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Papers of Hu Maxwell (1860-1927), historian, editor, and author of several county histories of West Virginia, along with papers and records of other family members. There are manuscripts of fiction, verse, and local history written by Maxwell, as well as a number of his manuscripts and publications dealing with forestry which were prepared while he was a member of the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Maxwell kept a diary during the years 1901-1919 while residing in Morgantown, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., which is extensive for the period of World War I and which contains notes on the diary of Rufus Maxwell (1855-1907). See scope and content note for more detail.

Business correspondence and papers, including land grants and deeds, 1761-1881, surveys, wills, and account books of William McCoy, Sr. and Jr., of Pendleton County. There are papers on the administration of estates; management of property in Mercer, Pendleton, and Randolph counties, and in Augusta and Highland counties, Virginia, for absentee owners; and on farm operations. There is material on the Central Bank of Virginia at Staunton; the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike Company; and on military units in the eastern parts of West Virginia during the Civil War, including letters, orders, and requisitions. Also includes record of land transaction between Levi Hollingsworth and Robert McCulloh regarding 11,435 acres in Pendleton County (1803).

Office correspondence, financial records, and account books of Morrison, Gross and Company, Rowlesburg and Southern Railroad Company, Woodford Lumber Company, and Keystone Manufacturing Company, in Preston and Randolph counties.

The business papers of Moses H. Crouch, a farmer and miller who lived near Huttonsville, Randolph County, West Virginia, in the nineteenth century. Chiefly contains receipts, deeds, promissory notes, and other financial and legal documents related to Crouch's business and property from the 1840s to the 1890s. Receipts and account information document the sale of dry goods and textiles, including meat, coffee, tobacco, sugar, tea, oatmeal, peaches, silk, thread, and chambray. Legal materials include deeds, insurance information, tax documents, and other information related to land tracts owned by Crouch. While most of the materials are Moses Crouch's papers, there are also documents for George Long, Andrew Crouch, and John Crouch. Early materials from 1802, 1821, and 1830 consist of land indentures. Also included are two account ledgers, from 1839 to 1899 and from 1853 to 1870, that record purchases of grains such as flour, corn, flax, and wheat by the pound and by the bushel and note payments on accounts.

The minute books of a Randolph County church recording minutes to session meetings, the church governing body composed of elected church officers such as elders and deacons. The minutes refer to disciplinary actions, admittance of new members, and the hiring of ministers. There are also church newsletters which contain information on weddings, funerals and social activities of the church.

A rough draft history of the main roads covering segments of highways, such as State Route 39 between Huntersville and Marlinton, in the form of a travel brochure. Mentions frontier and pre-Civil War history of such places as Mill Point and Lewisburg, but its focus is on the Civil War history of Pocahontas, Greenbrier, and Randolph counties. Significant people and places mentioned are: The Great Warrior Path, Droop Mountain, Lewisburg, White Sulphur Springs, W. W. Averell, Huntersville, Hillsboro, Mill Point, Marlinton, Greenbrier River, Edray, Robert E. Lee, W. W. Loring, Big Springs, Cheat Mountain, Allegheny Mountain, and Knapps Creek.

Written by Reverend William Duke (1757-1840), a Protestant Episcopal minister, as a record of his journey from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to Randolph County, (West) Virginia, to inspect a parcel of land that he had acquired. Documents early West Virginia travel, accommodations, and religious practices. Specifically mentioned are Georgetown, Frederick Town, Harpers Ferry, Potomac River, Old Town, Fort Cumberland, Allegheny River, Morgantown, and Bath. Subjects include: Methodism, Baptists, the Episcopal Church, the Pennsylvania Dutch, travel, and folklore.

Papers mainly related to the Civil War in southern West Virginia, including correspondence, maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, muster rolls, and other material. Highlights of the collection include material regarding Captain John V. Young of the 11th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry; Captain James S. Cassady of the 7th West Virginia Cavalry; Captain W.D. Thurmond and his company of Partisan Rangers; and the 8th and 13th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry units. The collection is organized into seven series, including: 1. Correspondence (1841-1888, undated); 2. Maps (1861-1935, undated); 3. Miscellaneous (1851-1867); 4. Photographs (undated); 5. Sketches (1898, undated); 6. Newspaper Clippings (1861-1938, undated); and 7. Muster Rolls (1864, undated).

An account book of Ruggles Woodbridge & Co., a New England land company with lands in Randolph Co., Virginia, covering the period 1799 to 1831. The volume includes a constitution for the company, dated 4 January 1799, minutes of meetings of the proprietors of the company, which include accounts of land sales of the company and other business matters; an 1811 report by Daniel Stebbins and Jeriel Preston of their inspection trip of the company's lands in which they refer to the settlers as Yankees, natives, and mongrels and claim that one Yankee, in terms of work accomplished, is worth four natives.

Records relating to the organization of the Independent Company of Scouts for Randolph County, West Virginia, in 1864 by Snider (sometimes spelled Snyder), and his post-Civil War service in the West Virginia Militia. Included are letters and papers of A.I. Boreman.