate in Kanawha, Clay, Boone, Fayette, and Nicholas counties. There are newspaper clippings, speeches, and other papers reflecting the Lewis' interests in the Democratic Party in the period 1914-1920. Settlement papers and correspondence regarding the estates of John D. Lewis, and Joel, Daniel, and Andrew Ruffner are in the collection. The personal papers include diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and letters. Travel accounts in the United States, South America, and Europe are given in the correspondence, as well as comments on schools in West Virginia and Virginia; the building of a church in Kanawha County in 1834; missionary work in Colombia, South America, 1874-1875; Civil War and postwar conditions in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri; conditions at Camp Chase, in the Civil War; and material relating to World War I.
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Louis A. Johnson Papers 52.6 Linear Feet 52 ft. 7 in. (15 document cases, 5 in. each); (4 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (21 record cartons, 15 in. each); (5 record cartons, 17 in. each); (4 small flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); (7 small flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (2 small flat storage boxes, 4 in. each); (3 large flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); (12 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (12 large flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (1 large flat storage box, 5 in.); (1 card file box, 6 in.); (1 card file box, 3 in.); (2 artifact trays, 1 in. each); (1 roll storage box, 4 in.); (1 roll storage box, 5 in.); 1 oversize folder, 2 flag stands, 1 submarine model, 1 wooden box, 1 trunk 0.04 Gigabytes 13 .jpg files

Papers of Louis Arthur Johnson, (1891-1966), Clarksburg lawyer, and Washington, D.C. politician who co-founded the law office of Steptoe & Johnson. Johnson studied law at the University of Virginia and upon graduation immediately took up residence in the booming oil and gas town of Clarksburg, W. Va. and began the firm with Philip P. Steptoe. He served in France and Germany during and immediately after the First World War, and upon his return married Ruth Maxwell from Clarksburg. From 1937-1940 Johnson was the Assistant Secretary of War under President Roosevelt and later served as the second United States Secretary of Defense under President Truman from March 1949 to September 1950. Asked to resign by President Truman, Johnson returned to his law practice in Clarksburg until his death in 1966. This collection is minimally processed.

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Louis Reed and Mildred Johnston Papers 0.35 Linear Feet Summary: 4 1/4 in. (2 folders, 2 1/2 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Reed, Louis. Johnston, Mildred.
Louis Reed (1899-ca. 1985) served in France and Germany during World War I. Collection contains letters he wrote to his future wife, Mildred Johnston. Reed and Johnston married many years later, after the death of Reed's first wife. Reed's letters, written between 1918 and 1920, discuss army life, the front in France, and the occupation of Germany. Collection also contains a 235-page photocopied typescript that Reed wrote about the history of Burning Springs, Wirt County, and its role in the Civil War as a productive oil field. The typescript is also available on microfilm.
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Maxwell Family Papers 10.1 Linear Feet Summary: 10 ft. 1/2 in. (20 document cases, 5 in. each); (2 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 large flat storage box, 3 in.); (2 wrapped scrapbooks, 1 in. each); (1 wrapped diary, 2 1/2 in.); (wrapped galley proofs, 1 in. ); (wrapped diplomas, 2 items); (3 wrapped ledgers, 1 in. each); (1 card file box, 4 in.) 0.01 Gigabytes 1 .pdf file

Maxwell family
Papers of Hu Maxwell (1860-1927), historian, editor, and author of several county histories of West Virginia, along with papers and records of other family members. There are manuscripts of fiction, verse, and local history written by Maxwell, as well as a number of his manuscripts and publications dealing with forestry which were prepared while he was a member of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Maxwell kept a diary during the years 1901-1919 while residing in Morgantown, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., which is extensive for the period of World War I and which contains notes on the diary of Rufus Maxwell (1855-1907). See scope and content note for more detail.
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Melville Davisson Post Papers 0.08 Linear Feet Summary: 10 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each)

Post, Melville Davisson, 1869-1930

Manuscripts of short stories and essays of Melville D. Post, some of which were published between 1920 and 1929 in the Review of Reviews, Everybody's, and the American Magazine. Collection also includes World War I poster texts and articles on various subjects by Melville D. Post; also, two letters. See processing notes for list of titles.

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Monongalia County World War I Draft Records 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box)

Monongalia County Court
Copies of rules and regulations determining the order of drafting by local boards; an index to serial numbers in master list; a list of names in registration of 5 June 1917; a list of registrants, 12 September 1918; names of persons inducted by the Monongalia County Board; and an alphabetical list of the selective service class of 1918.
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Nuzum Family Photographs 1.25 Linear Feet 1 ft. 3 in. (3 document cases, 5 in. each)

Nuzum family

Collection of photographs from the Nuzum family of Fairmont and related families, including the Reed, Ferguson, Ostrowske, Winslow, and Diven families. The photographs include portraits and candid shots of mostly children, but also other family members. There are also portraits and candid shots of men in military uniform from World War I and World War II. Also contains greeting cards and the funeral book of Iva Nuzum. Most of the photographs include identifications and dates, though not all of them.

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Okey P. Keadle, Soldier, World War I Correspondence 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Keadle, Okey P. (1894-1958)
Letters from Okey P. Keadle (1894-1958) to his family in Williamson, West Virginia, written while he served with the first American army regiment on active duty in France during World War I. Keadle was stationed in Paris and Tours, serving as a clerk. Subjects include his reaction to French customs, wartime civilian life in Paris, celebrations held by the American troops, and fashions and popular entertainers of the day.
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Oscar Doane Lambert (1888-1959), Collector, Papers 3.33 Linear Feet 8 document cases, 5 in. each

Lambert, Oscar Doane, 1888-1959

Correspondence and the original draft of "West Virginia and Its Government" by Dr. Oscar D. Lambert, West Virginia University history professor and manuscripts collector for the West Virginia Collection. Papers deal with Dr. Lambert's teaching duties, his various writings and publications, and his archival collecting activities at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.

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