Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Papers of Archibald W. Campbell (1839-1899), editor of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. A strong unionist and Republican Party member, he worked hard through his editorials and behind the scenes in order to support the formation of the new state of West Virginia. The collection includes correspondence, clippings, ephemera, and scrapbooks dealing with the Civil War and political affairs in West Virginia's early statehood period. Some of the correspondence asks Campbell to publish specific accounts of events or rebuttals of others, showing the importance of the newspapers in shaping public perception. Correspondents include family members, Jacob B. Blair, Cassius M. Clay, Sherrard Clemens, B.F. Kelley, Francis H. Pierpont, John C. Underwood, and others. See Scope and Content Note for more information.

Papers of the eighth governor of West Virginia, 1890-1893, who was an attorney in Marion County, 1863-1867, a member of the House of Delegates, 1872-1875, a circuit judge, 1878-1888. Fleming was closely associated with James O. Watson in the development of the coal and railroad industry in the Monongahela Valley. There are scattered papers, including several hundred sermons of Benjamin F. Fleming (1810-1876); one common pleas book; two "Memorandum of Decisions" books from the law firm of A.B. Fleming; and family genealogical records. Among the correspondents are J.N. Camden, H.G. Davis, A.G. Dayton, S.B. Elkins, and F.H. Pierpont.

Papers of Aretas Brooks Fleming (1839-1923), the eighth governor of West Virginia, 1890-1893, who was an attorney in Marion County, 1863-1867, a member of the House of Delegates, 1872-1875, a circuit judge, 1878-1888. Fleming was closely associated with James O. Watson in the development of the coal and railroad industry in the Monongahela Valley. There are scattered papers, including several hundred sermons of Benjamin F. Fleming (1810-1876); one common pleas book; two "Memorandum of Decisions" books from the law firm of A.B. Fleming; and family genealogical records. Among the correspondents are J.N. Camden, H.G. Davis, A.G. Dayton, S.B. Elkins, and F.H. Pierpont.

Personal and business papers of lawyer, U.S. Senator, circuit court judge, and first Governor of West Virginia, Arthur I. Boreman. See scope and content note for more details.

Personal and business papers of Arthur I. Boreman (1823-1896), lawyer, U.S. senator, circuit court judge, and first governor of West Virginia. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to his judgeship and to the law firm of Boreman and Bullocks, Parkersburg, WV. Series include correspondence, notes on cases tried before Judge Boreman, envelope cases of material regarding legal cases in which Boreman was involved, financial material, and political and judicial printed material. Correspondence includes letters to Boreman from Francis H. Pierpont (1866-1867), which concern politics in West Virginia, the admission of Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state, the Virginia debt, and Reconstruction in Virginia. There is little other material relating to the governorship or political activities. Additional correspondents include J.W. Davis, John J. Davis, D.D.T. Farnsworth, D.H. Strother, J.G. Jackson, Charles J. Faulkner, and E.W. Wilson. Also includes manuscripts of speeches; muster rolls; household accounts; civil and court case papers concerning oil well drilling and sales; railroad property inventories and operation; coal prices, shipping data, and strikes; liquid fuel transportation; and steam and tow boat cargoes, navigation data, and names of boats in service on the Ohio River. There is also genealogical information on P.G. Van Winkle and Ebenezer Zane, and a letter and deposition by J.H. Diss Debar. For more details and box-level contents list, see Scope and Content Note. For more information on Arthur I. Boreman, see Historical Note.

The Aten Family Civil War letters chronicle the Union Army service of James, John, and Henry Aten. James Aten returned to his native Hancock County from Illinois in February 1861 and enlisted in the First WV Volunteer Infantry for a three-month tour in May 1861. He reenlisted in the Twelfth WV Volunteer Infantry and saw service along the B & O Railroad, the Shenandoah Valley, along the James River and at one point he was a prisoner of war. John and Henry Aten served in the 85th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and served in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. John was hospitalized at one point. The letters give good military and political perspectives.

Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other papers, of a state senate minority leader, 1899-1901, prominent Fayette County lawyer, and Democratic committeeman. Subjects include Osenton's early life; his law training at Georgetown University; his election to the state senate as a "silver" Democrat; William Jennings Bryan's tour of West Virginia, 1908; the presidential election of 1908; and Champ Clark's battle for the Democratic nomination, 1912. The papers also include a collection of broadsides pertaining to West Virginia, Kentucky, and national politics, 1898-1920; and the business and legal papers, ca.1847-1880, of Osenton's father-in-law, Arthur J. Lansdowne of Grayson, Kentucky. Correspondents include John D. Alderson, William J. Bryan, William E. Chilton, and Champ Clark.

Correspondence, business and legal records, account books, news releases, clippings, and family papers and photographs of a U.S. marshal (1916-1922); editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1925-1959) and Wheeling REGISTER (1933-1935); Democratic politician; member of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (1935-1939); and businessman. Subjects include: Smith's student days at Virginia Military Institute; West Virginia National Guard; Monongah Mine Relief Committee; Associated Press; Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Eighteenth Amendment; presidential elections and national and state politics, 1916-1956; John W. Davis; Alfred E. Smith; post-World War I radicalism and reaction; Ku Klux Klan; United Mine Workers; National Miners' Union; labor conflict, 1920s; U.S. Railway Administration; New Deal agencies; and Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. Correspondents include Van A. Bittner, William E. Chilton, William G. Conley, John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Eugene V. Debs, James A. Farley, William Green, Averell Harriman, Homer Adams Holt, Rush Dew Holt, Hugh S. Johnson, Louis Johnson, Harley M. Kilgore, H.G. Kump, John L. Lewis, William A. MacCorkle, J. Howard McGrath, Clarence W. Meadows, M.M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Jennings Randolph, Adlai E. Stevenson, Clarence W. Watson, and James O. Watson. There are also papers of Clarence L. Smith (1850-1905), editor of the Fairmont INDEX (1889) and founder of the Fairmont TIMES (1900), which include a domestic diary of his wife, 1876-1910; minute book of the Fleming Association, 1890-1894; papers of Clarence Edwin Smith, Jr., 1940-1941; papers of Thomas Barns (1750-1836), and his sons, John S. (delegate to Second Wheeling Convention) and James F.; Marion County millers and manufacturers, 1795-1908. There are also papers of Waitman T. Willey and a taped interview with C.E. Smith, 1956. Correspondents include John L. Lewis, Matthew M. Neely, Francis H. Pierpont, and John J. Cornwell. There are also papers, 1917-1950, of Smith's brother, Earl H. (1880-1941), co-founder and editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1900-1925), state legislator, officer in the National Guard, and state commander of the American Legion. Subjects include World War I; Woodrow Wilson; American Legion; and state and national politics, 1918-1940. Correspondents include John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Sam T. Mallison, M.M. Neely, Jennings Randolph, and Howard Sutherland. The collection also includes papers, 1908-1940, of Herschel H. Rose, Smith's son-in-law, Fairmont attorney, Democrat politician, and circuit court judge. M.M. Neely is a correspondent. Financial records include account books, 1826-1893, of Thomas Barns, John S. Barns and Company, Barns, Fleming and Company (1857), James R. Fleming, woolen and flour milling, shoe manufacturing, and general merchandise operations in Marion County; account book of Mary Fleming Smith, 1888-1912; Fairmont Newspaper Publishing Company, 1919-1949; Fairmont Broadcasting Company, 1932, 1947-1949; and Jackson Coal Company, 1917-1924; Fairmont Coal Company founding mortgage document, 1901 (box 2, folder 4).

Correspondence, business and legal records, account books, news releases, clippings, and family papers and photographs of a U.S. Marshall (1916-1922); editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1925-1959) and Wheeling REGISTER (1933-1935); Democratic politician; member of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (1935-1939); and businessman. Subjects include: Smith's student days at Virginia Military Institute; West Virginia National Guard; Monongah Mine Relief Committee; Associated Press; Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Eighteenth Amendment; presidential elections and national and state politics, 1916-1956; John W. Davis; Alfred E. Smith; post-World War I radicalism and reaction; Ku Klux Klan; United Mine Workers; National Miners' Union; labor conflict, 1920s; U.S. Railway Administration; New Deal agencies; and Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. Correspondents include Van A. Bittner, William E. Chilton, William G. Conley, John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Eugene V. Debs, James A. Farley, William Green, Averell Harriman, Homer Adams Holt, Rush Dew Holt, Hugh S. Johnson, Louis Johnson, Harley M. Kilgore, H.G. Kump, John L. Lewis, William A. MacCorkle, J. Howard McGrath, Clarence W. Meadows, M.M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Jennings Randolph, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Clarence W. Watson, and James O. Watson. There are also papers of Clarence L. Smith (1850-1905), editor of the Fairmont INDEX (1889) and founder of the Fairmont TIMES (1900), which include a domestic diary of his wife, 1876-1910; minute book of the Fleming Association, 1890-1894; papers of Clarence Edwin Smith, Jr., 1940-1941; papers of Thomas Barns (1750-1836), and his sons, John S. and James F.; Marion County millers and manufacturers, 1795-1908. There are also papers of Waitman T. Willey and a taped interview with C.E. Smith, 1956. Correspondents include John L. Lewis, George B. McClellan, Matthew M. Neely, Francis H. Pierpont, John J. Cornwell, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. There are also papers, 1917-1950, of Smith's brother, Earl H. (1880-1941), co-founder and editor of the Fairmont TIMES (1900-1925), state legislator, officer in the National Guard, and state commander of the American Legion. Subjects include World War I; Woodrow Wilson; American Legion; and state and national politics, 1918-1940. Correspondents include John J. Cornwell, John W. Davis, Sam T. Mallison, M.M. Neely, Jennings Randolph, and Howard Sutherland. The collection also includes papers, 1908-1940, of Herschel H. Rose, Smith's son-in-law, Fairmont attorney, Democrat politician, and circuit court judge. M.M. Neely is a correspondent. Financial records include account books, 1826-1893, of Thomas Barns, John S. Barns and Company, Barns, Fleming and Company (1857), James R. Fleming, woolen and flour milling, shoe manufacturing, and general merchandise operations in Marion County; account book of Mary Fleming Smith, 1888-1912; Fairmont Newspaper Publishing Company, 1919-1949; Fairmont Broadcasting Company, 1932, 1947-1949; and Jackson Coal Company, 1917-1924.