Search

Papers of James ("Jim") Franklin Comstock of Richwood, West Virginia, whose position as editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly and avocation as collector and advocate of all things West Virginia led to the preservation of much of the state's physical, visual, and textual history. The collection includes materials Comstock collected about West Virginia history as well as his own personal and professional papers. Materials include: general series of historical documents such as letters, deeds, and county court cases pertaining to a diverse range of subjects (1717, 1754-1988, undated [includes facsimiles]); letters of Lucy Prichard, former instructor at Marshall College (now Marshall University) (1925-1927, undated); clippings and typescripts of Wirt County resident and Atlantic Monthly writer Louis Eckert Reed (ca. 1960-1975, undated); account books concerning economic development and commercial activities in the northern part of the state in the 19th and early 20th centuries (1830-1938); printed material about West Virginia schools, businesses, and events as well as non-West Virginia books and pamphlets (1829-1995, undated); Comstock's personal and professional correspondence (1882-1995, undated); a wide variety of photographs, including images of West Virginia cities and towns, among many others (ca. 1850s-1995, undated); microfilmed records of the Civil War and Dunmore's War (undated); glass lantern slides, which include views of scenery and buildings in Wheeling and various other locations in Ohio County, WV (1871-1897, undated); Grand Army of the Republic and U.S. military history scrapbooks (1883-1918); broadsides, including advertisements for a circus in Moundsville (ca. 1827-1960 [includes facsimiles]); and maps and atlases of pre- and post-statehood West Virginia, counties, colonial North America, and other topics (1730-1976, undated [includes facsimiles]). An addendum of 2013/05 includes additional personal and professional correspondence, publications, newspaper morgue files, photographs, audio-visual material, artifacts, scrapbooks, account books, and maps. For more information on Jim Comstock, see the Historical Note.

A ledger and financial records of Logan Osborne (1836-39) also containing the will of Balamm Osborne. The ledger contains accounts of an assortment of general store goods from perishables such as food and candles to durable goods such as tools and carriages. There are Osborne family deeds, land contracts and letters about family matters and debt (1808-89). There are early nineteenth century state bank script from Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. There are land indentures and legal papers from eighteenth century Virginia, mainly of Matthew Rankin and Thomas Rutherford who contended for property in Ohio County. There is the thirty-eight page diary of Cleon Moore, a Confederate soldier from Charles Town. As a volunteer regiment member he was eyewitness and participant in the siege and capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. His unit was again called out prior to Virginia's secession resolution. He recounts their early maneuvering, stationing and being consolidated in the Virginia Second Cavalry which served at the First Battle of Bull Run. The account ends with the early 1862 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley of General "Stonewall" Jackson. There is Civil War related material of Logan Osborne including records of loans to the Confederate government, letters to family and friends recounting and justifying the events and cause of the Confederacy and an 1861 January 28 broadside, entitled: "To The People of Jefferson County...", of Logan Osborne as a Unionist candidate to the Virginia Secession Convention. Also there are early West Virginia political papers pertaining to Jefferson County such as an attempt to move the county seat to Sheperdstown. Also included are George Shutt business letters and certificates as a geologist; certificates from the United Daughters of the Confederacy to Mary M. Shutt; and Osborne family history, genealogy and obituaries of descendents.

Correspondence of Elizabeth T. Mann, a farmer's widow of Ft. Spring, Greenbrier Co. The letters written to Mann describe family matters and farm home life during the late nineteenth century. The addendum of 2025 October 27 consists of assorted correspondence, estate papers, legal and financial paperwork, ledgers, and other material pertaining to the Mann and Hutchinson families, particularly James Mann, I.T. Mann, and Matthew Mann. Includes brochures, books, and other material related to tourism in and the history of Bramwell, WV, Bluefield, WV, and other West Virginia locations.

Pictures and genealogical information on the Zinn and allied families, namely the Shafers, from France and Germany who eventually settled in West Virginia, particularly the line of George Zinn, a Revolutionary War veteran of Preston County. There are also two postcards of Williamstown, Wood County, West Virginia, and 108 photos of Morgantown, West Virginia, especially of the Farmers and Merchants Bank while C. Glenn Zinn was an executive, ca. 1742-1974. Addenda to the collection include: 1) Sixty-one glass lantern slides of a WWI flight squadron's activities, ca. 1917-1918; 2) postcards and travel memorabilia, ca. 1940s; 3) artifacts and illustrations featuring General Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson of the Confederacy during the Civil War, 1994-2002; 4) collectible liberty bell bank issued by the Second National Bank of Morgantown, undated (3 3/4 in. wide, 4 in. tall); 5) State of West Virginia Certificate for Edward W. Dering appointing him a member of the West Virginia Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, 1969; and 6) aerial view (11 in. x 16 in.) of Cheat Lake in the vicinity of the "old" bridge before the Interstate 68 bridge was built. Material covers the years 1742-2005.

Collection concerns J.J. Holloway, financier and banker of Wheeling, and his son William W. Holloway (Sr.), businessman and former executive of Wheeling Steel Corporation. There is a journal containing J.J. Holloway's personal expenditures for 1880, and a notebook of prices and specifications for iron and steel products of the Standard Steel and Iron Company.