Collections

Descriptions of the building on Clay Street prepared for the West Virginia Geological Survey. Includes floor plans, architectural drawings, and photographs.

The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, or WVGES, was established in 1897 by the West Virginia state legislature, and has published numerous maps, bulletins, and guides related to the state's geological and physical resources. Collection contains nine boxes of printing plates used in various WVGES publications and primarily related to plant fossils. Some of the plates are from identified publications, including Plant Fossils of West Virginia, 1966 (box 1, box 2, box 4), and the Guide to the Common Fossil Plants of West Virginia, 1960 (box 3). Other plates come from various bulletins and newsletters (box 4, box 5, box 6) and the rest relate to various West Virginia counties (box 7, box 9) and to coal (box 8). All plates are individually wrapped; some are labeled.

The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, or WVGES, was established in 1897 by the West Virginia state legislature, and has published numerous maps, bulletins, and guides related to the state's geological and physical resources. Records are grouped into three primary series: Letter Books, 1898-1930; Correspondence, 1923-1949; and WVU Department of Geology Materials, 1919-1927. Letter books date from 1898 to 1930 and are arranged in chronological order. Topics include foundries, natural gas, railroads, the geological survey, the coal, lumber, and glass industries, supplies, World War I war production, and Dr. Israel C. White. Correspondence from 1923 to 1949 is arranged in chronological order by year and then in alphabetical order by correspondent. Topics include the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, soils, surveys, topographic maps, and electric power. Materials from the WVU Department of Geography include financial papers (bills, salaries, field expenses) from 1919 to 1929 and departmental correspondence from 1921 to 1926. This correspondence is arranged in alphabetical order.

A computer disk (3.5 in. floppy) index of the map holdings of the West Virginia Geological Survey in 1994. This electronic map catalog of 306 pages was originally generated in Word Perfect 5.1 by Dr. Peter Lessing of the WV Geological and Economic Survey. The original diskette is in the collection, but its content has been converted to a 372 page Microsoft Word text file that is readable by contemporary devices.