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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.

Photostat negatives of correspondence to Francis H. Pierpont concerning statehood and secession. Also includes a petition of Harrison County, (West) Virginia citizens to Brigadier General Kelly protesting the return and admittance to the county of former members of the Confederate Army (undated); a petition of Gilmer County, (West) Virginia citizens denouncing secession and pledging action to suppress rebellion (1861); and the act by which the Restored Government of Virginia gave permission for the new state of West Virginia to be formed from Virginia (May 12, 1863). Also includes a photostat negative of a typescript checklist of Pierpont manuscript material held at the Virginia State Library (now Library of Virginia) (1916). Correspondents include: Arthur I. Boreman, John I. Brown, William G. Brown, A.W. Campbell, John S. Carlile, Spencer Dayton, James Evans, Thomas. M. Harris, J.H. Jordan, Daniel Lamb, J.A.J. Lightburn, A.F. Ritchie, Lewis Ruffner, Henry I. Samuels, J.C. Paxton, P.G. Van Winkle, and John O. Watson.

Correspondence and writings of Granville Davisson Hall, reporter for the Wheeling Intelligencer during the Wheeling conventions, 1861-1863; secretary of state of West Virginia, 1865-1873; and author of numerous works of fiction and historical studies about West Virginia.

Papers of Waitman T. Willey (1811-1900), lawyer, senator, and founding father of West Virginia. A resident of Monongalia County, Willey was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850, the Secession Convention of 1861, the First Wheeling Convention of 1861, and the Constitutional Convention of 1871. He was U.S. Senator from the Restored Government of Virginia (1861-1863) and Senator from West Virginia (1863-1871). Includes several thousand pieces of incoming correspondence to Waitman T. Willey dating from 1833 to 1900 (bulk 1859-1869) concerning political, social, and economic affairs. There is much material on the temperance movement in Virginia (1845-1860), the Civil War, and the statehood movement in West Virginia. Also includes miscellaneous financial records (1837-1869) and legal papers (1820-1856); Willey's diary (entries from 1830-1899, posthumously added clippings through 1908); and other material. For more information about Willey, see the Historical Note.