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 Date range 1868 Names Wilson, William Lyne, 1843-1900

Festus P. Summers (1895-1971), Historian, Papers, 1843/1971 39 Linear Feet 39 ft. (93 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 index card box, 3 in.)

Summers, Festus P. (Festus Paul), 1895-1971
Correspondence, speeches, manuscripts, research notes, and other papers of a historian who served on the faculty of West Virginia University from 1932 to 1965 and as chairman of the history department from 1946 to 1962. Included are: his official as well as personal correspondence; notes for speeches; research notes, rough drafts and proofs for his published works on William L. Wilson and Johnson Newlon Camden; exams, outlines, and notes for classes he taught; material relating to the University Senate and committees on which he served; a scrapbook covering Monongalia County and other subjects (1850-1897); and papers relating to West Virginia University. Included is a manuscript history of West Virginia University which Summers worked on during his retirement and which William T. Doherty, Jr. finished and published in 1982 as WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: SYMBOL OF UNITY IN A SECTIONALIZED STATE. There is also desk plaque given to Summers when he served on the West Virginia Centennial Commission; the plaque is fashioned of wood from the first capitol in Wheeling.
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Festus P. Summers, Historian, William L. Wilson Biography, Research Papers, 1843/1900 2.9 Linear Feet Summary: 2 ft. 11 in. (7 document cases, 5 in. each)

Summers, Festus P.
Research papers compiled by Dr. Summers for a biography regarding William Lyne Wilson (1843-1900), a Virginian born in Charles Town who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and as President of both West Virginia University (1882-1883) and Washington and Lee University (1897-1900), among other positions. The collection includes notes, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and photographs arranged loosely by chapter. The notes include typescript and handwritten copies of letters, newspaper accounts, and articles. A 1969 addendum to the collection includes one box of typescript notes chiefly concerning tariffs and protectionism.
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Henry Ruffner (1790-1861) and William Henry (1824-1908) Papers, 1829/1913 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm (310 items), 1.75 in.)

Pamphlets include Henry Ruffner's antislavery pamphlet, 1847, and his Union speech, 1856. Subjects of the manuscripts and correspondence include family history; travel; Kanawha Salt Works; schools in Virginia and Kanawha County; Lane Seminary Library; Presbyterian Church; slavery, coal, gas, iron, and timber; Johns Hopkins, Washington and Lee, Harvard, Hobart, Cornell, and Hampden-Sydney colleges; Greenbrier County; Alabama; election of 1904; University of Virginia; Kanawha Valley floods; Venezuela; American Colonization Society; and the Philippine Islands. Persons mentioned or commented on include Philip Doddridge, John Letcher, Hugh Mercer, and Nelson A. Miles. Correspondents include Charles H. Ambler, John Eaton, John P. Hale, H.R. Helper, W.S. Laidley, David L. Ruffner, John W. Wayland, and William L. Wilson.
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Johnson Newlon Camden (1828-1908) Papers, 1845/1908 52.6 Linear Feet Summary: 52 ft. 7 in. (95 document cases, 5 in. each); (48 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (4 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each)

Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908
Correspondence, maps, business records and other papers of a U.S. Senator, Democratic politician, and promoter of the oil industry, railroads, and coal and timber resources of West Virginia. The papers regard Camden's purchase of land in the 1850s; his activities in oil production and refining, 1860-1875; his presidency of the Camden Consolidated Oil Company and the Baltimore United Oil Company; the affairs of the Stewart Brick Company of Parkersburg; the Virginia debt controversy; and his development of railroads, including the Ohio River Railroad, the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad, and Monongahela River Railroad, 1879-1892. See the "Scope and Content Note" for more information.
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John Thomas McGraw (1856-1920) Papers, 1842/1948 3.75 Linear Feet Summary: 3 ft. 9 in. (9 document cases, 5 in. each)

McGraw, John Thomas, 1856-1920

Papers of a Grafton attorney who was a lawyer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and prosecuting attorney of Taylor County, West Virginia, assistant to Governor J.B. Jackson, collector of internal revenue for West Virginia, and a member of the Democratic National Committee. There are case papers and letters pertaining to McGraw's law practice; records relating to the purchase, sale, and development of timber, coal, and oil lands; and records of his directorships in the Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad, and the Iron Valley and Morgantown Railroad companies. The papers reflect many aspects of activities of the Democratic Party in West Virginia, ca. 1880-1899. There is a scrapbook of Rose McGraw relating largely to Mount de Chantal Academy at Wheeling. There is also a Yale Law School Senior Examination for 1876. Correspondents include J.N. Camden, John J. Cornwell, H.G. Davis, Alston G. Dayton, C.J. Faulkner, A.B. Fleming, John B. Floyd, Alvaro F. Gibbens, Septimus/Septimius Hall, J.J. Jackson, John J. Jacob, Virgil A. Lewis, Earl W. Oglebay, William A. Ohley, George C. Sturgiss, A.B. White, Israel C. White, W.P. Willey, and William Wilson.

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Julia McDonald Davis (1900-1993) Papers, 1866/1963 1.75 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 3/4 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each); (4 folders, 3/4 in. total)

Davis, Julia, 1900-1993

Correspondence, manuscripts, class notes and other papers of Julia McDonald Davis (1900-1993), an author and daughter of lawyer and statesman John W. Davis. Includes correspondence of Julia Davis; manuscripts of her work; her notes; correspondence of John W. Davis; and additional newspaper clippings, postcards, photographs, ephemera, and other material. Subjects of Julia Davis's correspondence and notes include a biographical sketch of E.H. McDonald, Miss Davis's grandfather; business letters; reminiscences of the Civil War; and memoirs of Colonel A.W. McDonald. Subjects of John W. Davis's correspondence include family matters, political and business matters, and information about his trips. Correspondents include John W. Davis, William L. Wilson, and Julia McDonald (probably Julia Davis's mother).

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Squire Bosworth, Physician, Papers, 1786/1964 1.5 Linear Feet 1 ft. 6 in. (3 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in. each)

Bosworth, Squire.
The day book and papers of Dr. Squire Bosworth and family. Squire Bosworth was one of the earliest physicians of Randolph County, and his day book records details of his medical practice indicating common procedures and remedies as well as charges and costs during the early nineteenth century. Bosworth was also a deputy and county clerk of Randolph County, and included among the papers are court documents. Along with his son, Squire Newton Bosworth, the family acquired interests in landholding which is reflected in deeds, surveys, correspondence and tax receipts from Texas and West Virginia. Among the correspondence is an 1885 letter from William L. Wilson surveying his Congressional re-election possibilities.
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William Lyne Wilson (1843-1900) Papers, 1862/1900 1.9 Linear Feet 1 ft. 10 1/2 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Wilson, William Lyne, 1843-1900
Correspondence, diaries, writings, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous papers of Wilson, a private in the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry (Confederate), President of West Virginia University, 1882-1883, member of Congress, 1883-1895, Postmaster General, 1895-1897, author of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff, 1894, and President of Washington and Lee University, 1897-1900. The collection includes portions of the diaries covering the years 1862-1863, 1865, 1868-1870, 1877-1891, 1896-1899. Most of the correspondence pertains to Wilson's career as Congressman and Postmaster General and his acceptance of the presidency of Washington and Lee University. Subjects include the tariff, the currency and bimetalism controversy, West Virginia state politics, the income tax, and foreign affairs. Also includes research papers of West Virginia University history professor Festus P. Summers on microfilm; there is a detailed listing of their contents, which includes newspaper editorials and letters.
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