Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Personal papers of James M. Guiher, Jr. (1927- ), Editor and Head of Textbook Division of Prentice-Hall books, and son of James M. Guiher, Sr. (1897-1965), a prominent lawyer, politician, and community leader from Clarksburg, West Virginia. Includes autobiographical material, correspondence, publications, photographs, and other material regarding growing up in Clarksburg, attending Washington Irving High School (Clarksburg, WV), serving in the U.S. Army during WWII, attending Princeton and Harvard Universities, his career at Prentice-Hall, as well as his writings (including essays and plays). The writings regard an evolving view of life influenced by art, existentialism, and experiences in Italy and Greece. There are publications regarding the history of, and places and events in Clarksburg and Harrison County (including booklets, pamphlets, programs, maps, clippings, and post cards; ca. 1953-1999). There is also a group portrait photograph of his father James M. Guiher, Sr. as a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity, West Virginia University, 1917. There is a book of historical autographs collected by Guiher, Jr., including those of George Washington and Martha Custis Washington, John and Abigail Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, among others. There are also addendums including five portrait photographs (2014-02-24); papers relating to the Guiher, Davis, and Hart families, and related subjects; James M. Guiher Sr.'s service in WWI; four paintings and two artworks (2014-08-29); and three paintings (2015-08-17).

The collection contains correspondence and papers of the Brown, Selby, Kirkland, Robine, Spong, Strode, Thomas, Waters, Hammond, Billmyer, Shepherd and Hamtramck families. Includes genealogical information on the Brown, Billmyer, Shepherd, and Hamtramck families; ledger, 1795-1796; and a receipt book, 1835-1843, of Walter Brown Selby.

Genealogical notes and research of a member of the Fayette Co., WV Genealogical Society, Helen Scott, on the following families: Arthur, Blake, Decker, Jaynes, Johnson and Scott. There are cemetery readings for Fayette County including the areas of Fayetteville, Mt. Hope, Oak Hill, and Pax and of the Blue Ridge Cemetery. There is also a copy of the genealogical research conducted by Laura Blake.

Genealogy research papers on the Hill family from the 1600s to the 1900s. Includes correspondence, research notes, clippings, photocopies of documents and maps, three books, and two Hill family genealogy charts.

Arch Alfred Moore Jr. (b. 1923) served two consecutive terms as Governor of West Virginia from 1969-1977 and a third term from 1985-1989. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection for governor in 1988. Previously, he was elected as a Republican to five terms in the United States House of Representatives, serving from January 3, 1957-January 3, 1969. He was not a candidate for reelection to the Ninety-first Congress in 1968. He died on January 7, 2015, in Charleston, WV. The Arch A. Moore Jr. papers document his service as governor of West Virginia and in the U.S. Congress.

Photographs by James Edwin Green of the Green family from Foxburg, Pennsylvania (PA) and St. Marys, West Virginia (WV). Includes over 500 glass plate negatives and 1 1/2 inches of film negatives documenting subjects from ca. 1900-1918 including: the James Edwin Green family; Foxburg, PA; St. Marys, WV; the Taylor Farm, St. Marys, WV; agriculture; railroads; oil derricks; Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) reunions; the World War I era, and transportation. There are pictures of the Daniel Rupert family and Taylor family as well. Also includes exemplars of commercial packaging of glass plate negatives and film negatives.

Papers of James ("Jim") Franklin Comstock of Richwood, West Virginia, whose position as editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly and avocation as collector and advocate of all things West Virginia led to the preservation of much of the state's physical, visual, and textual history. The collection includes materials Comstock collected about West Virginia history as well as his own personal and professional papers. Materials include: general series of historical documents such as letters, deeds, and county court cases pertaining to a diverse range of subjects (1717, 1754-1988, undated [includes facsimiles]); letters of Lucy Prichard, former instructor at Marshall College (now Marshall University) (1925-1927, undated); clippings and typescripts of Wirt County resident and Atlantic Monthly writer Louis Eckert Reed (ca. 1960-1975, undated); account books concerning economic development and commercial activities in the northern part of the state in the 19th and early 20th centuries (1830-1938); printed material about West Virginia schools, businesses, and events as well as non-West Virginia books and pamphlets (1829-1995, undated); Comstock's personal and professional correspondence (1882-1995, undated); a wide variety of photographs, including images of West Virginia cities and towns, among many others (ca. 1850s-1995, undated); microfilmed records of the Civil War and Dunmore's War (undated); glass lantern slides, which include views of scenery and buildings in Wheeling and various other locations in Ohio County, WV (1871-1897, undated); Grand Army of the Republic and U.S. military history scrapbooks (1883-1918); broadsides, including advertisements for a circus in Moundsville (ca. 1827-1960 [includes facsimiles]); and maps and atlases of pre- and post-statehood West Virginia, counties, colonial North America, and other topics (1730-1976, undated [includes facsimiles]). An addendum of 2013/05 includes additional personal and professional correspondence, publications, newspaper morgue files, photographs, audio-visual material, artifacts, scrapbooks, account books, and maps. For more information on Jim Comstock, see the Historical Note.

A twenty page, unpublished history of the descendants of George and Margaret (McCorkle) Lynch who emigrated from Scotland to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1770.