Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Date range 1961 Subjects Coal mining.

Ernest Glenwood Otey (1895-1966) Papers, 1935/1965 18.3 Linear Feet Summary: 18 ft. 4 in. (43 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (2 large flat storage boxes, 2 in. each)

Otey, Ernest Glenwood, 1895-1966
Correspondence, financial records, speeches, reports, blueprints, and pamphlets of a Bluefield banker and businessman who was a treasurer of the Democratic Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Governors of West Virginia University. Subjects include numerous businesses in the Bluefield area, Bluefield State College, Concord College, Bank of Bramwell, Island Creek Coal Company, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Pocahontas Fuel Company, Smokeless Operators Association, Virginia Railway, Winding Gulf Collieries, and West Virginia University. Correspondents include W.W. Barron, Joe F. Burdett, Robert C. Byrd, Clyde L. Colson, Phil Conley, Ken Hechler, Cecil B. Highland, John Hoblitzell, Rush D. Holt, Elizabeth Kee, Robert P. McDonough, Clarence W. Meadows, Paul A. Miller, Arch A. Moore, Jr., Okey Patteson, Jennings Randolph, Raymond E. Salvati, John M. Slack, Hulett Smith, James M. Sprouse, Elvis J. Stahr, and Irvin Stewart.
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George Seldon Wallace (1871-1963) Papers, 1898/1963 9.54 Linear Feet Summary: 9 ft. 6 1/2 in. (22 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 photograph album, 2 in.); (1 cased photograph in composite box, 3/4 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Wallace, George Selden, 1871-1963
Papers of a Huntington attorney, member of the West Virginia National Guard, 1909-1916, employee of the C&O Railway Company, president of the Union Bank and Trust Company of Huntington, president of the Ben Lomond Company, president of the Blackberry, Kentucky and West Virginia Coal and Coke Company, attorney for Central City, prosecuting attorney of Cabell County, 1905-1908, chairman of a county Democratic committee, and delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 1912. Wallace served in the Spanish-American War and as judge advocate general in West Virginia during the coal strike in 1912-1913. During World War I he was a state draft executive, a major in the judge advocate general corps in Washington, and a lieutenant colonel in France. Subjects include the influenza epidemic of 1918, the depression of 1929-1932, state and national politics, and genealogy of the Wallace and allied families. The collection also includes three typescripts, "Runnymede Receipts,"Train Running for the Confederacy," and "Norborne Parish and St. George's Chapel," by Philip P. Gibson; Civil War data; an account of the taking of San Juan Hill in 1898; a military diary; a scrapbook of Cabell County court records; a speech against the League of Nations; and notes on a trip to Nice, circa 1919.
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George W. Miller Papers, 1948/1971 6.9 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 10 1/2 in. (16 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Miller, George W.
Correspondence and financial records of a Gilmer County businessman, gas drilling contractor, schoolteacher, and elementary school principal who was involved also with coal, timber, real estate, and water well businesses. The correspondence concerns Miller's business affairs; dealings with government agencies, such as the Federal Power Commission and the Small Business Administration; applications for teaching positions and graduate schools; tax problems; campaign for a seat on the school board; and dealings with West Virginia politicians. The financial material includes an account of the profits from gas wells. Other subjects include drilling costs and contracts; coal sales; Gilmer County schools and politics; business problems; land sales; road maintenance and construction; and the Consolidated Gas Company. Correspondents include Chauncey Browning, Jr., James Kee, Robert H. Mollohan, Arch Moore, and Hulett Smith.
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Howard Burton Lee (1879-1985) Papers, 1912/1964 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Lee, Howard Burton, 1879-1985
Correspondence and photographs used by Lee, who was a lawyer and attorney general of West Virginia, in the writing of his book, BLOODLETTING IN APPALACHIA, 1969, concerning the coalfields of West Virginia and the attempts by miners to unionize. The photographs show individuals, coal camps, mine guards, and scenes from the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek area in 1912-1913, Matewan, and Monongalia County during the 1925-1929 period. Correspondents include Gordon C. Felts, Coleman A. Hatfield, Henry D. Hatfield, Chapman Revercomb, and Walter R. Thurmond.
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Howard Sutherland, U.S. Senator for West Virginia, Correspondence, 1914/2022 4.79 Linear Feet 10 document cases, 5 in. each; 3 document cases, 2.5 in. each

Sutherland, Howard, 1865-1950

Includes letters, postcards, and other correspondence retained from Sutherland's daily activities as U.S. Senator. This includes constituent mail and correspondence with other politicians. Much of the correspondence deals with appointments and patronage. Other subjects mentioned are federal and West Virginia legislation, state Republican Party affairs, the West Virginia coal miners' march on Logan County, prohibition, disarmament, bonus claims, immigration, West Virginia primary election law, the Armenian Genocide, the prosecution of World War I deserters from West Virginia, the potential sale of Monticello to the federal government, and more. The letters are organized alphabetically by the name of correspondents.

A 1980 addendum to the collection includes correspondence from individuals and organizations regarding women's suffrage. There is a mix of pro- and anti-suffrage sentiment. Primary topics of discussion include the Bristow-Mondell House Resolution, considered in Jan. 1915, and the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, voted upon 5 June 1919. This material is located in box 10.

A more thorough inventory of the collection is available upon request.

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Justus Collins (1857-1934) Papers, 1887/1962 23.3 Linear Feet Summary: 23 ft. 4 1/4 in. (56 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.)

Collins, Justus, 1857-1934

Justus Collins [1857-1934] was an entrepreneur who opened his first coal mine in the Pocahontas- Flat Top coal field of Southern West Virginia, and thereafter operated mines in the New River, Tug River, and Winding Gulf coal fields. He headed a coal sales agency, speculated in coal and timber lands, headed a cement company, and was interested financially in rubber, oil, and gas companies. He played an important role in organizing the Tug River Coal Operators Association, the Winding Gulf Operators' Association, and the Smokeless Coal Operators Association of West Virginia.

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Paul Nyden, Collector, Five Unpublished Manuscripts Dealing with Coal Mining, Miners, and Unions, 1932/1975 0.77 Linear Feet 9 1/4 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Nyden, Paul

Five unpublished manuscripts relating to coal mining, miners, and unions, in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
(1) Tom Myerscough, Bloody Hell in Kentucky, circa 1932, a fictionalized account of the National Miners Union strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1931. Myerscough became an organizer and then president of the National Miners Union.
(2) Adam Getto, Autobiography, 1975, an autobiography of his experiences as a union section leader at Bethlehem Steel's Ellsworth Mine in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania.
(3) Miriam Schultz, Bread Upon the Waters, circa 1970, a novel about coal miners in western Pennsylvania.
(4) Miriam Schultz, "Larry Corcoran," circa 1970, a short story about a coal miner in western Pennsylvania.
(5) Tony Sabo, Stripped Naked in Public, circa 1971, an autobiographical account about his life in coal towns in northern West Virginia and his work in the Welfare Rights Organization.
Microfilm contains copies of Autobiography, Stripped Naked in Public, and "Larry Corcoran."

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Pocahontas Operators Association Records, 1941/1973 1.15 Linear Feet 1 document case, 5 in.; 5 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each

Pocahontas Operators Association
The minutes, correspondence, and financial records of the Pocahontas Operators Association and of its successors, the Smokeless Operators Association and the Southern Virginias Operators Association. Topics mentioned are foreign competition, environmental legislation, labor strife and union negotiations, and lobbying efforts in Congress and with state legislatures. Special mention is made of the conditions in the coal industry during World War II, the impact of the Taft-Hartley Act on bargaining for the 1948 contract, and the effects in the coalfields of union dissension in the UMWA over the role of the Tony Boyle administration during the early 1970s.
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Progressive Mine Workers of America, Archives, 1932/1965 16.94 Linear Feet Summary: 16 ft. 11 1/4 in. (35 document cases, 5 in.); (2 ledger books, 2 1/2 in.); (3 bound volumes, 10 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.); (2 artifact storage boxes, 3/4 in.); (8 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

Progressive Mine Workers of America

Records of the Progressive Mine Workers of America.

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Rush Meadows Papers, 1901/1967 23.4 Linear Feet 23 ft. 5 in. (52 document cases, 5 in. each); (7 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each)

Meadows, Rush
Papers of Rush Meadows, a Charleston, West Virginia, mining engineer and mine operator, containing correspondence, maps, reports, and photographs on companies involved in coal, oil and gas production in Appalachia, the Rocky Mountain states, and Latin America.
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