Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Papers, pamphlets, periodicals and books of George Crago who was labor editor of the Morgantown Dominion News (1943-51), then the only commercial daily newspaper in the U. S. A. with a daily labor department. Crago served as editor of the United Chemical Worker, CIO (1951-55) which operated in the Congress of Industrial Organizations national headquarters in Washington, DC. After the merger in 1955 of the AFL and the CIO he transferred to the Pennsylvania affiliate where he worked at the Harrisburg headquarters. The papers indicate various articles he researched and authored on Morgantown and labor topics.

Donor authored drafts of "West Virginia - A Film History," and a first draft of "West Virginia: A History for Beginners".

Book manuscripts by John Edmund Stealey III, Distinguished Professor of History at Shepherd University. Born of a prominent Clarksburg family, Stealey is known generally for his work on West Virginia and Appalachia including industrial slavery, antebellum business and industry, nineteenth century United States legal history. He has extended his research and publication range to include early Porfirian Mexico and Civil War era constitutionalism, African American life, and political development in the Border States. Collection includes galley proofs of The Antebellum Kanawha Salt Business and Western Markets (1993). An addendum of 2000/09/19 includes the final manuscript, typescript, and galley proof versions of Stealey's book Kanawhan Prelude to Nineteenth-Century Monopoly in the United States (2000), and galley proof of his book The Antebellum Kanawha Salt Business and Western Markets (1993). An addendum of 2007/08/27 includes a manuscript copy and final proof copy of Porte Crayon's Mexico: David Hunter Strother's diaries in the early Porfirian era, 1879-1885, edited and authored by John E. Stealey, and floppy discs (2005-2006). For more information about these books, see Scope and Content Note.

A collection of typescripts, brochures, pamphlets, books, tape recordings, and assorted ephemeral publications concerning radical political and economic groups and community organizing related to labor history in Appalachia and the United States as compiled by Keith Dix. Organizations and publications represented in the collection include New Directions in Labor (1970-1971), New American Movement (1970-1971), New University Conference (1971), Labor Research Association (1971), Students for a Democratic Society (1963), and Radical Education Project (1968-1969), among others. Also includes material from 1923 to 1976 concerning coal mining labor relations and the role of unions such as the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Topics of these items include rank-and-file members of the union, strikes, agreements, and mechanization. Tape recordings contain oral history interviews conducted by Keith Dix. Interviews chiefly concern coal mining in West Virginia. A more complete list of publications and tape recordings is available in the library. Most of the collection is arranged according in subject files, according to the topic or name of organization.

Correspondence between Harold Houston, chief attorney for UMWA District 17 and Floyd Evans of the legal firm of Evans and Sampselle concerning trials after the "Matewan Massacre." Legal affidavits pertaining to the miners' trials of 1922 in Charles Town, West Virginia and to the Red Jacket Coal and Coke Co. and Hitchman Coal and Coke Company's suits against John L. Lewis and John Mitchell of the UMWA. Proclamations of Governor E.F. Morgan concerning the 1921 Mingo County mine strikes. An affidavit dated 1934, complaining of unauthorized union dues check offs by the Lang Coal Co. of Eskdale, WV.

Scotts Run Community Center scrapbook containing photographs, clippings, attendance statistics, and a survey of families. The survey documents families inhabiting the area, indicating their nationalities, religious affiliations, and number of children. The Scotts Run Community Center, known as 'The Shack,' was started in 1928 under the auspices of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Particularly active during the height of the Depression, its organized activities included youth groups, educational seminars, ethnic forums and political and labor meetings. The Shack has been especially beneficial to the children of destitute coal miners in trying to keep them in school by providing food, clothing tutoring. Its main impact has been in trying to better the residents' economic plight ranging from education extension programs to the creation of self help industries and workshops.

A scrapbook and personal diary of Volney Andrews, one-time president of Local 175, covering the years 1938-1949. There is material on disputes over the legitimacy of the AFL and the CIO especially as it was reflected in state regional labor councils and jurisdictional struggles in West Virginia between the United Mine Workers of America and the Progressive Mine Workers of America. Also mentioned are political concerns such as elections, congressional investigations of labor and foreign trade bills, state labor legislative proposals and charges of corruption in West Virginia's handling of the WPA. There is mention of the 1940 Charleston construction trades strike and also of that city's segregated neighborhood housing projects as well as material reflecting the predominant racist attitudes of that era. Places mentioned are Bluefield, Charleston, Fairmont, Grafton, Logan, Morgantown, and Wheeling. People mentioned are Van A. Bittner, Tom Cairnes, F.J. Dillon, William Green, Rush D. Holt, John L. Lewis, Joe Ozanic, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Frank W. Snyder.

Charter issued to Local 3934 by the United Mine Workers of America, May 13, 1920. M.B. Johnson of Hoard, West Virginia is listed as President of the Local and Loyd Downey of Point Marion, Pennsylvania is listed as Secretary. John L. Lewis, national President, signed the charter.