Collections

This collection is housed off-site. At least 72 hours advanced notice is required for retrieval.

Letters, speeches, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia of Dr. William O. Armstrong, principal of Dunbar School, Fairmont, and the first Black student to attend the graduate school at West Virginia University. Includes correspondence, articles, speech scripts, and other material regarding Armstrong's involvement with the Marion County Public Library, Marion County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and other organizations. Also includes memorial articles, obituaries, and correspondence to Armstrong's family after his death in 1970.

Includes a photocopy of the will of William Parsons (1828); an accurate typescript of the will, prepared by donor; a less accurate transcript of the will, from a family history book; a transcript of an 1850s financial document from the Randolph County Courthouse about Buck, one of the slaves mentioned in Parsons' will who was apparently suing for freedom; and background information about William Parsons and his wife, Catherine/Catharine, as well as the names of Buck's children.

Campaign materials of political parties and literature of controversial organizations, including newspapers, magazines, leaflets, buttons, stickers, cards, and other items. There is material on the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s, including a tape recording of Klan songs.

Much of the collection consists of personal and professional correspondences of William Robert Adam. There are also a number of programs from events that Adam coordinated or was invited to attend in Alexandria and Washington, DC. The collection also includes awards and certificates, newspaper clippings, bibliographical information, publications, and research papers. There is also a folder on the composer Richard Bales, who conducted orchestral performances at some of Adam's events. The collection includes a number of realia such as medals and medallions.

Five letters from William M. Rome to his wife, Said from Nashville, Tennessee. Rome has traveled from New York in order to find lucrative work in Nashville. He writes about missing his wife and the comforts of home.

A group of letters and a postcard, 1935-1961, written to W. Russell Button of Chicago, Illinois. The collection accompanied a book, Minxes Admonished or Beauty Reproved by Sir William Russell Flint, which was a gift to the Rare Book Collection.

This collection consists of the personal papers of William Rhoads Vivian (VMI Class of 1932), including:

• A scrapbook and VMI memorabilia from his cadetship
• Records from his United States Army service
• A roster of the 698th Field Artillery Battalion during World War II
• Photographs
• Citations
• Certificates