Collections

Items that belonged to Elmer W. Prince, Morgantown City Manager from 1933 to 1942 and from 1946 to 1966. The collection includes Prince's 1905-07 post card collection, a 1921 West Virginia University Bachelor of Science Degree in civil engineering, and two Morgantown budget statements, 1935 and 1937. There are also photographs, including images of Morgantown (1941) and several taken by Prince of post World War II France and Germany (1945-1946). Prince served as an army major during and after the war, for which his unit received a letter of recognition from President Harry Truman. Other materials include a journal kept by Elmer Prince in 1967 while on assignment for the federal government in Iran; two religious publications; several newspapers and clippings; and artifacts such as World War II goggles, a ca. 1941 handkerchief from England with a printed war rally slogan, West Virginia University memorabilia, and four recognition plaques for community service. There is also a 1951 certificate from Capital Airlines in honor of Prince's efforts to bring airline service to Morgantown.

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.

Correspondence, financial papers, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to the Max Mathers family and Monongalia County, West Virginia. The activities of Anna DeGant Mathers, wife of Max Mathers, and Margaret Mathers Barrick, his daughter, as well as of Margaret's two sons, William Mathers Barrick and George Milton Barrick, Jr. are well represented in the family papers. Max Mather's own papers document his personal life, Republican party activities, genealogical and local history interests, and his participation in civil defense planning for Morgantown, as well as his service on the local selective service board. There are letters and financial records of earlier members of the Morgan family, mostly of the Civil War period and later, but including two early 19th century account books and some early letters. Some of the names of Morgan ancestors are Elijah Morgan, Elizabeth Morgan, H.M. Morgan, H.D. McGeorge, N.H. McGeorge, and John R. Morgan. Photographs are largely of the Mathers family, but there are a few of the 175th anniversary of Monongalia County, and the dedication of a monument to Col. Zackquill Morgan, ancestor of Mathers and founder of Morgantown. The newspaper clippings cover personal mentions of Max Mathers and his family as well as local history articles, local events, and the family's involvement in the search for missing soldiers after the Korean conflict. The scrapbook was put together by Eugene L. Mathers, Max Mathers' father, and documents Monongalia County events, 1838-1951. In addition, there is a collection of greeting cards covering the first half of the 20th century and a collection of broadsides going back to the 1850s.

Correspondence, pamphlets, leaflets, manuals, and other material relating to the establishment and organization of an employee's union at the West Virginia Newspaper Publishing Company, publisher of the Morgantown Post and The Dominion News.

Article written by Donovan H. Bond entitled Frustrated Enterprise: Morgantown's Newspapers - The First Sixty Years. The struggles that newspapers encountered in the beginning years (1804-64) is discussed. Material covers the years 1780-1933.

20 July 1878 issue of "The New Dominion" newspaper of Morgantown, West Virginia and Monongalia County. This newspaper was published by J.E. Fleming and W.I. Morgan and contained articles of local and national interest.

Manuscript histories of WV newspapers by Ed Steel, Bonnie McBee, David Farmer and Pam Redmond. The histories include information on the newspapers and their news items and editors. Titles included are Guyandotte Herald (Huntington), Virginia Republican (Martinsburg), Monongalia Mirror, American Union (Morgantown), Parkersburg Gazette and Western Virginia Courier, and the Wheeling Times & Gazette and The Daily Young America.

Letter from W. M. McLelland, the editor of the Monongalian newspaper of Morgantown, (West) Virginia to F. P. Blair of Washington, D.C. The letter is dated 13 December 1833. McLelland writes that his printing presses were taken away from him; however, he retained the subscription list and title. McLelland expresses his desire to start a new newpaper, titled the Monongalia Farmer. He also writes about his rival newspaper, which was opposed to President Andrew Jackson's veto of the Bank of the United States (part of the "Bank War" of 1832-1841).