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Professional correspondence, newspaper clipping, manuscript notes, and speech of West Virginia politician Nathan Goff, Jr. (1843-1920). Goff's career included terms as West Virginia Legislator (1867-1868), U.S. district attorney for West Virginia (1868), Secretary of the Navy (1881), U.S. Congressman (1883-1889), federal judge in the U.S. Fourth Circuit (1892-1911), and U.S. Senator (1913-1919). The letters and telegram are in a series written in August, 1876; correspondents are Nathan Goff and Henry M. Mathews, who was the Attorney General of West Virginia at the time and would go on to be governor. The clipping is from the Morgantown Post and describes Goff's speech at a Union League's Lincoln Dinner in Brooklyn, New York (November 7, 1891). The manuscript notes were written by Goff about a speech by M.T. Frame (October 1886). The speech by Goff addresses the Protective Tariff (undated).

Negative photostats of letters of Nathan Goff, Jr. (1843-1920), as Secretary of the Navy, to President Rutherford B. Hayes. Goff's career included terms as West Virginia Legislator (1867-1868), U.S. district attorney for West Virginia (1868), Secretary of the Navy (1881), U.S. Congressman (1883-1889), federal judge in the U.S. Fourth Circuit (1892-1911), and U.S. Senator (1913-1919).

Letter from 1842 authored by Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872) regarding business and political matters. Van Winkle was a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. Contains original manuscript and typescript copy of a letter from Van Winkle, Parkersburg, to Charles P. Bailey, dated April 12, 1842, describing his opinions on imports and foreign debt, a tariff on foreign imports, a proposed national bank, internal improvements, and other subjects of political importance in the early forties.

Four page letter, and receipt for stock, of Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872), a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. The four page manuscript letter with envelope is from Van Winkle, Baltimore, Maryland, to George O. Welles and the committee of council in Parkersburg regarding the sale of railroad bonds in the town (12 October 1855). The receipt is for the purchase of stock in the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Company, signed by Van Winkle (15 September 1854).

Personal papers and scrapbooks of Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872), a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. Includes manuscripts speeches, essays, correspondence, and three scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Highlights include a manuscript speech on the American Colonization Society, which helped found the colony of Liberia (undated); a letter to the president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company (March 18, 1836); a draft of "Address of the Delegates composing the New State Constitutional Convention to their Constituents" (1863). Other subjects of Van Winkle's writings include the U.S. Constitution, philosophical and religious writings (including the rights and nature of mankind), and Virginia and West Virginia politics. The scrapbooks are mostly full of clippings, with subjects including the Northwestern Turnpike, politics, and the development of Parkersburg (1827-1902, undated). One of the scrapbooks also includes journal entries (1834-1844).

Typescript copies of forty letters from U.S. President Benjamin Harrison to Senator Stephen B. Elkins from 1886 to 1900. Topics are primarily personal in nature and include trips, family news, weather, and social activities. Harrison also comments briefly on Elkins' election to the Senate in 1894, political appointments, and Indiana politics in the late 1890s.

Papers of Rush Dew Holt, Sr. (1905-1955) relating to his personal and political activities. Types of material include publications, clippings, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera, among others. The collection is divided into six series: Personal and Political Papers (1840-2000 and undated), Artifacts (1939-1952 and undated), Legislative Records (1920-1955 and undated), Constituent Services (1923-1954 and undated), Press and Media Activity (1925-2003 and undated), and Administrative Files (1937-1940).

Includes both transcriptions and photocopies of original manuscripts of Samuel Price's 1828 law license and an 1879 life history from his birth through 1866. Also included are transcriptions of newspaper articles and letters concerning Price's life and death, and his funeral service. Samuel Price was born July 28, 1805. He served as Virginia's Lieutenant-Governor during the Civil War. He was president of the Constitutional Convention of West Virginia in 1872, which framed the present day constitution. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention which passed the ordinance of secession, but he did not vote for or sign the ordinance when it passed. He was also a member of the West Virginia State Legislature and a representative of West Virginia in the United States Senate. Price died February 25, 1884.

Papers of Waitman T. Willey (1811-1900), one of the founders of West Virginia. This collection includes letters to Harrison Hagans outlining the varied nature of opposition to the New State in Congress and Willey's position on slavery; letter from the Quartermaster General requesting support of a reorganization bill; cards and social invitations; and obituary clippings.