Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Papers, photographs and maps of a wealthy Morgantown family with interests in real estate and coal mining. Most of the business papers are those of J. M. G. Brown, a West Virginia University law school alumnus, who was president of Scotts Run Fuel Corporation. Brown was also a housing developer whose company, Suburban Real Estate of Morgantown, was a competitive concern not only locally but throughout north central West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. There are papers indicating his attempts to open Morgantown to airline service. His sister, Mary Virginia Brown was a genealogist and local historian noted for A History of the Negroes of Monongalia County. Among her papers are genealogies of the Bannister, Brown, Bushey, Dorsey, Suter and Williams families. There are also original documents of Colonel William McCleary, an early settler of Morgantown. There is also a manuscript "List of Taxable Property for 1786, Monongalia County," including five pages listing residents and their "tithables," horses, and cattle.

Correspondence, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, documents, photographs and other papers of Carl B. Allen, Army Air Corps officer, aviator, and newspaper writer. Subjects include the development of the Autogiro, 1930; air mail, 1933-1935; the Howell Inquiry, 1934-1937; the Army and aviation, 1934-1936; aviation achievements, 1934-1937; George W. Carver's work at Tuskegee; South American round trip, 1936; first trans-Pacific flight, 1936; Amelia Earhart; the Ford Air Tour, 1926-1927; America First Committee; the Air Safety Board, 1936-1940 and the Glenn L. Martin Company.

Air Force Captain Harvey Bowman served in the Pacific Theater during World War II as a member of the 43rd Bombardment Group and on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. One oversize scrapbook chiefly documents Bowman's military service in New Guinea and Australia from 1942 to 1945. This fragile volume consists of loose pages with photographs, orders and regulations, newspaper clippings, and other miscellaneous material tipped in. Photographs depict Bowman's unit and his surroundings in Australia and New Guinea, including both military subjects and the local people and geography. Also includes issues of several different GI newsletters; a 1944 issue of Yank magazine, a 1942 Pacific Islands Yearbook, and a 1929 dance program.

Personal correspondence, legal and financial papers, diary, and newspaper clippings of Mrs. Sallie Maxwell Bennett of Weston, wife of Louis Bennett, Sr., the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1908. The collection concerns the career of her son, Louis Bennett, Jr., particularly his student days at Yale, his pioneer efforts to organize the West Virginia Flying Corps, his service in the Royal Air Force [RAF], and his subsequent death in World War I. Additional topics include Mrs. Bennett's effort to memorialize her son, family affairs, and a South American trip in 1915. Correspondents include Louis Bennett, Sr. and Jr., and John W. Davis.