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Miscellaneous papers concerning the history of the Kanawha Valley salt industry, including correspondence, newspaper clippings and photographs which pertain to the Dickinson Salt Works and Malden, West Virginia. There are a list of salt works on the Kanawha River, clippings on the destruction of the Dickinson Salt Works by fire, and a historical sketch of the Kanawha Valley salt industry.

M.K. Lowther (1869-1947) was a journalist and one of the first women newspaper editors in West Virginia. She was the author of the HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY; BLENNERHASSETT ISLAND IN ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY; FRIENDSHIP HILL, HOME OF ALBERT GALLATIN; MARSHALL HALL AND OTHER POTOMAC POINTS IN STORY AND PICTURE; and MT. VERNON: ITS CHILDREN, ITS ROMANCES, ITS ALLIED FAMILIES AND MANSIONS. There are complete and incomplete typescripts, rough drafts, revisions, photographs and plates of her books. Also there are typescripts of news articles on Washington, D.C., the Potomac Valley, and Wood County. There are genealogical notebooks and correspondence and also correspondence to publishers concerning business arrangements. Families mentioned are: Ball, Barber, Bee, Brake, Broadwater, Burns, Chenoweth, Clayton, Collins, Corbitt, Cox, Cunningham, Davis, Day, Dougherty, Drake, Fittro, Fitzrandolph, Goff, Hall, Hardman, Harris, Haymond, Henderson, Hoff, Hughes, Ireland, Jackson, Johnson, Kapkin, Kendall, Kercheval, Kuykendall, Leep, Leg(g)ett, Lemon, Lowther, McDougal, McGinnis, McGregor, McNeill, Marsh, Maxwell, Meredith, Minear, Modesitt, Morgan, Morrison, Murphy, Null, Nutter, O'Maley, Piatt, Pierpont, Pribble, Prunty, Ralston, Reger, Riddel, Riddle, Scott, Sharp, Shinn, Sleeth, Smith, Stump, Taylor, Waldo, Web(b), Willard, Willis, Wilson, and Zinn.

Newspaper clippings, picture-books, postcard albums, and government reports relating to floods along the Ohio River Valley especially at Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and Parkersburg.

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.

Papers mainly related to the Civil War in southern West Virginia, including correspondence, maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, muster rolls, and other material. Highlights of the collection include material regarding Captain John V. Young of the 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry; Captain James S. Cassady of the 7th West Virginia Cavalry; Captain W.D. Thurmond and his company of Partisan Rangers; and the 8th and 13th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry units. The collection is organized into seven series, including: 1. Correspondence (1841-1888, undated); 2. Maps (1861-1935, undated); 3. Miscellaneous (1851-1867); 4. Photographs (undated); 5. Sketches (1898, undated); 6. Newspaper Clippings (1861-1938, undated); and 7. Muster Rolls (1864, undated).

A local history and genealogies of the lower New River valley compiled by Aubrey O. Smith and Judge Winton A. Riffe of Beckley. The collection contains a section on local history covering 29 counties in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. The section on local history is comprised of church records, community histories, county court records and cemetery transcriptions. The collection mostly consists of the genealogies of 207 family names and their sources such as personal memoirs, interviews, obituaries, correspondence, and family records, sketches and charts. The Smith-Riffe Collection is also commonly known as the New River Genealogy.

Minutes, correspondence, grievance case files, and union campaign material of union locals in the New River field. The correspondence concerns implementation of national bituminous coal mine contracts, local 6046's members' benefits, safety and working conditions in the Lochgelly mine, and state and federal legislation sought by the UMW. The minutes of Local 6046 meetings summarize all matters discussed and acted on, including reports from the local's mine and safety committees, expenses, contributions of money from employed members to sick or unemployed members, adjustment of disputes between miners and management and between the miners themselves. The grievance files reveal official relationships between the local, UMW District 29 and the national headquarters as well as relations with the supervisory personnel of the New River Coal Company.