This collection includes manuscripts, printed and newspaper materials collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. This collection includes papers concerning many phases of West Virginia History, although centered on Preston, Taylor, and Monongalia counties. Includes marriage licenses from Preston County, 1881-1947; newspaper clippings from Morgantown newspapers; a meeting invitation from the Monongalia County Historical Society, 1947; newspaper clippings on the emancipation of slaves in Taylor County; and a concert program from the Morgantown Musical and Literary Society, 1880.

This collection also includes numerous transcripts of a broadcast titled "Know West Virginia Better," delivered by Dean Oliver Shurtleff of Fairmont State College. The topics of these broadcasts include, Kingwood, Preston County, Northwestern Turnpike, Morgantown, Monongalia County, Barbour County, women in West Virginia, Webster Springs, Rhododendron Festival of West Virginia, Harrison County, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, rivers in West Virginia, flora and fauna of West Virginia, the Monongahela-Cheat region, West Virginia songs, Weston, Fairmont State College, West Virginia economics, Grafton County, Clarksburg, Grafton, state parks, authors from West Virginia, Fairmont, Marion County, mounds and mound builders, Native Americans, Kanawha Valley, West Virginia History, roads and highways, and more.