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The Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection documents the work of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission, the legacy of the commission’s discoveries, the lives of individuals who were connected to the commission, and twentieth century campaigns to shape public memory of the commission. Items in the collection date from 1800 to 1998, with the bulk of the items dating from 1864 to 1974. A wide range of formats are represented in the collection including, but not limited to the following: articles, artifacts, audiocassettes, bills (legislative records), biographies, charts (graphic documents), correspondence, diaries, editorials, interviews, journals (periodicals), magazines, maps, medical records, military records, negatives (photographic), notes, photographs, reports, reprints, scrapbooks, and speeches. Unique materials in the collection are supplemented with copies of original documents and photographs housed in other institutions (e.g. the U.S. National Archives). Most of the materials in the collection were collected or created by Nobel laureate Philip Showalter Hench while researching the history of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission.

Papers collected by Roy Bird Cook, a Lewis County native and Charleston pharmacist, who in his role as historian, researcher, and author, was a pioneering and effective advocate for the preservation of West Virginia history. This collection includes the papers he collected in connection with his research, including documentation of the Civil War in West Virginia, Stonewall Jackson and his family, and genealogy of North Central West Virginia, among other topics. Materials include letters and papers of the Hays family, including Samuel L. and Peregrine Hays of Gilmer County (1836-1884, 1952-1962, undated [includes facsimiles]); records of the Confederate 31st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and later correspondence, clippings, and papers about the regiment and its members (ca. 1856-1955, undated [includes facsimiles]); various collections of individual and family papers and Civil War correspondence (1793-1974, undated [includes facsimiles]); original and copies of Stonewall Jackson letters and papers, as well as papers pertaining to Jackson family members (1801-1963, undated [includes facsimiles]); and materials related to the history of pharmacy and medicine, with a special focus on West Virginia (ca. 1832-1961, undated [includes facsimiles]). There is also an extensive series of bound notebooks containing manuscripts, transcriptions, clippings, genealogies, pamphlets, and images regarding the following topics: Stonewall Jackson, Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, Colonel George Jackson, and Thomas Jackson Arnold; the Civil War, including historical sketches of battles as well as originals and copies of soldiers' diaries, journals, and letters; Lewis County; Charleston and the Kanawha Valley; Douglas S. Freeman; Granville Davisson Hall; Camden family; George Washington; and other topics.