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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.

The collection consists of: a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings on the explosion at Monongah Mines No.6 and No.8 on 6 December 1907, rescue operations, the inquest, and mine law reforms; photographs of the disaster; maps of the interior of the mines; printed and typescript reports and pamphlets on mining operations; script of a 1952 television broadcast on the disaster; material on mine disasters in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Illinois; and newspaper accounts of the agitation for the removal of Judge Alston G. Dayton; and on the imprisonment of Miss Fannie Sellins, a labor organizer.

Correspondence of Martha Brand Wolfe and Charles M. Wolfe, who operated a small farm at Morgantown. The papers include some old Monongalia County land deeds of Charles I. Brand; letters from evangelists Dr. R.E.L. Jarvis and Dr. Edward D. Fellers, together with letters of Mrs. Wolfe on religion. There are also Christmas cards, local news clippings, two Brand family autograph albums, family photographs, and a newspaper clipping book, 1881-1905.

Papers of Mrs. O.W. Ladwig of Clarksburg and Wilsonburg, Harrison County, West Virginia. She was president of the Clarksburg Women's Club, 1931-1932, and this collection consists of letters and materials addressed to Mrs. Ladwig. Subjects include the West Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Council of Women of the U.S., Inc., the George Washington Bicentennial Committee, the CLUBWOMAN, Federated Garden Clubs of West Virginia, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, Chicago Exposition of 1933, the World Court, and the International Disarmament Conference, 1932.

Correspondence, bills, receipts, and memoranda books of Gordon, Gordon, Jr., Jacob, George H., and Mrs. F.R. Mullen of Charleston. Subjects include farming operations; the management of a small store in Kanawha County, West Virginia; Barboursville College; and the State Free Silver Headquarters. The collection includes letterheads, business cards, and calendars of Charleston mercantile establishments, ca.1877-1914; and some Ku Klux Klan papers, 1928, of Dr. A.G. Mullen of Galesburg, Illinois.

Correspondence of William A. Harrison, a Clarksburg lawyer, assistant federal district attorney, member of the Virginia Assembly, and judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia; most letters are from members of the family to Mrs. Anna Robertson Harrison. Subjects include construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; Civil War loyalty Oaths, Camp Chase land purchases, and road building. There are also grade school attendance certificates and notes concerning the Lunatic Asylum West of the Allegheny Mountains and Weston State Hospital.

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.

Blackhard's account of her own life written for her daughter, in 1939, concerning her childhood memories of the Civil War, religious convictions and conversion, and her marriage.

Personal correspondence, legal and financial papers, diary, and newspaper clippings of Mrs. Sallie Maxwell Bennett of Weston, wife of Louis Bennett, Sr., the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1908. The collection concerns the career of her son, Louis Bennett, Jr., particularly his student days at Yale, his pioneer efforts to organize the West Virginia Flying Corps, his service in the Royal Air Force [RAF], and his subsequent death in World War I. Additional topics include Mrs. Bennett's effort to memorialize her son, family affairs, and a South American trip in 1915. Correspondents include Louis Bennett, Sr. and Jr., and John W. Davis.