Autograph book (1872-1887) of Jennie Robinson of Clarksburg with inscriptions from her friends. A letter from Martha Perry of Staunton, VA (1 March 1888) to Jennie Robinson of Clarksburg, WV congratulating her on her upcoming wedding. Letters from the Neale family, relatives of Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson. A letter from Thomas Neale of Parkersburg (6 June 1833) to Lewis Maxwell of Lewis County inquiring about Thomas Jackson and his brother. A letter from W. R. Neale at Mossy Creek, TN (23 February 1864) to his uncle mentioning Stonewall Jackson and the Civil War. There is a photo album of 1874 WVU graduate Charles Wesley Lynch of Wheeling, WV including photos of family, classmates and teachers. There is also a 1927-28 WVU schedule of courses, a 1927 WVU music convocation program, a 1928 WVU football scorecard, a facsimile of the (20 August 1773) Maryland Journal and the Baltimore Advertiser, and a 1938 history of Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church of Grafton, WV. See also A&M 3729.
Photographic prints and negatives from Wheeling, West Virginia, photographer George J. Kossuth. Collection contains approximately fifty prints and negatives, including color prints and oversize photographs taken by Kossuth between 1904 and 1959, though most of the items are undated. Subjects are chiefly of artists and musicians, including Pablo Casals, Carl Sandburg, John Phillip Sousa, Eleanor Steber, Richard Struass. Also included are photographs of Richard Nixon and George Kossuth himself. A complete list of subjects is available in the library.
Negatives and other material from the Gravely and Moore Studio of Charleston, West Virginia. The majority of items within the collection are cellulose acetate negatives; the collection also includes glass plate negatives, prints, two photograph albums, and other material, as well as a card catalog documenting business transactions with customers. The collection is organized into customer project files as established by the Studio; the contents of these files are stored in envelopes usually containing one or two negatives, but they can contain up to a dozen or more. There are approximately 3,500 customer project files containing an estimated 11,000 items, most of which are negatives. The majority of photographs within the collection are portraits of individual adults. Other subjects include portraits of children; group photographs; businesses and advertising; members of the military; civil servants; civic organizations; missionaries; and aerial photographs, among others.
The photographs and negatives of the Gerbrick Studio of Martinsburg whose most prominent proprietor was Jacob H. Gerbrick. There are group and individual portraits as well as pictures of business and industry, modes of transportation, schools, churches, residences, clubs and organizations, and social events. These photographs reflect life in Martinsburg and the extreme Eastern panhandle, including unique events such as strikes or floods, annual events such as festivals and parades, and everyday occurrences of the inhabitants. There are also images of the apple industry, Gerbrick family, Shepherd College, and Storer College.
Papers, photos, pamphlets and postcards of a prominent Morgantown attorney, financier and businessman, James Rogers Moreland. Included are drafts of books and articles by James R. Moreland about local and family history, in particular "Early Iron Industry in Cheat Mountains" and "My Father Another Country Lawyer." There are family histories and records about the Finnicum, Hawthorne, Huston, Lewis, Lyle, Moreland and Rogers families. There are also many items of World War I that especially pertain to Morgantown. Included among these is information about the Morgantown Militia Reserve and the Military Training Camps Association. Among other papers collected by Moreland are the records and a history of the Bank of Monongahela Valley, the papers of the Mercersburg Academy, the Rotary, Sons of the Revolution, and the WVU Kappa Alpha fraternity.
Collection consists of photographs, publications, letters, and newspaper clippings regarding the Jolliff and Watson families. Jolliff family history is highlighted in photocopies of the publication, Family Record and Genealogy of the Jolliff Family, From the Year 1760 to 1878 Inclusive by Oliver P. Jolliff and James S. Watson (1878). A photocopy of the Journal of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Encampment, Department of West Virginia, Grand Army of the Republic, Wheeling, West Virginia, May 19th, 20th and 21st, 1908 (pages 26-28 only) includes a memoir and photograph of James S. Watson. Family obituaries from the 1930s and 1940s from the Morgantown and Fairmont areas comprise most of the photocopied newspaper clippings. Most photographs are unidentified, undated portraits from Morgantown photography studios (Protzman, Rogers, and Morgan) and are most likely portraits of Jolliff and Watson family members. Two identified photographs are of students and teacher(s) from the Uffington, West Virginia Public School House (1907), and a group in front of Watson Rock (named for the Watson family) Monongah, West Virginia (ca. 1900-1910). Other items of interest include a West Virginia University commencement announcement (1937), an invitation to the dedication of the WVU Agricultural Experiment Station (1894), a Fairmont Normal School program (1893), an advertising card titled, Dr. Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge (undated), and a postcard depicting the Balanced Rock near Elkins, West Virginia (1909).
The collection consists of research material compiled by Dr. Marshall W. Fishwick on Michael Miley and his developments in color photography. Items of interest include Fishwick's article on Miley published in American Quarterly, a 1904 cabinet card of Michael Miley by his son, Henry, three cabinet cards of the early interior of Lee Chapel, the Colonnade, and VMI's front gates, correspondences between Henry Miley and Fishwick, and copies of several original Miley photographs.
Archives of an eminent folklorist and professor of English at West Virginia University. Manuscripts include field folklore collections, lecture notes, book manuscripts, correspondence, student papers, and folksong arrangements. There are also materials regarding Gainer's position as director of South Atlantic USO activities during World War II and a journal of a folksong collecting trip to Ireland in 1961. Also two hundred and ninety-three audio tapes containing vocal and instrumental folk music, folklore and oral history, recorded in West Virginia and in Scotland and Ireland. Nearly half of the material is performed by Gainer himself. The collection also includes news clippings relating to folklore and Gainer's career, as well as a variety of photographs, film clips, and personal awards and memorabilia.
ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources.
ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our
members’ finding aids.
Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the
shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were
collected, but are offensive to modern readers.
These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and
nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion;
sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.
Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and
revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials
in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways.
As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually
be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.