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 Names Post, Melville Davisson, 1869-1930 Level Collection

John E. Allen, Jr., Collector, Two Photographs of Melville Davisson Post and Other Material, 1920/1929 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 flat storage box)

Two photographs of Melville Davisson Post, a novelist and short-story writer noted for his writing in the detective story genre. Includes portrait of Post posing with polo stick and dog at his feet. Also includes photo of Post mounted on horse as a polo player among group of three other polo players. There are also two frames (ca. 1920s) that contained the M.D. Post photos, and a photo of an unidentified woman (1924).
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John W. Davis, Lawyer, Papers, 1842/1978 3.54 Linear Feet 3 ft. 6.5 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (1 large flat storage box, 3 in.); (1 large flat storage box, 3.5 in.); (1 box, 4 in.); (2 boxes, 4 1/2 in. each); (5 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

Davis, John W. (John William), 1873-1955

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.

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Julia M. Davis, Author, Records, 1980 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in.

Davis, Julia, 1900-1993
Interviews with and reviews of the fiction of Julia Davis, a member of a prominent Harrison County family whose most distinguished member was her father, John W. Davis, the 1924 Democratic Presidential candidate. In the interviews she tells of the influence upon her career of Melville Davisson Post and of the historic activities of her family, particularly before and during the Civil War. Her maternal grandparents, who resided in Jefferson County, observed the trial and execution of John Brown. Based upon their memoirs and those of their neighbors she wrote a successful play for the West Virginia centennial, "The Anvil" about the Brown raid and trial. There are also two reviews of the body of her literature emphasizing its historical nature and its sympathetic but realistic exploration of the dialectical tensions between minorities and the dominant group in America.
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Melville Davisson Post (1871-1930) Papers, 1811/1973, bulk 1850/1929 1.25 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 3 1/4 in. (3 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.)

Post, Melville Davisson, 1869-1930

Papers of Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930), an American mystery and detective short story writer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The bulk of the materials date from 1850 to 1929 and primarily consist of Melville Davisson Post's personal and business letters and family financial and legal papers. Business letters mainly document the process of soliciting or accepting and then publishing Post's stories. Financial papers pertain to Post's personal finances in the 1920s, and legal documents from the 18th and early 19th century relate to several members of the Post and Davisson families. Collection also contains a manuscript and typescript draft of the story "The Hole in the Glass" (The Bradmoor Murder, 1929); a biography of Melville Post by Charles Norton; and several black-and-white photographs of Templemoor, Post's childhood home.

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Melville Davisson Post (1871-1930) Papers, 1909/1915 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Post, Melville Davisson, 1869-1930

Correspondence of writer Melville Davisson Post with Louis E. Schrader, a Wheeling court reporter who edited, typed, and often forwarded Post's manuscripts to the publisher. These letters are primarily instructions for Schrader and concern Post's legal writings as well as his detective stories.

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Melville Davisson Post Papers 0.08 Linear Feet Summary: 10 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each)

Post, Melville Davisson, 1869-1930

Manuscripts of short stories and essays of Melville D. Post, some of which were published between 1920 and 1929 in the Review of Reviews, Everybody's, and the American Magazine. Collection also includes World War I poster texts and articles on various subjects by Melville D. Post; also, two letters. See processing notes for list of titles.

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Meredith Kiger, Collector, Shuttlesworth Family Documents and Other Material, 1791/1849 .1 Linear Feet 3/4 in. (1 folder) 1.29 Gigabytes 12 .tif files

Shuttleworth family
Digital copies of paper documents regarding the Shuttlesworth family of Virginia. Includes:
1) Land grant to Philip Shuttlesworth of 537 acres in Monongalia County; signed by Virginia Governor James Wood (3-7-1798);
2) Plat of 205 acres of land from Patrick, Edward, and John Kearns to John Austin; surveyed by Sam Hanway (8-10-1816);
3) Bond of Samuel and Juliet Muckleray to Joseph Shuttlesworth (12-19-1828);
4) Summons of Joseph, John, and Archibald Shuttlesworth and others to the Circuit Superior Court of Loss and Chancery; signed by Monongalia County Clerk, Waitman T. Willey (1-27-1848);
5) Loan of $80 to John Shuttlesworth and others from Joseph Shuttlesworth; includes many signatures from members of the Shuttlesworth family (5-26-1849); and
6) land document, Monongalia County, one leaf (no date). There is also:
one audio recording on micro-cassette of interview with Robert Shuttlesworth of Monterey, VA regarding family history and also about neighbor Melville Davisson Post, American author of detective fiction (undated).
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Virgil Anson Lewis, Historian, Papers, 1895/1912 1.75 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.)

Lewis, Virgil Anson, 1848-1912
Published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence, and speeches of Virgil A. Lewis (1848-1912), the first state historian and archivist and a former state superintendent of schools. Subjects include the exploration, Indian wars, and settlement of Western Virginia; the Tory insurrection in the Valley of Lost River, 1781; the West Virginia new state movement; Masonry in West Virginia; Andrew S. Rowan; and various West Virginia authors. Correspondents include: George W. Atkinson, Waitman Barbe, Danske Dandridge, William M.O. Dawson, Granville D. Hall, Hu Maxwell, Mrs. Alexander McVeigh Miller, and Melville D. Post. See Scope and Content Note for contents list.
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Waitman T. Barbe (1864-1925) Papers, 1884/1930 2.1 Linear Feet Summary: 2 ft. 1 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 records carton, 15 in.)

Barbe, Waitman, 1864-1925
Papers of the managing editor of the Parkersburg DAILY STATE JOURNAL, 1889-1895, editor of the WEST VIRGINIA SCHOOL JOURNAL, and member of the English faculty of West Virginia University, 1895-1925. The collection includes manuscripts of Barbe's published poetry and unpublished short stories, correspondence, notes, speeches, class lectures, illustrations for short stories drawn by John Rettig, a scrapbook of clippings of reviews and correspondence relating to Barbe's book, GOING TO COLLEGE, and memorabilia. The correspondence includes letters, in some cases accompanied by holograph verse, from Winston Churchill, Richard Harding Davis, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Hamlin Garland, R.W. Gilder, Edward E. Hale, William H. Hayne, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, William Dean Howells, Rupert Hughes, Stephen Leacock, Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, Amy Lowell, Brander Matthews, Margaret Prescott Montague, Bliss Perry, Melville D. Post, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Booth Tarkington, Charles Dudley Warner, Barrett Wendell, William Allen White, W.L. Wilson, and Owen Wister. There is also a volume of mounted holograph letters, 1884-1895, from the following American authors, a few of whom are also included in the general collection: Edward W. Bok, George W. Cable, Kate Chopin, Danske Dandridge, Oliver W. Holmes, Clifford Lanier, Sidney Lanier, Thomas Nelson Page, Margaret J. Preston, James Whitcomb Riley, and John G. Whittier. Most letters are brief and many are simple acknowledgements.
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