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 Subjects Indians of North America

Manuscript regarding Volga Community of Barbour County 0 Linear Feet 47 pages

Volga Community, Barbour County
Sketches of pioneer life on the Virginia frontier (what is now central West Virginia) in the late eighteenth century including the exploits of pioneers and Indian fighters such as Jacob Reger, Sam Hughs and Joseph and Joel Martin. White comments on the activities of the company, Confederate sympathies and activities of various citizens, the Ringgold Raiders, and the Confederate scout, John Righter.
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Marion County, White Day Creek History 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 2 1/2 in. (1 document case)

White Day Creek Watershed Association

Records regarding the history of the White Day Creek region of Marion County, WV. There are also photocopies of primary sources of information supplementary to the White Day Creek book, including: letters and financial ledger of the Watson family (1820-1890); essay titled "Smithtown Local History" (1922); business ledger of George Washington Stevens, a cobbler (1890s); deeds and estate sale documents of William Morris (1854); grist mill business ledger of Sam Smith (1894); financial ledger and "folk wisdom" of Levi Devault (ca. 1875-1900); and the history of the Weaver family, including estate sale information (1854). The history of education in Marion County is documented in the photocopied "1992 Dedication of the Snodgrass One-Room Schoolhouse Museum; October 30, 1992." (Original in Printed Ephemera Collection.) This dedication program also features a reminiscence of Ethel Ferrell (b. 1898), a Marion County school teacher.

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New River Symposiums Proceedings 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in.

New River Gorge National River (Agency : U.S.)
Compact disc of a searchable database of 1200 facsimile pages of New River Symposium Proceedings dating from 1982-1999. Articles in the Proceedings discuss the natural and cultural features of the New River region of West Virginia, including the following topics: botany, Civil War, coal mining, environmentalism, folklore, folk music, geology, Green Sulphur Springs, historic preservation, iron industry, native Americans, railroads, rivers (Bluestone, Gauley, New), transportation, and Mary Draper Ingles.
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Peace Tree Exhibit Photographs and Brochures 1.8 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 9 1/2 in. (4 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 flat storage box, 3 1/2 in.); (1 card box, 5 in.); (1 oversize package, 1 in.)

Schein, Anna M.
An exhibit created by Anna M. Schein to commemorate the planting of a peace tree and its annual honoring ceremonies conducted by leaders of various Native American peoples including the Iroquois. Representative leaders were Peterson Zah, Navajo Nation President; Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation Faithkeeper and Leon Shenandoah Tadodaho, Presiding Moderator of the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy. The tree planting ceremony dates back to the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (ca. 1450) by the legendary leaders Deganawidah, Hiawatha, Atotarho and Jigonhsasee. The latter being the earliest noted of the clan mothers, an institution crucial for the Iroquois in determining who would be designated league chief. The peace tree, a white pine, under which war hatchets were originally buried by the Iroquois, is a primary symbol of unity and peace as well as that of reason and health. Symbolically, it signifies that Mankind should take Nature as an example of nurture superseding the need for Man to make war.
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Pocahontas County Roads 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in.

A rough draft history of the main roads covering segments of highways, such as State Route 39 between Huntersville and Marlinton, in the form of a travel brochure. Mentions frontier and pre-Civil War history of such places as Mill Point and Lewisburg, but its focus is on the Civil War history of Pocahontas, Greenbrier, and Randolph counties. Significant people and places mentioned are: The Great Warrior Path, Droop Mountain, Lewisburg, White Sulphur Springs, W. W. Averell, Huntersville, Hillsboro, Mill Point, Marlinton, Greenbrier River, Edray, Robert E. Lee, W. W. Loring, Big Springs, Cheat Mountain, Allegheny Mountain, and Knapps Creek.
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Rufus A. West, Collector, Papers 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1 in. (2 folders)

West, Rufus A.

This collection includes manuscripts, printed and newspaper materials collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. This collection includes papers concerning many phases of West Virginia History, although centered on Preston, Taylor, and Monongalia counties. Includes marriage licenses from Preston County, 1881-1947; newspaper clippings from Morgantown newspapers; a meeting invitation from the Monongalia County Historical Society, 1947; newspaper clippings on the emancipation of slaves in Taylor County; and a concert program from the Morgantown Musical and Literary Society, 1880.

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Thomas Scott (1772-1856), Facsimiles and Transcriptions of Papers 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box)

Scott, Thomas, 1772-1856
Facsimiles of manuscripts and typescript transcriptions of the papers of a traveling minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church who became a lawyer and a judge. Topics include Captain Michael Cresap, Chief Logan, western massacres during the Revolutionary War, customs and privations of the western settlers, the Kentucky frontier, Methodism in the west, old preachers, and historical recollections. Scott was assigned circuits in Berkeley, Frederick, Gloucester, Ohio, and Stafford counties of Virginia, and, after 1801, he moved permanently to Ohio. Material covers the years 1700-1856.
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Vida Bailey, Collector, Papers 0.2 Linear Feet 2 in. (4 folders)

Bailey, Vida
Indentures, deeds, court papers, land grants, letters, church notices, tax and other receipts, bills, notes and other materials concerning the Bluestone River area in Summers County, West Virginia, especially the Josiah Meadows and Robert Lilly families. Includes a Church of Christ minute book kept by Thomas Lilly, 1802-1817; a land grant to Jesiah Meador signed by Governor James P. Preston, 1809; and a letter from William Sellergrit Lilly from upper Louisiana Territory telling of earth tremors, sickness, and expected Indian trouble. Places mentioned include Mercer, Raleigh, Montgomery, and Giles counties, and Sinking Creek.
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Virgil Anson Lewis, Historian, Papers 1.75 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.)

Lewis, Virgil Anson, 1848-1912
Published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence, and speeches of Virgil A. Lewis (1848-1912), the first state historian and archivist and a former state superintendent of schools. Subjects include the exploration, Indian wars, and settlement of Western Virginia; the Tory insurrection in the Valley of Lost River, 1781; the West Virginia new state movement; Masonry in West Virginia; Andrew S. Rowan; and various West Virginia authors. Correspondents include: George W. Atkinson, Waitman Barbe, Danske Dandridge, William M.O. Dawson, Granville D. Hall, Hu Maxwell, Mrs. Alexander McVeigh Miller, and Melville D. Post. See Scope and Content Note for contents list.
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William Haymond (1771-1848), History of the Haymond Family, Typed Document 0 Linear Feet Summary: 1 item, 22 pages

Haymond, William (1771-1848)
History of the Haymond family, pioneer residents of the Palatine tract in Marion County, West Virginia. Eight letters written by William Haymond to his nephew Luther Haymond recall frontier life in the Monongahela, Tygart, Ohio, and Kanawha valleys, 1780-1793. Subjects include the settlement of Morgantown, Clarksburg, Williamstown, the Palatine tract, and Coburn's Fort; land surveys in Harrison County; trapping and hunting; road surveying; and Indian warfare.
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