Search

Correspondence, clippings, biographical sketches, photographs, artifacts, and other items relating to the family of St. George Tucker Brooke (1844-1914), a professor at West Virginia University College of Law, 1878-1909. Correspondence includes business and personal letters to and from St. George Tucker Brooke and Charles Frederick Tucker Brooke, a Rhodes Scholar and Shakespearean authority at Yale; letters between Francis (Frank) Brooke to Mrs. Mary Brooke while he served in the U.S. and France during World War I (1918-1919); and letters from James Harold in Ireland to his son James in New York (ca. 1870). Other items include a surveyor's call book for Tucker County (1856-1857), which includes notes on the Tucker-Randolph County boundary; "A Narrative of My Life: for My Family," 1763-1849 by Judge Francis T. Brooke; a manuscript recipe book (1814); and microfilmed copy of typescript "Autobiography of St. George Tucker Brooke, Written for His Children" (reel 3). More detail about collection contents can be found in the control folder.

Copy of a transcription of the diary of Joseph McGill (1807-1874), an engineer and surveyor who emigrated from England to the United States. During the period covered by the diary (1854-1856), McGill was working for the "Coal River and Kanawha Mining and Manufacturing Company Coal Mines" at its property along the Big Coal River, Brier Creek Section, Boone County, (West) Virginia. The diary records McGill's daily work activities, including tasks, locations, and travel, as well as work performed by and wages paid to his workmen. The diary was transcribed by Joseph Patrick McGill (a descendant of Joseph McGill), who also added an introduction to the diary containing biographical, genealogical, and other information. The original transcription of this diary is located at Marshall University.

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.

Transcript of "Trips from Ohio to New Germany in Preston County, Virginia 1826, 1833, 1835; Journal entries taken from the Tagebuch [Diary] of David Simon, Boardman Township, Mahoning County, Ohio; translated from the German original with an introduction and indexes by Margaret Miller Simon." The journal entries record the travel experiences of David Simon from Mahoning County, Ohio to Washington, Pennsylvania and New Germany in Preston County near present-day Aurora; includes a record of relatives visited, including the Simon, Reinhart, Stemple, and Easterday (Ostertag) families. Also includes copies of selected pages of David Simon's original manuscript journal in its original German.

Papers of Hu Maxwell (1860-1927), historian, editor, and author of several county histories of West Virginia, along with papers and records of other family members. There are manuscripts of fiction, verse, and local history written by Maxwell, as well as a number of his manuscripts and publications dealing with forestry which were prepared while he was a member of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Maxwell kept a diary during the years 1901-1919 while residing in Morgantown, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., which is extensive for the period of World War I and which contains notes on the diary of Rufus Maxwell (1855-1907). See scope and content note for more detail.

Papers of Victorine Louistall Monroe, the first African-American woman to receive a graduate degree from West Virginia University (WVU), and the first African-American to serve as a WVU faculty member. Contains material regarding Louistall's education, career, and personal life, including correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, awards, and other material. See "Scope and Content Note" and "Historical Note" for further information.

Journals and newsletters of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal agency involved in environmental reclamation projects such as reforestation. Includes diaries and newspapers of CCC involvement in West Virginia documented in district and local camp periodicals, programs, and pictoral reviews.

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.