Search

This microfilm version of the Thornton Tayloe Perry Collection held by the Virginia Historical Society contains historical material collected by Perry over a 30 year period. It concentrates upon western Virginia and West Virginia with particular emphasis upon the lower Shenandoah Valley and Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties of West Virginia. The microfilm was placed in the West Virginia Collection by the Virginia Historical Society under provisions of a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant.

Letters, receipts, and photographs of the Tucker family of Monongalia County. Two ledgers of a storekeeper, W.A. Tucker, contain entries of individual customers and business firms with corresponding types of payment, (cash, exchange, etc.). There is also a brief history of the early Tucker family in America and of George Tucker, A Revolutionary War veteran, who was the first to settle the family in West Virginia.

Historical and contemporary photographs and records collected by Vaughn L. Kiger, resident of Morgantown. The bulk of the collection pertains to Morgantown, West Virginia and the surrounding area. Includes correspondence, photographs, clippings, ephemera, printed material, artifacts, scrapbooks, artwork, architectural drawings, maps, broadsides, and other materials. Subjects include the history of businesses and individuals in Morgantown and the surrounding area, including the Lemley, Ley, and Robison/Robinson families; West Virginia University (WVU) history; Kiger's real estate career; political campaigns; and Morgantown High School, among others. See Historical Note for more information on Vaughn L. Kiger.

A monthly report and a subsistence account filed at the end of the War of 1812 for a Monongalia Co. militia unit stationed at Norfolk, VA. Mentioned are Capt. John Lantz, Lt. Col. Arch Woods and Lt. Peter Henkins. There are also certificates of medical exemption from the Civil War.

Virginia Land Office treasury warrant number 1777 issued to Benjamin Johnston, assignee of James Wood, for tract of 400 acres in the district of Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio [Counties] for sum of 160 pounds on 28 June 1782 (original copy).

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 The collection includes manuscripts of Barbe's published poetry and unpublished short stories, correspondence, notes, speeches, class lectures, illustrations for short stories drawn by John Rettig, a scrapbook of clippings of reviews and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.

Papers of Waitman T. Willey (1811-1900), one of the founders of West Virginia. This collection includes letters to Harrison Hagans outlining the varied nature of opposition to the New State in Congress and Willey's position on slavery; letter from the Quartermaster General requesting support of a reorganization bill; cards and social invitations; and obituary clippings.

Papers of Waitman T. Willey (1811-1900), lawyer, senator, and founding father of West Virginia. A resident of Monongalia County, Willey was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850, the Secession Convention of 1861, the First Wheeling Convention of 1861, and the Constitutional Convention of 1871. He was U.S. Senator from the Restored Government of Virginia (1861-1863) and Senator from West Virginia (1863-1871). Includes several thousand pieces of incoming correspondence to Waitman T. Willey dating from 1833 to 1900 (bulk 1859-1869) concerning political, social, and economic affairs. There is much material on the temperance movement in Virginia (1845-1860), the Civil War, and the statehood movement in West Virginia. Also includes miscellaneous financial records (1837-1869) and legal papers (1820-1856); Willey's diary (entries from 1830-1899, posthumously added clippings through 1908); and other material. For more information about Willey, see the Historical Note.

Papers of Walter Dix Lewis (1891-1958), a carpenter and facilities worker, and Osie Grose Lewis (1891-1979), his wife, of Morgantown, West Virginia. The collection is divided into six series: Series 1. Letters, 1908, 1923, 1934-1979 and undated; Series 2. Diaries, 1927-1957; Series 3. Cards, 1940, 1951-1979 and undated; Series 4. Financial and Legal Materials, 1927-1978; Series 5. Family Material, 1960-1974 and undated; and Series 6. Printed Material, 1931-1977 and undated. Collection also contains an oversize 1937 map of the buildings at West Virginia University and the school's underground telephone conduits.