Collections

Mine disaster reports, official hearing reports, and hearing and inquest transcripts (1938-1967). Most of the mine disaster reports were created by inspectors from the West Virginia Department of Mines, and some of them involved federal inspectors. Other reports were created by the United States Bureau of Mines and the West Virginia Department of Mines Coal Mine Safety Board of Review. Also includes volumes 3 through 8 of the Decisions of the Interior Board of Mine Operations Appeals (1974-1977). The mine disaster reports and associated materials pertain to the following mining companies, with counties where the disaster occurred in parentheses: American Rolling Mill Company (Boone County), Amigo Smokeless Coal Company (Wyoming County), Boone County Coal Corporation, Christopher Coal Company (Monongalia County), Davis Coal and Coke Company (Tucker County), Hatfield-Campbell Creek Coal Company (Kanawha County), Hitchman Coal and Coke Company (Marshall County), Island Creek Coal Company (McDowell County), Katherine Coal Company (Harrison County), Koppers Coal Company (McDowell County), MacAlpin Coal Company (Raleigh County), C.H. Meade Coal Company (Raleigh County), Meadows Coal Company (Raleigh County), New River and Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company (McDowell County), Oglebay Norton Company (Nicholas County), Page Coal and Coke Company (McDowell County), Parsons Coal Company (Preston County), Pemberton Coal and Coke Company (Raleigh County), Pocahontas Fuel Company (a division of Consolidation Coal Company, McDowell County, near Tazewell County, Virginia), Pursglove Coal Mining Company (Monongalia County), Raleigh Coal and Coke Company (Raleigh County), and Red Jacket Coal Corporation (Wyoming County).

The collection includes photocopies of land grants (1798, 1801, 1802, and 1832), treasury warrant records (1779-1780), survey maps, and property maps (two originals, ca. 1966) relating to landholdings, family farms, and tracts in Monongalia County, West Virginia containing Pittsburgh coal seams owned by Thomas Lazzell, Robert Courtney, Michael Courtney, and their descendants in Monongalia County, West Virginia. There are also photocopies of church baptism records (1756-1825) and a War of 1812 militia payroll record (including the company commanded by Captain Robert Courtney); and there are several genealogy charts and correspondence regarding court records, repository materials, and family history (1963-1966). Material covers the years 1756-1994.

Correspondence, book reviews, certificates and pictures of Waddell, a pioneering black veterinarian and author. His books (People Are The Funniest Animals, The Black Man in Veterinary Medicine, Universal Veterinarianism, and Historical Facts of the Black Veterinarian) document the little known contributions of African-Americans from antebellum times to the present in the field of veterinary science. They also indicate his beliefs that the veterinarian profession can also help heal misunderstandings among mankind. After graduation in 1935 from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the first schools to admit blacks into its veterinarian program, he taught and worked at Tuskegee Institute where he co-founded the first program in veterinary science at a black American college. During World War II, he joined the Ninth Cavalry, a famed black unit of which he includes some of its history among his papers. After the war, he established a private practice in West Virginia eventually locating in Monongalia County where he also served on the board of the Monongalia County Mental Health Association. His home near Morgantown served as a social center for some of the first black students who attended West Virginia University. He was also instrumental in fostering integration of other institutions within the county. After 1963 he moved to North Dakota where he worked on the Chippewa reservations of Turtle Mountain and Fort Totten. Waddell offers his observations on the aspirations of Native Americans and how they are discriminated against and neglected.

Correspondence, photos, postcards and memorabilia of a school teacher of White Days Creek and of his wife, Mary Corrothers Zinn. Most of the collection consists of correspondence and photos of Zinn's career in the U. S. Army during World War I. Zinn worked as a math school teacher and as a census taker in the Fetterman District of Taylor County. He spent the war in training at Camp Knox, West Point, KY in Battery E., 70th. Field Artillery Brigade, and he discusses in the letters the daily activities of his unit. There are also photos in uniform and copies of the military records of Earl Zinn and of his grandfather, Sailor Michael Zinn. Sailor Zinn was a member of the 14th. WV Inf. during the Civil War. He was captured and died in the infamous Confederate prison camp in Georgia of Andersonville. There is also a 19th century photo album and loose pictures of the Steele, Arnett & Sanders families of Monongalia County who are related to Mrs. Earl R. Zinn.

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.

Genealogy research material of Georgia Catharine Price (1867-1954, born in Monongalia County, West Virginia), granddaughter of West Virginia legislator William Price (1803-1881), and Earl L. Core. Includes typescript and original correspondence, genealogies, facsimiles of legal documents, and other material, mostly relating to the genealogy of various families, including Core, Haught, Price, and Tennant. Prominent locations include Greene County and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Monongalia County and Marion County, West Virginia. Much of the genealogical research seems to have been done for the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). For folder-level contents, see scope and content note.

Papers of the Dickinson, Gordon, and related families of the Cheat Lake area of Monongalia County, West Virginia. Includes series of Papers of Deborah Gordon, Miscellaneous, Genealogy Records, Pamphlet and Ledgers, Artifacts, and Oversize. Papers of Deborah Gordon includes "Order of Rainbow" material (ca. 1950s), and a scrapbook documenting West Virginia University athletic events (she was a cheerleader), travel, and special events. Genealogy Records includes information regarding William Norris of Cheat Neck (settled 1781); also includes information on George Baker, George Norris, Addison S. Vance, and the Sturgiss-Lincoln families. See scope and content note for details.

A card file of the Greene County Historical Society, Pennsylvania, containing genealogical notes and index entries for genealogical sources relating to Greene County, PA and the surrounding region for the period ca. 1740-1980. The cards are alphabetized by name.