Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Diaries of Hostetter, a coal miner from Nelsonville, Ohio, which cover the years 1925 to 1949, one volume for each year. There are no volumes for the years 1933, 1937, 1942, 1944, 1945, and 1947. They contain information on mine production, inspections, accidents, equipment, labor, and other aspects of the coal mining industry.

A certified abstract to the Felix Snider property of Grant district, Monongalia County, indicating leases of mineral rights, describing location of property and payment of taxes. There is a history of this acreage from when it was patented (1809) by the Commonwealth of Virginia to the heirs of George Snider to the settlement (1930) of the Felix Snider Estate. Included in the abstract are legal actions among the heirs, warranty deeds, plats, and wills. Part of this tract is still owned by the Snider family who have the original 1809 land patent.

Research papers of Festus P. Summers (1895-1971), a historian who served on the faculty of West Virginia University from 1932 to 1965 and as chairman of the history department from 1946 to 1962. Collection includes photocopied correspondence, articles, and typescripts, as well as manuscript notes. Many of the photocopies appear to have been made from Archives and Manuscript collections at the West Virginia and Regional History Center, including A&M 873, A&M 1661, A&M 1824, and A&M 2141. Topics include the West Virginia coal mine wars (1912-1927); West Virginia tax reform and economy (1900s-1950s); and individuals related to coal mining, labor, and legislation (1902-1971). These individuals include Van A. Bittner, W.E. Chilton, Justus Collins (President of Winding Gulf Colliery Company), Walter S. Hallanan, Henry D. Hatfield, M.M. Neely, C.E. Smith, and Walter R. Thurmond. Also included is a copy of a dissertation titled "Rush Dew Holt: The Boy Senator, 1905-1942," by William Ellis Coffey of WVU (1970), and a typescript copy of a manuscript by Dr. James Morton Callahan titled "History of West Virginia University: Problems and Policies." The Callahan typescript also includes annotations by Summers (ca. 1966).

Coal miner of Monongalia County, West Virginia. The collection includes pay envelopes and records from the Rosedale Coal Co., Connellsville By-Product Coal Corp. and Kelley's Creek Colliery Co. There also are certificates of appointment for a second-class mine foreman and a check weighman, an official tally sheet for a UMWA election, bylaws of the Mountaineer Craftsmen's Cooperative Association, a grievance blank, production statistics (1920-1921) for the Rosedale Coal Co.'s No.2 mine, and class notes and course material (1928) from a West Virginia University Mining Extension Course.

Joe Ozanic went to work in the coal mines of Mt. Olive, joining in 1909, UMW Local 728. After serving briefly in the army during World War I, Ozanic returned to work in the mines at Mt. Olive. In 1932, Ozanic joined the Progressive Mine Workers of America, a rival organization to the United Mine Workers, serving both as president of PMWA District 1 and as national president. During the 1940s, Ozanic was an organizer for the American Federation of Labor. These papers reflect Ozanic's involvement with the Progressive Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor. Material from his career as a union leader includes correspondence, financial records, speeches, certificates, newspaper clippings, photographs, broadsides, scripts for plays, union convention proceedings, contracts, bylaws, constitutions, and miscellaneous publications. Subjects include the National Labor Relations Board, American labor unions during World War II, the Union Miners' Cemetery at Mt. Olive, Illinois, AFL organizing drives, miners' marches in Illinois, Mother Jones, and John L. Lewis. Among the correspondents are Joe Pecik, John Fancher, and Vivian Pleska. Ozanic's personal papers include family correspondence, receipts, certificates, memorabilia, and photographs. The correspondence includes postcards from Ozanic to his wife and son from various places in the United States and Ozanic's certificate of competency as a coal miner, issued by the Illinois Miners Examining Board in 1917.

Jean L. "Marat" Moore is a journalist, photographer, author, and former coal miner best known for her work with the Coal Employment Project (CEP) and the Coal Mining Women's Support Team (CWST). This collection mostly contains materials related to her work with the CEP between 1980 and 1998.

The microfilm collection contains 10 diaries and inserted supplementary letters, clippings, and photographs kept by Presbyterian missionary Mary Behner during her years as the first director of The Shack, a settlement house in the Scotts Run Area of Monongalia County. In addition to the microfilm, there is an addendum to this collection dating from 2006. It includes a photograph album kept by Anna Santore DeLancy, who was a Sunday School teacher at the Shack, a Presbyterian neighborhood house operating in Pursglove, West Virginia. Anna was the recreation director after the founder Mary Behner Christopher left in 1938. The photographs document the people and activities of the Shack in the 1930s. There is also correspondence between Bettijane Burger and people who knew Mary Behner Christopher, and clippings regarding the history of the Shack, among other material.

The collection consists of unrevised, bound proofs of an unpublished book, 'The Long Tunnel: A Coal Miner's Journal', by Arble (October 15, 1976) and a photocopy of his article, 'Notes from a Coal Mine,' published in the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, Jan. 12, 1975.