The first 59 boxes are the papers and correspondence of Clarksburg attorney and district legal counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. John Bassel graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, was admitted to the Bar in 1864, participated in the State Convention of 1872, and for a times, served as prosecuting attorney for Clarksburg. His papers are almost exclusively concerned with his legal practice, financial interests, and his work as legal counsel for the B&O. The latter constitutes the bulk of the collection.

There is correspondence with West Virginia political figures such as J. N. Camden, J. M. Bennett, Samuel Woods, Benjamin Wilson, Charles J. Faulkner, A. B. Fleming, A.G. Davis, John W. Davis and others. This correspondence, however, is concerned with legal matters. One of his daughters became Mrs. John W. Davis and another married Willie P. Goff.

Boxes 60-65 are the papers of Mrs. Alice Bean Bassel, secretary to Bassel, whom he married in 1913 following the death of his first wife in 1912. These papers deal with legal matters, Mrs. Alice Bassel's financial interests and the care of Bassel's retarded son and home following his death in 1914. There are several letters from Bassel's children to Mrs. Bassel on the care of the estate and other matters.

The last three boxes are the papers of Dr. Sidney Post, brother of Melville Davison Post and Clarksburg physician. While these papers shed some small light on his medical practice, they are most interesting for the large correspondence they contain with his many lady friends.