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Personal and business papers of the Lewis family, mainly of John D. (1800-1882), Charles C., Sr. (b.1839), and Charles C., Jr. (b.1865), of Kanawha County. For the period 1825-1875 there are papers of various members of the Ruffner, Dickinson, and Wilson families of West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, and other states. The business papers relate to farming operations, the purchase and sale of slaves, salt manufacturing and trade, the Old Sweet Springs Company, coal, iron, oil, lumbering, railroads, and real estate in Kanawha, Clay, Boone, Fayette, and Nicholas counties. There are newspaper clippings, speeches, and other papers reflecting the Lewis' interests in the Democratic Party in the period 1914-1920. Settlement papers and correspondence regarding the estates of John D. Lewis, and Joel, Daniel, and Andrew Ruffner are in the collection. The personal papers include diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and letters. Travel accounts in the United States, South America, and Europe are given in the correspondence, as well as comments on schools in West Virginia and Virginia; the building of a church in Kanawha County in 1834; missionary work in Colombia, South America, 1874-1875; Civil War and postwar conditions in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri; conditions at Camp Chase, in the Civil War; and material relating to World War I.

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.

Office correspondence, financial records, and account books of Morrison, Gross and Company, Rowlesburg and Southern Railroad Company, Woodford Lumber Company, and Keystone Manufacturing Company, in Preston and Randolph counties.

Records of the Pardee and Curtin Lumber Company. Includes 55 account books in 9 series: 1) Bills Payable & Bills Receivable (1 item); 2) Cash Books (9 items); 3) Cashier's Check Registers (9 items); 4) Check Registers and Records (5 items); 5) Day Book (1 item); 6) Journals (8 items); 7) Ledgers (4 items); 8) Petty Cash Books (2 items); 9) Sales Books and Shipping Books (16 items). These records are from company offices in Clarksburg, Curtin, and Sutton, and from logging operations in Braxton, Nicholas, and Webster counties, including the Cherry Run, Hominy, Palmer, and Sutton Mills. There are also 43 photographs documenting logging and coal mining operations, including mills and railroads.

Correspondence and legal papers of a Preston County attorney who was counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. There is much material on cases tried by Crogan for banks, utilities, lumber, and coal companies.

Ledger containing financial statements and reports of the company's operations in Morgantown and Follansbee, and records of a subsidiary, the Cecil Lumber and Hardware Company of Elm Grove, in Ohio County, West Virginia.

Business records and family papers of the Thompson family of Canaan Valley, WV. Includes genealogical information, correspondence, historical narratives, photographs, ephemera, currency, printed materials, business records, artifacts, and other material. See Scope and Content note for more information.

Papers and records of William A. Jackson (1865-1957), W.W. Smith, and J.G. Jackson, and of various businesses established by these men in Jane Lew. There are many papers of the firm of Jackson and Burnside, cattle dealers, relating to the shipping and sale of livestock to commission merchants in New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Also included are accounts and correspondence of: the West Virginia Christian Endeavor Society and papers commenting on Democratic politics, ca.1916; the American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders Association; the board of education at Jane Lew; sale of lumber; South Penn Oil Company, Fink; the Parkersburg-Buckhannon Oil and Gas Company; and the Jane Lew High School Athletic Association.