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Letters of Henry and Joseph Bennett concerning travel by sea from New York to Chagres, Panama, overland across Panama and by ship to San Francisco in 1851. Letters from California, 1852-1853, discuss arrival of immigrants; employment conditions and wages; gambling and social life in San Francisco; investment opportunities; conditions in the gold mines; travel by steamboat to Hangtown (Placerville); churches; crime; Indians; mining profits; cost of land; ranching; blacksmith and plough shop in Santa Clara; digging a canal to take water from the American River to supply Hangtown, Coon Hollow, and Gold Hill; and Webber Run. Two letters by Joseph Bennett from Australia in l853 comment on mining, living conditions, profits of mining, and criminals sent from Great Britain. There is one 1849 letter to Samuel Bennett from relatives in Sheffield, England. There are several items of Jacobs family correspondence, 1880-1923, concerning family affairs, schools, economic conditions in Jackson County, and Monongalia County taxes in 1907.

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.

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.

Correspondence, business records, legal papers, and miscellaneous papers of the Haldeman, Baldwin, and Smith families of Monongalia and Preston counties in West Virginia and of Greene, Fayette, and Washington counties in Pennsylvania. The major portion of the collection relates to the business dealings of the Rev. T.A. Haldeman, who built and repaired carriages, wagons, and buggies at a shop in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and also dealt in fruits and vegetables. There is genealogical material on the Haldeman family, information about the Drummond Chapel Sunday School (Morgantown, West Virginia), and the journal of the Rev. T.H. Trainer (1881-1899), who served Drummond Chapel, Rock Forge, Woodland, Mellon, and other Monongalia County churches.

Minutes of the meetings of the Trustees dealing with raising and disbursing of funds, the establishment of rules and regulations and the hiring of personnel to supervise and to instruct at the Academy. Special mention is made of site location and awarding and payment of contracts for the erection of a new building. The new building was completed in 1831, located at the northeast corner of Spruce and Walnut Streets. Also mentioned are the trustee boards' decisions on acquiring property and funding for the Female Seminary and on expanding the Academy by establishing separate departments such as the library. This book is a record of the establishment and expansion of those institutions which became the basis for West Virginia University.

Two manuscript volumes containing surveyors' field notes for Harrison County, and copies of Monongalia County surveys, compiled by members of the Haymond family. These notes also contain: information concerning acreage cleared, location and type of construction of the homes of some early residents of Harrison County; dates of patents and names of those persons to whom patents were issued; street courses and survey of the corporation of Clarksburg, 1835; and names of members of a survey party, wages paid, miscellaneous expenses, and camp locations.

Bound typescripts of reminiscences and local history prepared by James R. Moreland, Morgantown, including "History of the Various Courts of the County of Monongalia...," and "Morgantown, West Virginia, Its Practical Jokes and Jokers...With Some Sketches Pertaining to Its History and Development." Indexed.