Search

Start Over Date range 1850 Names Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

Arthur I. Boreman Papers, 1830/1949 17.75 Linear Feet Summary: 17 ft. 8 1/2 in. (42 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
Personal and business papers of Arthur I. Boreman (1823-1896), lawyer, U.S. senator, circuit court judge, and first governor of West Virginia. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to his judgeship and to the law firm of Boreman and Bullocks, Parkersburg, WV. Series include correspondence, notes on cases tried before Judge Boreman, envelope cases of material regarding legal cases in which Boreman was involved, financial material, and political and judicial printed material. Correspondence includes letters to Boreman from Francis H. Pierpont (1866-1867), which concern politics in West Virginia, the admission of Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state, the Virginia debt, and Reconstruction in Virginia. There is little other material relating to the governorship or political activities. Additional correspondents include J.W. Davis, John J. Davis, D.D.T. Farnsworth, D.H. Strother, J.G. Jackson, Charles J. Faulkner, and E.W. Wilson. Also includes manuscripts of speeches; muster rolls; household accounts; civil and court case papers concerning oil well drilling and sales; railroad property inventories and operation; coal prices, shipping data, and strikes; liquid fuel transportation; and steam and tow boat cargoes, navigation data, and names of boats in service on the Ohio River. There is also genealogical information on P.G. Van Winkle and Ebenezer Zane, and a letter and deposition by J.H. Diss Debar. For more details and box-level contents list, see Scope and Content Note. For more information on Arthur I. Boreman, see Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Clarence L. Musgrave Papers, 1839/1937 1.7 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each)

Musgrave, Clarence L.

The papers of Clarence L. Musgrave, Fairmont mortician and editor, include family correspondence (1861-1936); photographs; account books of his father, Eli, and his grandfather Zebulon Musgrave; record books and correspondence pertaining to the operation of the Eli Musgrave & Sons funeral home and the "Fairmont Republican" (ca.1895-1898). Other materials include a ledger of the John Carlin Camp, No.8, Sons of Veterans, United States Army (1887-1894); a record book of the Ladies Aid Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Fairmont (1901-1906); an account book of the estate of William Shaver (1860-1868); an account book of the Marion County Republican Executive Committee (1908-1910); membership and dues records of the Fairmont chapter of the Sons of the Revolution; and class notes from Fairmont State Normal School (1895).

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Harvey W. Harmer (1865-1961) Papers, 1842/1961 1.7 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each)

Harmer, Harvey W. (Harvey Walker), 1865-1961

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.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Henri Jean Mugler Diary and Memoir, 1838/1899 0.44 Linear Feet Summary: 5 1/4 in. (3 reels of microfilm (38 vols), 1.75 in. each)

Mugler, Henri Jean
Diary and memoir of a Confederate soldier, railroad laborer, and shop owner from Grafton. The memoir begins with Mugler's birth in Alsace-Lorraine in 1838, and covers his immigration to the United States; enlistment in the United States Army in 1851; military duty in New York, Boston, Rhode Island, Texas, California, and the Washington Territory where he participated in the expedition against the Yakima Indians as a member of Company B, Third Regiment, United States Artillery, under Phil Sheridan; and his return to Orange County, Virginia, where following the passage of the Secession Ordinance he enlisted in the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry serving as chief musician. The memoir concludes with Mugler's military career during 1861-1862. The diary covers the remainder of his military service, 1862-1864, and his confinement as a war prisoner at Elmira, New York, 1864-1865. Following the war, Mugler returned to Washington, D.C., and eventually gained employment with the National Cemetery Corps, working at various Virginia battlefields. While in Virginia he served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention of 1867. He worked at the National Cemetery at Grafton and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, eventually becoming superintendent of painters on the Road Division in West Virginia. After 1874 he worked briefly as a self-employed painter, and then opened a paint and hardware store in Grafton which he managed until the end of his life. Subjects include the Battle of Mine Run, the retreat from Antietam, the Battle of the Wilderness, prison life at Elmira, New York; reconstruction in Virginia; railroading and the railroad towns of Keyser, Oakland (Maryland), Parkersburg, Fairmont, and Wheeling; the strikes of 1877; interviews with Generals Ord and Sheridan; the Murphy Temperance Movement and W.C.T.U. activities; the Liberal Republican movement of 1872; the Greenback Party; the Chicago World's Fair of 1893; political figures such as John S. Carlile, John G. Carlisle, John T. McGraw, John W. Mason, Frank Hereford, John E. Kenna, John A. Logan, James G. Blaine, and "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

John W. Mason (1842-1917) Papers, 1831/1928 13 Linear Feet Summary: 13 ft. (29 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 index card box, 11 in.); (1 oversize folder, 2 items)

Mason, John W., 1842-1917
Correspondence, legal papers, photographs, and printed materials of John W. Mason (1842-1917). Mason was a circuit court and state Supreme Court judge, member of the Virginia State Debt Commission, and commissioner of Internal Revenue. The general correspondence contains personal and business letters, as well as manuscript speeches, notebooks, and reports. The period while Mason was circuit judge is particularly sparse. Also includes Internal Revenue correspondence consisting of about 8,500 pages in letter press copy books. Roughly half of the collection is devoted to his legal papers and printed materials concerning law in general. Subjects include early development of the Republican Party in West Virginia; political campaigns in West Virginia from 1870-1916; Monongalia Academy; industrial development; Internal Revenue Service (1889-1893); the Virginia Debt question; early banking development in Grafton; and the development of coal companies, particularly around Fairmont. Correspondents include Arthur I. Boreman, A.W. Campbell, Stephen B. Elkins, Benjamin Harrison, Francis H. Pierpont, and others.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Max Mathers Collection Papers, 1821/1957 6.6 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 6 1/2 in. (13 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (2 large flat storage boxes, 5 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/2 in.)

Mathers, Max
Correspondence, financial papers, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to the Max Mathers family and Monongalia County, West Virginia. The activities of Anna DeGant Mathers, wife of Max Mathers, and Margaret Mathers Barrick, his daughter, as well as of Margaret's two sons, William Mathers Barrick and George Milton Barrick, Jr. are well represented in the family papers. Max Mather's own papers document his personal life, Republican party activities, genealogical and local history interests, and his participation in civil defense planning for Morgantown, as well as his service on the local selective service board. There are letters and financial records of earlier members of the Morgan family, mostly of the Civil War period and later, but including two early 19th century account books and some early letters. Some of the names of Morgan ancestors are Elijah Morgan, Elizabeth Morgan, H.M. Morgan, H.D. McGeorge, N.H. McGeorge, and John R. Morgan. Photographs are largely of the Mathers family, but there are a few of the 175th anniversary of Monongalia County, and the dedication of a monument to Col. Zackquill Morgan, ancestor of Mathers and founder of Morgantown. The newspaper clippings cover personal mentions of Max Mathers and his family as well as local history articles, local events, and the family's involvement in the search for missing soldiers after the Korean conflict. The scrapbook was put together by Eugene L. Mathers, Max Mathers' father, and documents Monongalia County events, 1838-1951. In addition, there is a collection of greeting cards covering the first half of the 20th century and a collection of broadsides going back to the 1850s.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Pittenger Family Letters, 1841/1875 0 Linear Feet Summary: 34 items

Pittenger family
Various Pittenger family members wrote these letters, mostly to other family members. The most frequent correspondent is Abraham Pittenger, a farmer, teacher, and local government official in Hancock County. The letters detail farming and marketing of farm goods, educational developments, affairs of the Presbyterian Church, and family events. The collection also provides significant information about the early Republican party, secession crisis, Civil War and Reconstruction.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Scott-Palmer Family Papers, 1829/1916 2.3 Linear Feet Summary: 2 ft. 4 in. (3 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (3 flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each)

Scott-Palmer family.

Family papers of school master Theodore Scott (1805-1877); his daughter Saida Scott Palmer, a music teacher; her husband, Jewett Palmer, Civil War officer, local Republican official, and mayor of Marietta; and his daughters, Winifred and Muriel, a concert contralto. Includes correspondence, letter books, diaries, school registers and reports, scrapbooks, genealogical records, and theatre and opera programs.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Stephen B. Elkins Papers, 1841/1955 9.52 Linear Feet 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. (15 document cases, 5 in.); (8 large flat box cases, 3.5 in.); (2 small flat storage boxes, 3.5 in); (1 large flat storage box, 1.5 in); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in,); (1 reel of microfilm and 1 partial reel of microfilm shared with A&M 0591, 1.75 in. each) This collection shares a microfilm reel with another collection, A&M 0591. The extent of that reel is record in this collection, not A&M 0591.

Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911
Stephen Benton Elkins (b. 1841) represented West Virginia in the United States Senate as a Republican from 1895-1911. Prior to his Senate service, Elkins served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a captain in the Kansas Militia. He practiced law in the Territory of New Mexico in 1864 and served as a member of the Territorial House of Representatives, 1864-1865. He was the district attorney for the Territory from 1866-1867, and the United States district attorney for the Territory from 1867-1870. Around 1890, he founded and moved to the city of Elkins, WV. President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Secretary of War, 1891-1893. He died during his third Senate term in 1911 in Washington, DC. The Stephen B. Elkins collection includes speeches, maps, reports, photographs and other materials related to his political, business, and family affairs.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.