Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Subjects Rivers and river valleys.

Upper Monongahela Valley Planning Records, 1924/1949 0 Linear Feet Summary: 4 items

Upper Monongahela Valley Planning
Four items regarding the resources and development of the Upper Monongahela River area in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Includes an "Upper Monongahela Valley Association Economic and Social Objectives Progress Report" (1935-37), a letter to the Secretary of the Interior regarding a project of joint Federal-local planning for the "rehabilitation and development of the Upper Monongahela Valley" (1935), a map titled "Industrial Development in Western Pennsylvania, Northern West Virginia, and Western Maryland" (1924), and a Senate report (including two maps) on the "Monongahela River, West Virginia and Pennsylvania" by the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army (1947).
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Virgil Anson Lewis, Historian, Papers, 1895/1912 1.75 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.)

Lewis, Virgil Anson, 1848-1912
Published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence, and speeches of Virgil A. Lewis (1848-1912), the first state historian and archivist and a former state superintendent of schools. Subjects include the exploration, Indian wars, and settlement of Western Virginia; the Tory insurrection in the Valley of Lost River, 1781; the West Virginia new state movement; Masonry in West Virginia; Andrew S. Rowan; and various West Virginia authors. Correspondents include: George W. Atkinson, Waitman Barbe, Danske Dandridge, William M.O. Dawson, Granville D. Hall, Hu Maxwell, Mrs. Alexander McVeigh Miller, and Melville D. Post. See Scope and Content Note for contents list.
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Walter Fields McWhorter, Transcribed Civil War Diary, 1865 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1 in.

McWhorter, Walter Fields.
A transcription of a diary of a Civil War soldier from West Virginia who was the third man from the state to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. There are extensive notes, including maps, and commentary by the transcriber that provide a background interpretation to the stark factual entries of the diary. Entries in the diary refer to camp life, Civil War battles, mustering out and Washington, DC at the end of the war. There are entries for the remainder of the year which indicate post-war adjustments and economic conditions of the author. McWhorter, though a man of few words, does provide many statistical details as to prices paid, rations received and wages earned. A member throughout the entire war of the West Virginia Third Cavalry Regiment, McWhorter was in Gen. George Custer's illustrious Third Cavalry Division which in 1865 was stationed in the Shenandoah Valley and along the line at the siege of Petersburg. Custer's forces pursued, harassed and effectively stymied the movement of Lee's forces from Petersburg to Lynchburg. The Battle of Sailors Creek, a part of the successful Union campaign that stopped Lee at Appomattox, was where this Lewis County native distinguished himself for the Medal of Honor by capturing the battle flag of the Tennessee Sixth Infantry Regiment.
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Ward Engineering Company Archives and Manuscripts, 1871/1977 82.2 Linear Feet 82 ft. 2 in. (178 document cases, 5 in. each); (2 document cases, 2.5 in. each); (2 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 folder, 0.25 in.); (1 ledger, 1 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1 in.); (map cabinets, 80 in.)

Ward Engineering Company

Records of a Charleston, West Virginia, business which introduced to the western waters of the United States a new design of towboat whose essential features were water-tube boilers, multiple-expansion engines, and screw propulsion; thus replacing the traditional paddle wheel towboats that navigated the Ohio and Mississippi river systems. Charles Ward (1841-1915), a British engineer, who emigrated to Charleston in 1871, founded the industry and designed these new boats. This collection consists of business correspondence, U.S. Government business papers, company financial papers, compensation files, deeds, contracts, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, charts, catalogs, information on ships, blueprints, maps, patents, biographical information, and more.

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West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company Papers, 1892/1929 2.82 Linear Feet Summary: 2 ft. 9 3/4 in. (1 folder, 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 3 items, 0.1 in.); (19 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company

Correspondence and business records while the company was operating near the present site of Cass. Subjects and topics covered are the Blackwater Lumber Company, Condon-Lane Boom and Lumber Company, Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, Greenbrier River, logging, lumber agents, Martin-Lane and Company, railroads, J.L. Rumbarger Lumber Company, R.M. Sutton Company, Stearns Manufacturing Company, Saint Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company, S.E. Slaymaker and Company, timberlands, West Spruce Lumber Company, and William Whitmer and Sons, Inc. Places mentioned include Greenbrier, Pocahontas, and Randolph counties; Green Bank, Horton, Cass, Piedmont, and Ronceverte (all in West Virginia); and Covington, Virginia. Correspondents include Joseph K. Cass, T.B. Davis, H.G. Davis, and P.I. Reed.

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West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company Reports, 1920 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company
Two typescript reports on the company's timberlands in Pocahontas, Randolph, and Webster counties, including graphs, contour maps, and photographs. Topics covered include a reproduction study made on the Cheat and Elk River watersheds, a forest survey and a summary of detailed estimates.
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William Starke Rosecrans (1818-1898) Correspondence, 1841/1879 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 49 items, 1.75 in.)

Rosecrans, William S. (William Starke), 1819-1898
Correspondence of a Civil War general who had business interests in the Cannel Coal Company, Coal River Navigation Company, James River and Kanawha Company, and the Western Oil Company. Subjects include coal, oil, iron and steel; improvements on the Kanawha, Coal, and Ohio rivers; English investments in the Cannel Coal Company and the Winifrede Mining & Manufacturing Company; and timber prices. Civil War correspondence includes letters from Francis H. Pierpont and General Jacob D. Cox. There are letters from Rosecrans to his wife while commander of Union forces in western Virginia; persons mentioned include Generals John B. Floyd, R.C. Schenck, Jacob D. Cox, George Crook, George B. McClellan, Braxton Bragg, and U.S. Grant. There is postwar political comment on ex-Confederate officers in government positions and U.S. Grant's terms as president.
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Willis DeHass, Historian, Scrapbook regarding Ohio River Valley, 1868/1879 0.2 Linear Feet 1.5 in. (1 folder)

DeHass, Willis
A scrapbook of newspaper clippings, with manuscript notes, prepared by Willis DeHass, historian and author. The clips, mainly from Pittsburgh and Cincinnati papers, deal with the Monongahela and Ohio and other Ohio Valley rivers, steamboats, bridges, canals, dams, and levees. Mention is made of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad, 1868.
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Woodbridge-Blennerhassett Papers, 1797/1935 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, typescript copies, 1.75 in.)

Woodbridge-Blennerhassett and Company
Correspondence and financial records of the firm of Dudley Woodbridge and Company of Marietta, Ohio, pertaining to Woodbridge's partnership with Harman Blennerhassett. Subjects include early Ohio River trade, transportation, and markets; Blennerhassett's financial misfortunes; the Burr conspiracy; and family and social affairs. Included in the collection are extracts from the Silas Brown letters in the Library of Congress relating to the Burr Conspiracy; and an unpublished manuscript by Josephine Phillips, "The Blennerhassett-Woodbridge Partnership: An Experiment in Chain Store Operation, 1798-1806.
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