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Includes the papers of Garnie Wilma Walker Testa (1914-1999) and genealogical research about the Walker-Testa family. The papers include material retained from her high school, college, and graduate school years, like graduation photographs and academic texts – all in Series 1 Subseries 1. The collection also includes documentation of her military service in the Army during World War II, featuring items like field guides for military procedures, photographs of herself and peers in uniform, and travel books acquired while serving internationally – all in Series 1 Subseries 2. There are materials from Walker Testa's time as a teacher in Kanawha and Clay Counties, West Virginia, like certificates commemorating her work and books used in the classroom – all in Series 1 Subseries 3. A copy of Walker Testa's historical survey of education in Clay County, The Ringing of the Bells: A Bicentennial History of Education in Clay County, West Virginia, and other items related to the book's production are featured, including some digital material – all in Series 1 Subseries 4. Additionally, there is genealogical research material that explores her life and her family's lineage through material like descendant charts, biographical sketches, and old family photographs – all in Series 1 Subseries 5 and the collection's addendum of 2025.

The Volck Collection is comprised of 29 Confederate War Etchings and three folders containing articles about the artist and his work. Also included is an original first edition of "The Grasshopper," a cantata written by a Virginian, Innes Randolph, and illustrated by Volck.

Papers, 1821-1979, of and concerning Adam Empie, the president of the College of William and Mary and his family. Includes account book, 1829-1831, of Adam Empie and copy of his will as well as four letters, undated, from Sarah Moore Grimke to Anna Eliza (Wright) Empie as well as a commonplace book, undated; poems; engravings; flower illustrations, sketches and silhouettes; and prayers.

Scrapbooks, diaries, correspondence and papers of the noted lawyer and 1924 presidential aspirant for the Democrats, John W. Davis, kept by his daughter, a famous author, Julia (McDonald) Davis Adams. Noteworthy is a 1948 official publication in tribute to Davis' career as Solicitor General of the United States (1913-1918). There is a typescript copy of his diary recounting his wartime and post-war tenure (1918-1921) as the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. His letters include some of his candid feelings about the political events of his day such as the New Deal and tributes to his scholarly approach to practicing law from Supreme Court Justices Robert H. Jackson and Felix Frankfurter.

Scrapbooks, correspondence, business papers, and memorabilia of a prominent Charleston family that were long time owners of the Charleston Gazette. There are papers of W. E. Chilton, Sr., and for his son and grandson, W. E. Chilton, Jr. and W. E. Chilton, III. The papers of Chilton senior include some correspondence, but mostly land papers documenting the coal mining district in Webster and Braxton Counties. There are also scrapbooks, and contracts pertaining to the family newspaper business; and volumes on the education of W. E. Chilton, Jr. at Woodberry, VA Forest School, and at Yale. The military service of the Chiltons is documented by the service papers, photographs, and other material for W. E. Chilton, Jr. and W. E. Chilton, III in World War (WWI) I and World War II (WWII) respectively.