Collections

Correspondence, reports, statistics, maps, photographs and pamphlets related to the efforts in West Virginia of the early southern program of the General Education Board (GEB). The GEB, founded by John D. Rockefeller, is one of the most significant philanthropic efforts in the history of U.S. education particularly noted for its aid to African-American schools, teachers and students. In West Virginia it aided the African-American colleges of West Virginia State, a public institution and Storer, a privately supported school. For both colleges it was asked to fund building construction, equipment purchases and teachers salaries especially for vocational education and home economics. Mention is also made of conditions at Storer College and at other Negro colleges around the country. Other West Virginia schools aided were Bethany, Salem, Morris Harvey, West Virginia University, Davis & Elkins, and West Virginia Wesleyan. Aid was requested at these other West Virginia schools for endowments, salaries, building construction and purchases of equipment and books. There are also for these colleges selected balance sheets, resolutions, statistics, prospectuses and case studies. There is much material on vocational education, adult and extension courses, and surveys and statistics of libraries, schools and teachers on the secondary level in West Virginia supplied mainly by the West Virginia Department of Education. Other topics mentioned are expansion of secondary education in mining areas, establishment and maintenance of the West Virginia Division of Information and Statistics, the formation of the West Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges, the employment stabilization of life planning institutes and war activities of schools in both World War I and World War II. Names mentioned are D. B. Purinton, Frank B. Trotter, W. E. Hodges, J. N. Deahl, Wallace B. Fleming, George Rice Hovey, Cloyd Goodnight, Stephen B. Elkins, Henry D. Hatfield, Nat T. Frame, L. L. Friend and M. P. Shawkey.

The photographs and negatives of the Gerbrick Studio of Martinsburg whose most prominent proprietor was Jacob H. Gerbrick. There are group and individual portraits as well as pictures of business and industry, modes of transportation, schools, churches, residences, clubs and organizations, and social events. These photographs reflect life in Martinsburg and the extreme Eastern panhandle, including unique events such as strikes or floods, annual events such as festivals and parades, and everyday occurrences of the inhabitants. There are also images of the apple industry, Gerbrick family, Shepherd College, and Storer College.

Correspondence of the West Virginia State Board of Control, which was responsible for all state correctional institutions, educational institutions, and hospitals from 1909 to 1949. Individuals serving on the three-man board at various times were John S. Lakin, J.W. Barnes, J.A. Chambers, J.S. Darst, Edgar B. Stewart, J.Z. Terrell, W.R. Thurmond, John B. White, and F.W. McCullough. The letters in this collection deal with all state institutioris and their problems. There are letters dealing with building construction, building repairs, the purchase of new property, thehiring of new employees, employees' salaries, institution menus, building insurance, gifts and grants to institutions, and institutional financial matters. State institutions covered in the correspondence are: Bluefield State College; Berkeley Springs Sanitarium; Berkeley Springs Park; Concord College; Colored Orphans Home; Colored Insane Asylum; Colored Old Folks Home; Denmar Sanitarium; Demonstration Packing Plant at Inwood; Droop Mountain Battlefield; Fairmont Emergency Hospital; Industrial Home for Girls; Industrial Home for Colored Girls; Industrial Home for Boys; Industrial Home for Colored Boys; Hopemont Sanitarium; Huntington State Hospital; Jackson's Mill 4-H Camp; Indian Mound Cemetery; Lakin State Hospital; Marshall College; McKendree Hospital; Medium Security Prison; Miner's Hospitals 1, 2, and 3; Pinecrest Sanitarium; New River State School; Potomac State College; Spencer State Hospital; Storer College; Reymann Memorial Farms; Andrew S. Rowan Memorial Home; Rutherford Sanitarium; School for the Deaf and Blind; School for the Colored Deaf and Blind; Shepherd College; Weston State Hospital; West Liberty State College; Welch Emergency Hospital; West Virginia Training School; West Virginia State College; West Virginia Tech; and West Virginia University. Correspondents include Charles H. Ambler, R.A. Armstrong, Thurman Arnold, Cleveland M. Bailey, Charles Baker, J.J. Cornwell, Brooks Cottle, William M.O. Dawson, John W. Davis, W.E. Glasscock, Howard M. Gore, Denzil L. Gainer, C. Howard Hardesty, Henry D. Hatfield, Thomas E. Hodges, Homer A. Holt, Rush D. Holt, B.M. Laidley, E.F. Morgan, J.F. Marsh, C.W. Meadows, Robert H. Mollohan, Matthew M. Neely, Jennings Randolph, John D. Rockefeller II, A.M. Reese, D.B. Purinton, Frank B. Trotter, J.R. Turner, W.R. Thurmond, and I.C. White. More information about collection's content is available in the control folder. Please note, the contents list in the control folder does not refer to reel numbers, and the microfilm reels are not numbered. Microfilm reels contain information about the relevatn series/volumes/etc. that they contain, which should match with the same information on the handwritten contents list.