Search

Letters of Henry and Joseph Bennett concerning travel by sea from New York to Chagres, Panama, overland across Panama and by ship to San Francisco in 1851. Letters from California, 1852-1853, discuss arrival of immigrants; employment conditions and wages; gambling and social life in San Francisco; investment opportunities; conditions in the gold mines; travel by steamboat to Hangtown (Placerville); churches; crime; Indians; mining profits; cost of land; ranching; blacksmith and plough shop in Santa Clara; digging a canal to take water from the American River to supply Hangtown, Coon Hollow, and Gold Hill; and Webber Run. Two letters by Joseph Bennett from Australia in l853 comment on mining, living conditions, profits of mining, and criminals sent from Great Britain. There is one 1849 letter to Samuel Bennett from relatives in Sheffield, England. There are several items of Jacobs family correspondence, 1880-1923, concerning family affairs, schools, economic conditions in Jackson County, and Monongalia County taxes in 1907.

Correspondence, school themes and programs. The correspondence addressed to Lucy Bayard (later Keys) is from friends and relatives and covers scattered dates from 1871 to 1932. The letters are written primarily from and to Rice's Landing and Beaver (Pennsylvania), and Morgantown (West Virginia), discussing personal and family affairs. The school themes are unsigned, on the subjects "Old Maids," "Decision," "Thought Culture," "Institutes," and "An Aim in Life." The school programs are from Washington and Jefferson College, Waynesburg College, and California State Normal School, all in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Two scrapbooks (10 in. x 13 in.) compiled by Mabel Marie Griffith (born 02-28-1896) documenting her life in Morgantown, West Virginia in the period 1914-1926, including her personal and family life, education (Morgantown High School and West Virginia University), and her attendance of athletic, musical, and theatrical events. There is documentation of the effects of World War I (WWI) on Morgantown, Redpath Chautauqua, the impact of the influenza epidemic on the family of Charles Holt (the brother of Mabel Griffith's Mother, recorded in a newspaper clipping), and Mabel Griffith's wedding to Rudolph Stoyer (10-10-1920). There are illustrations (clipped and pasted into the scrapbook), photographs, clippings, programs, postcards, grade school report cards, and ephemera. Ephemera includes calling cards, dance cards, and greeting cards.

Correspondence of Elizabeth T. Mann, a farmer's widow of Ft. Spring, Greenbrier Co. The letters written to Mann describe family matters and farm home life during the late nineteenth century. The addendum of 2025 October 27 consists of assorted correspondence, estate papers, legal and financial paperwork, ledgers, and other material pertaining to the Mann and Hutchinson families, particularly James Mann, I.T. Mann, and Matthew Mann. Includes brochures, books, and other material related to tourism in and the history of Bramwell, WV, Bluefield, WV, and other West Virginia locations.

Correspondence, financial papers, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to the Max Mathers family and Monongalia County, West Virginia. The activities of Anna DeGant Mathers, wife of Max Mathers, and Margaret Mathers Barrick, his daughter, as well as of Margaret's two sons, William Mathers Barrick and George Milton Barrick, Jr. are well represented in the family papers. Max Mather's own papers document his personal life, Republican party activities, genealogical and local history interests, and his participation in civil defense planning for Morgantown, as well as his service on the local selective service board. There are letters and financial records of earlier members of the Morgan family, mostly of the Civil War period and later, but including two early 19th century account books and some early letters. Some of the names of Morgan ancestors are Elijah Morgan, Elizabeth Morgan, H.M. Morgan, H.D. McGeorge, N.H. McGeorge, and John R. Morgan. Photographs are largely of the Mathers family, but there are a few of the 175th anniversary of Monongalia County, and the dedication of a monument to Col. Zackquill Morgan, ancestor of Mathers and founder of Morgantown. The newspaper clippings cover personal mentions of Max Mathers and his family as well as local history articles, local events, and the family's involvement in the search for missing soldiers after the Korean conflict. The scrapbook was put together by Eugene L. Mathers, Max Mathers' father, and documents Monongalia County events, 1838-1951. In addition, there is a collection of greeting cards covering the first half of the 20th century and a collection of broadsides going back to the 1850s.

Papers of Hu Maxwell (1860-1927), historian, editor, and author of several county histories of West Virginia, along with papers and records of other family members. There are manuscripts of fiction, verse, and local history written by Maxwell, as well as a number of his manuscripts and publications dealing with forestry which were prepared while he was a member of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Maxwell kept a diary during the years 1901-1919 while residing in Morgantown, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., which is extensive for the period of World War I and which contains notes on the diary of Rufus Maxwell (1855-1907). See scope and content note for more detail.

Correspondence, business records, legal papers, and miscellaneous papers of the Haldeman, Baldwin, and Smith families of Monongalia and Preston counties in West Virginia and of Greene, Fayette, and Washington counties in Pennsylvania. The major portion of the collection relates to the business dealings of the Rev. T.A. Haldeman, who built and repaired carriages, wagons, and buggies at a shop in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and also dealt in fruits and vegetables. There is genealogical material on the Haldeman family, information about the Drummond Chapel Sunday School (Morgantown, West Virginia), and the journal of the Rev. T.H. Trainer (1881-1899), who served Drummond Chapel, Rock Forge, Woodland, Mellon, and other Monongalia County churches.

Copy of grade report for Samuel Haldeman issued by Monongalia Academy, Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1853. There is also a letter (3 pages on 2 leaves) from Ada Haldeman Ford providing biographical information on Samuel Haldeman.

Ridgedale School District by C.G. Howell. Includes builders of early houses, the school, Mount Calvary Church and its ministers, grist and saw mills of the area, prominent men of the community, and a record of Civil War veterans, a story of the Jones Raid, April 29. Also a history of the Goshen Baptist Church.

Bound typescripts of reminiscences and local history prepared by James R. Moreland, Morgantown, including "History of the Various Courts of the County of Monongalia...," and "Morgantown, West Virginia, Its Practical Jokes and Jokers...With Some Sketches Pertaining to Its History and Development." Indexed.