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A history of the schools of Aurora, Preston Co. from their founding by early settlers of German descent to the present efforts to reconstruct the recently fire destroyed building. Mentioned are changes in location, types of schools, school principals, funding and various costs such as those for construction. Some early funding, especially to aid poor children, was raised locally by money accumulated in a literary fund. In the nineteenth century other funds were acquired from the Peabody Educational Fund, a national fund created by George Peabody to assist needy public schools. Early settlers mentioned in the establishment of schools are John Stough, Christian Whitehair, Jacob Ridenour, Abraham Wotring and Peter Heckart. Those influential in education after the pioneer era are Franklin V. N. Painter, C. M. Malcom, the Stemple family, Frank J. Pyles, Glenn Wright and Kenneth Parsons.

Papers collected by Roy Bird Cook, a Lewis County native and Charleston pharmacist, who in his role as historian, researcher, and author, was a pioneering and effective advocate for the preservation of West Virginia history. This collection includes the papers he collected in connection with his research, including documentation of the Civil War in West Virginia, Stonewall Jackson and his family, and genealogy of North Central West Virginia, among other topics. Materials include letters and papers of the Hays family, including Samuel L. and Peregrine Hays of Gilmer County (1836-1884, 1952-1962, undated [includes facsimiles]); records of the Confederate 31st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and later correspondence, clippings, and papers about the regiment and its members (ca. 1856-1955, undated [includes facsimiles]); various collections of individual and family papers and Civil War correspondence (1793-1974, undated [includes facsimiles]); original and copies of Stonewall Jackson letters and papers, as well as papers pertaining to Jackson family members (1801-1963, undated [includes facsimiles]); and materials related to the history of pharmacy and medicine, with a special focus on West Virginia (ca. 1832-1961, undated [includes facsimiles]). There is also an extensive series of bound notebooks containing manuscripts, transcriptions, clippings, genealogies, pamphlets, and images regarding the following topics: Stonewall Jackson, Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, Colonel George Jackson, and Thomas Jackson Arnold; the Civil War, including historical sketches of battles as well as originals and copies of soldiers' diaries, journals, and letters; Lewis County; Charleston and the Kanawha Valley; Douglas S. Freeman; Granville Davisson Hall; Camden family; George Washington; and other topics.

Includes genealogy and Civil War records collected by Roy Bird Cook of Lewis County, West Virginia. Series 1 through 5 were compiled by Marcellus W. Zimmerman. They include correspondence, church records, academic records, genealogical records, research manuscripts, and clippings regarding primarily the genealogy and history of Lewisburg and Greenbrier County, and the life and career of Confederate Brigadier General Alexander W. Reynolds. Series 6 through 8 were collected by Roy Bird Cook. They include military records and clippings regarding West Virginia units, the Confederate 31st Virginia Infantry, and other Confederate units from Virginia; there are also business and miscellaneous records, including ledgers, clippings, research notes, etc. Series 9 includes oversized material from earlier series.

Scrapbook of Sylvia Soupart, an early graduate of University High School. Much of it is about the early development of this school by West Virginia University including clippings about its first commencement. There are also photos and clippings about Morgantown's involvement in World War II.

Papers of the managing editor of the Parkersburg DAILY STATE JOURNAL, 1889-1895, editor of the WEST VIRGINIA SCHOOL JOURNAL, and member of the English faculty of West Virginia University, 1895-1925. The collection includes manuscripts of Barbe's published poetry and unpublished short stories, correspondence, notes, speeches, class lectures, illustrations for short stories drawn by John Rettig, a scrapbook of clippings of reviews and correspondence relating to Barbe's book, GOING TO COLLEGE, and memorabilia. The correspondence includes letters, in some cases accompanied by holograph verse, from Winston Churchill, Richard Harding Davis, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Hamlin Garland, R.W. Gilder, Edward E. Hale, William H. Hayne, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, William Dean Howells, Rupert Hughes, Stephen Leacock, Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, Amy Lowell, Brander Matthews, Margaret Prescott Montague, Bliss Perry, Melville D. Post, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Booth Tarkington, Charles Dudley Warner, Barrett Wendell, William Allen White, W.L. Wilson, and Owen Wister. There is also a volume of mounted holograph letters, 1884-1895, from the following American authors, a few of whom are also included in the general collection: Edward W. Bok, George W. Cable, Kate Chopin, Danske Dandridge, Oliver W. Holmes, Clifford Lanier, Sidney Lanier, Thomas Nelson Page, Margaret J. Preston, James Whitcomb Riley, and John G. Whittier. Most letters are brief and many are simple acknowledgements.