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Dated 1783-1825. Letters, 1783-1825, primarily between William Short (1759-1849), American diplomat and financier, who, after a career in Europe, settled in Philadelphia, Pa., and his brother, Peyton Short (1761-1825), a native of Virginia who moved to Kentucky and engaged in extensive land speculation there and in Ohio. William gives advice concerning Peyton's career and the education of his children, and discusses other family matters, but is primarily concerned with various speculative land transactions in Kentucky and Ohio. Frequent litigation is involved, and, in the later years, William and Peyton's letters show an estrangement brought on by the latter's financial problems.

This collection includes four glass plate negatives, a sketch of Andrew Alexander, a letter signed by Andrew Alexander, and a letter dated 1796 from William C. Anderson to Francis Thomas.

Collection is chiefly handwritten notebooks containing genealogical notes and notes on the history of Gloucester County, Va.; and notes on various families (especially Booth, Cooke, and Catlett). Also includes copies of the Abingdon Parish Register and the Botetourt Lodge Masonic Book, 1800-1809; and pictures of buildings and houses, mostly in Gloucester County.

Documents, prints, and heraldry pertaining to Virginia governors from the 17th and 18th centuries. Includes letters and documents signed by John Murray, Robert Brooke, James Wood, Beverly Randolph, Patrick Henry, Edmund Andros, Jeffrey Amherst, Norborne Berkeley, Robert Hunter, Francis Fauquier, Earl De La Warr, James Blair, and Robert Dinwiddie among others. Also included in the collection are prints, coats of arms, and commemorative coins.

Collected genealogical materials of William Darling, Jr. (1756?-1825), son of William Darling and Sophia Sodowski (or Sofia Sadowski); also includes some information on his brother Robert Darling (1753-1837). Includes family tree information, land grants, a transcribed will, and other items. All items are computer printouts or facsimiles.

Papers of William Rumsey, WVU Agricultural Experiment Station entomologist and photographer. Initial acquisition includes correspondence from a friend at Cornell University, Rumsey's student essays and diaries (1880-1925) and family photographs. There are also glass plate negatives, and lantern slides of West Virginia University subjects, and other subjects as well.