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Office files of a former dean of the College of Agriculture, West Virginia University. Files include papers of: the Resources Committee of the West Virginia State Planning Board, 1938-1945; Potomac River Basin, 1945; Soil Conservation Society, West Virginia Chapter, 1953-1955; West Virginia Forest Council; and of the Waters Development Conference of 1949.

An 82 page manuscript order and letter book (29 July 1861-13 February 1862, Virginia) of the Confederate States Army of the Northwest detailing with the operations of the Cheat or Valley Mountain campaign of 10-15 September 1861 and the "Romney Campaign" of 9 January-5 February 1862, both unsuccessful efforts to dislodge Federal forces from the upper Potomac region and the earliest confrontation between Rosecrans, Jackson and Lee. This letter book gives some idea of the indefinite chain of command in the early Confederate Army and also portrays its efforts to institutionalize itself in the orders and regulations recorded. Included are copies of 3 ADS, 35 DS, and 8 ALS by the Confederate General, C.L. Stevenson, the Adjutant General of the Army of the Northwest, commanded by General W.W. Loring. Noteworthy are the letters written during the Romney Campaign in January 1862 which indicate the suspicions of W.W. Loring and C.L. Stevenson as to their deployment by T.J. Jackson. Reports name Confederate spies who reported on concentrations of Federal troops, at Cumberland and the building pontoons there for the crossing the Potomac. Also noteworthy is a 11 October 1861 letter from Loring praising the forces under his command at Cheat Mountain for their victory in an engagement, which indicates the friction between W.W. Loring and R.E. Lee, who had earlier failed to hold the same mountain from a major Federal assault.

Historical research material collected by William Rice from ca. 1975-2015, mostly relating to the history of western Virginia and southeastern West Virginia, the Upper Potomac River basin, and particularly Elkins and Randolph County. There are three record series including subject files (boxes 1-4), miscellaneous research files (boxes 4-5), and family histories (boxes 5-16). Subject files are arranged alphabetically and cover many topics ranging from early settlement, the formation of cities and counties, wars, etc. Miscellaneous research files regard the War of 1812 and the Civil War in connection with western Virginia, among other material. Family history files are arranged alphabetically by last name; they document mostly eighteenth-century settlers of what was once Augusta County, Virginia.