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Civil War materials collected by Dr. Brooks in writing his biographies of Grant and Lee. Included are pamphlets, scrapbooks, newspapers, photographs, and originals and copies of soldiers' letters, journals, and military reports. There are typed copies of a journal, 3 November-2 December 1863, of a civilian observer in Tennessee, who was at Grant's headquarters at the Battle of Chattanooga; letters, 1861-1864, of William Ludwig, a private in the Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Fayette, Kanawha, and Cabell counties; Confederate officers' reports on the action around Beverly in July 1863; and a Union soldier's letter of 9 May 1863, describing the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Papers of a Huntington dry goods merchant, W.H. Newcomb, include a domestic diary, 1865, kept by his mother, Emily Cox of Guyandotte, and a clipping scrapbook pertaining to the Newcomb family and the Anderson-Newcomb Department Store. The scrapbook contains obituary notices, society notes, local history items, and an autographed letter from Theodore Roosevelt to W. Barkla, dated 20 October 1900.

Correspondence, diaries, writings, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous papers of Wilson, a private in the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry (Confederate), President of West Virginia University, 1882-1883, member of Congress, 1883-1895, Postmaster General, 1895-1897, author of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff, 1894, and President of Washington and Lee University, 1897-1900. The collection includes portions of the diaries covering the years 1862-1863, 1865, 1868-1870, 1877-1891, 1896-1899. Most of the correspondence pertains to Wilson's career as Congressman and Postmaster General and his acceptance of the presidency of Washington and Lee University. Subjects include the tariff, the currency and bimetalism controversy, West Virginia state politics, the income tax, and foreign affairs. Also includes research papers of West Virginia University history professor Festus P. Summers on microfilm; there is a detailed listing of their contents, which includes newspaper editorials and letters.

Papers of William Price (1803-1881), a Monongalia County, West Virginia, resident, member of the Wheeling Convention, and state legislator, 1869-1873. Includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, legal documents, and pictures. The correspondence, 1858-1912, concerns farming, the cattle business, and observations on the Civil War. Land papers also relate to Greene County, Pennsylvania. There is a diary and memo book of William Price, 1861-1863, containing two references to his membership in the Wheeling Convention, 20 June 1861; an account book, 1885-1890; a journal maintained by Price during two business trips to Philadelphia in 1865; and a novel, "Charlotte Temple" published in 1807 owned by Mary Swon, with her family history inscribed on the back pages. There are also letters from Monongalia County citizens commenting on legislative enactments. Correspondents include R.L. Berkshire and Alexander Martin. An addendum of 2001/06/29 contains typescript transcriptions of the papers of William Price and family.

Correspondence, business and legal papers, notebooks, speeches, historical essays, genealogical records, clippings, and printed material of a Buckhannon lawyer, state jurist, member of Congress (1927-1929), and West Virginia Secretary of State (1933-1948). The collection also includes papers of O'Brien's father, Emmett J., a member of the state's first Constitutional Convention; letters from O'Brien's brother, Lieutenant A.L. O'Brien, 1874-1887, a West Point graduate serving at forts Assinniboine, Belknap, and Spokane in the Montana Territory and Washington State; letters of Henry M. White, O'Brien's brother-in-law, and a lawyer with the Immigration Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission; a diary of a trip to Texas in 1907; and genealogical records of the Joseph Hall, William Norris, O'Brien, and Jacob Reger families. Subjects include West Virginia Wildlife League; Methodism in Upshur County; an expedition in pursuit of Sitting Bull; the Rush Holt contested election of 1934; the McAdoo-Smith contest of 1924; the Townsendites; presidential election of 1936; state politics; pioneer history of West Virginia; and the Vandalia Company.

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.

Genealogy research papers compiled by W. Guy Tetrick and his son Willis G. Tetrick, Jr. The Tetricks were from Harrison County and the material in the collection mainly regards families of Harrison County and north central West Virginia. The collection contains mostly original genealogical compilations and family histories. It also contains personal and business correspondence; financial records; publications regarding local and state history; newspapers and news clippings; obituaries, cemetery records; records of the Sons of the American Revolution; and other material.

Papers relating to the Wilson, Lewis, and Ruffner families of Prince Edward County, Virginia, Kanawha County, [West] Virginia, St. Charles County, Missouri, and Fairfield County, Ohio. Correspondence between Nathaniel V. Wilson and Dr. Goodridge Wilson, concerning land purchases, preparation for the settlement of the family, care of livestock, employment of slaves, salt making and marketing, and the market price of salt. Other members of the family migrated to St. Charles County, Missouri, and to Fairfield County, Ohio, and land prices, suitable crops, settlement and railroad building in Missouri comprise much of their correspondence. A third generation member of the family, Virgy Wilson Hall and her husband, John G. Hall, were missionaries in Matamoras, Mexico, and Colombia, South America, and her correspondence with her mother comments on living conditions, progress of the missionary work, revolution in Colombia, and health and living conditions of the residents of the Barranquilla area. In addition there is a will of Col. Charles Lewis, a series of letters between two doctors concerning health problems and treatment of various illnesses, and two diaries by Mrs. Daniel Ruffner, 1846, and Elizabeth Ruffner Wilson, 1871-1872, commenting on family life and community activities in Fairfield County, Ohio, and Kanawha County, [West] Virginia. All are photocopies. Material covers the years 1774-1942.