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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.

Transcript of an interview by Richard Hadsell with Major W.P. Tams, Jr., former mine operator in the Winding Gulf coal mining region. Tams discusses his early days in coal mining, the opening of the Kanawha coal region, and coal operators and union officials such as: E.J. Berwind, Joe Beury, George Collins, Jarius Collins, Justus Collins, John J. Cornwell, Samuel Dixon, Elias Hatfield, Troy Hatfield, Isaac Mann, S.T. Patterson, J.A. Renahan, James O. Watts, and George Wolfe. Other individuals mentioned include: Henry D. Hatfield, John L. Lewis, John Mitchell, Fred Mooney, Bob Patterson, and "Mother" Mary Jones. Tams also discusses the Winding Gulf Collieries, the Beaver Coal Co., the Smokeless Coal Field, the N&W Railroad, the C&O Railroad, the Virginian Railroad, Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, unions and strikes, racial relations, blacks, scrip, company stores, Atwater, and Castner, Curran and Bullitt.

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.

Notes compiled by Philip Bagdon which were used by Dr. Roy Clarkson to complete his history of the logging town of Cass entitled Beyond Leatherbark: The Cass Saga. Bagdon's notes, composed of maps, tables and quotes from newspapers, correspondence and business records, are arranged chronologically and topically covering subjects important to the history of Cass, the Greenbrier River valley and east central West Virginia. Subjects mentioned are land purchases, timber appraisals, railroads, conservation and forest management, the lumber industry, and local social and economic development. Prominent names mentioned are Joseph K. Cass, James C. Lacey, John G. Luke, Edwin Mower, S. E. Slaymaker, E. P. Shaffer.

Records of the Preston County court, consisting almost entirely of land records such as maps, surveys, plats, deeds, and indentures. There are also some personal papers and correspondence of Preston County residents, including Israel Baldwin and Julius K. Monroe, and the Fairfax family. Some photographs from this collection have been digitized.

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.

Correspondence, business papers, engineers' ledgers, blueprints, maps, structural drawings, and photographs document the construction and operation of the West Virginia Midland Railway Company (later the West Virginia Midland Railroad) in Webster Springs, West Virginia, from 1906 to 1933.

Official records on the appointment, resignation, and removal of state officers, railroad and special police, and corporate representatives. Archives include financial records of state agencies, executive meeting minutes, executive decrees, and documents relating to pardons, extraditions, and state convicts in county jails. Much information relates to charters and taxation of railroad companies. Also contains official state election returns and records concerning the reconstruction of the state capitol after the fire of 1921.