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Papers of historian, researcher, and author Alan Clarke. He authored a number of books relating to the history of railroads in the region of the state of West Virginia. This collection is minimally processed.

The papers received from Mr. Brinkman in 1938 include manuscripts, typescripts, and printed items, and general merchandise account books. The manuscript items are mainly letters, receipts, account statements, and certificates concerning the general merchandise business of George Brinkman in Grafton, Grafton Gas Works, Charles Brinkman's History of Grafton, history of the first memorial service and the location of the National Cemetery in Grafton (Box 13), and stock in the Grafton & Greenbrier Railroad Company.

The papers include 36 volumes of business and other records, such as the ledgers of the George W. Brinkman merchandising firm, the Mutual Building Company, minutesof the Grafton Rotary Club; journal and statistical report of the Grafton Baptist Church, 1897-1906; and a mas. history of Taylor County in various American wars, and extracts from the Civil War diary of Fabricius A. Cather. Also included are 2 boxes of financial records, miscellaneous newspaper clippings, a partial index to scrapbooks, and a family genealogy. There are also 49 volumes of clipping scrapbooks dealing with Grafton and Taylor County subjects covering the period 1868-1938.

Manuscript and printed materials relating to the development of railroads in West Virginia, including contracts, letters, wage agreements, monthly situation reports, construction profiles, maps, and speeches. Most of these pertain to the business of the Coal and Coke Railroad Co., Elkins W.Va. Railroad companies represented include Baltimore and Ohio; Charleston, Clendenin and Sutton; Coal and Coke; Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk; Hampshire Southern; Nicholas, Fayette, and Greenbrier; Roaring Creek and Belington; Western Maryland; West Virginia Midland; and West Virginia and Pittsburgh.

Collection of various publications regarding West Virginia University Extension, the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad, and other topics. Titles include the "West Virginia Agriculturist," "The West Virginia Review," "Baltimore and Ohio Magazine," and "Chesapeake and Ohio Tracks." Also includes a few miscellaneous items such as "Sketches of Wood County" (1878), "The Iron Ore Beds in Potts' Valley, VA" (1891), and "Illustrative and Descriptive Charleston, West Va." (1912), among others.

Correspondence, speeches, essays, clippings, and account books of a Clarksburg lawyer, Republican state senator, and Harrison County local historian. Subjects include the history of Clarksburg and Shinnston; the Progressive Movement, women's suffrage, and prohibition in West Virginia; West Virginia Wesleyan College; West Virginia Historical Society; Methodism in Harrison County and the state; Methodist missions in Korea, China, India, the Philippines, and the United States; gristmills and covered bridges in West Virginia; America First Day [1922]; Edward Grandison Smith; Parkersburg Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; family and personal history; history of the Mason-Dixon Line; the (Clarksburg) 50-Year Club; Nutter Fort Methodist Church; and the Harrison County Fair. Also, tape recordings of an interview relating to Mr. Harmer's career as an attorney in Clarksburg.