Search

Manuscript and printed material, and pictures collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. There are also a small number of Mr. West's personal papers, consisting of letters concerning West Virginia University College of Engineering, Oak Grove Cemetery Association, and the Wesley Methodist Church, all of Morgantown, and business records of the Town Hill Service Station, owned by Mr. West.

This collection includes manuscripts, printed and newspaper materials collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. This collection includes papers concerning many phases of West Virginia History, although centered on Preston, Taylor, and Monongalia counties. Includes marriage licenses from Preston County, 1881-1947; newspaper clippings from Morgantown newspapers; a meeting invitation from the Monongalia County Historical Society, 1947; newspaper clippings on the emancipation of slaves in Taylor County; and a concert program from the Morgantown Musical and Literary Society, 1880.

This collection includes manuscripts, printed materials, and newspaper clippings collected by Rufus A. West, a Morgantown antiquarian and faculty member of the College of Engineering, West Virginia University. Collection includes catalogues from West Virginia University for the years of 1882-1883 and 1892-1893; newspaper clippings from newspapers about Morgantown and West Virginia; Nuzum Family and Historical Society Annual Reunion program, 1946; and newspaper clippings about Mr. West's collection of local history, Dr. Allen R. Dafoe's visit to Morgantown, Jesse James, and Alphonso Jennings, who was a West Virginia University student, outlaw, and film star.

This collection includes glass plate negatives and film negatives of photographs taken by Scott Gibson of Valley Point, Preston County, West Virginia. These photographs feature a variety of outdoor and indoor scenes, as well as family and individual portraits, mainly in Monongalia and Preston Counties.

Prints and nitrate negatives of photographs taken by Scott Gibson. The first nine boxes contain nitrate negatives, which are numbered and have been organized by subject. Nitrate negative subjects include West Virginia University Athletics, Buildings, Military, etc.; highway markers; historical houses; Monongalia County views; local organizations and businesses; Morgantown buildings and other features; and portraits. Boxes 10-20 include prints, which are not in numerical order or organized by subject. The prints have the same variety of subjects as the nitrate negatives. Over 500 images have been digitized.

Catalogs, reports, contracts, correspondence, blueprints, drawings, certificates, deeds, and photographs of Seneca Glass Company, a Morgantown glass manufacturer noted for its production of handmade lead crystal glassware. The materials of this collection give insight into some of the daily activities of the company and its union such as determination of wages, settling of labor grievances, plans for expansion and modernization, productivity statistics, and stock inventories. Specifically noteworthy are the earliest certificate of incorporation in West Virginia, original construction blueprints by Elmer F. Jacobs, and early catalogs of the company's product line. There are also extensive addenda of Seneca Glass records that were acquired in 2005, 2019, and 2021; a contents list for the 2005 addendum can be found in the control folder onsite.

Photographs, ephemera, and other material from the early twentieth century, including two postcards albums, black and white photographs, a concert program, greeting cards, postcards, calling cards, recipe pamphlets, and a calendar. This collection also includes publications of the Hill and Dale Private Press and Type Foundry of Terra Alta, West Virginia (1975-1994); the first published catalog of West Virginia books (1963); seed and plant catalogs (1934-1948); two Victorian scrapbooks (ca. 1885-1900); as well as various books, publications, and ephemera. This material was acquired in the Morgantown, West Virginia area.