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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.

Papers of Ira E. Robinson (1869-1951), an attorney practicing in Grafton and Clarksburg. Robinson served in the state legislature in 1902-1904, and was a judge in the State Supreme Court of Appeals (1907-1915), a Republican candidate for Governor (1916), and a member of the Federal Radio Commission (1929-1932). The collection includes material documenting his schooling and legal career, as well as his business and financial interests, and personal and family matters. Types of material include photographs, correspondence, maps, music books, cookbooks, and ephemera. Topics include the B&O Railroad and early radio.

The first 59 boxes are the papers and correspondence of Clarksburg attorney and district legal counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. John Bassel graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, was admitted to the Bar in 1864, participated in the State Convention of 1872, and for a times, served as prosecuting attorney for Clarksburg. His papers are almost exclusively concerned with his legal practice, financial interests, and his work as legal counsel for the B&O. The latter constitutes the bulk of the collection.

Office files of the Clarksburg attorney and counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. There are a few personal papers and none relating to the Bassel's participation in the Constitutional Convention of 1872.

This collection includes manuscripts, printed and newspaper materials collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. This collection includes papers concerning many phases of West Virginia History, although centered on Preston, Taylor, and Monongalia counties. Includes marriage licenses from Preston County, 1881-1947; newspaper clippings from Morgantown newspapers; a meeting invitation from the Monongalia County Historical Society, 1947; newspaper clippings on the emancipation of slaves in Taylor County; and a concert program from the Morgantown Musical and Literary Society, 1880.