Papers of Aretas Brooks Fleming, Governor of West Virginia (1890-1893), and records of the Charles Ward Engineering Works of Charleston, West Virginia, compiled by Brooks McCabe. The A.B. Fleming papers include: two memoranda of decisions books and one commonplace law book containing Fleming's notes pertaining to cases from his career as a lawyer and circuit court judge (1878-1888); photographs of Governor Fleming, his daughter Gypsy Fleming Ward (who married into the Ward family) and other family members, and his staff (4 items, ca.1890-1920); papers regarding the A.B. Fleming estate and its heirs (1923-1952); genealogical and historical information related to the Fleming family (1890-1934); and a scrapbook containing clippings, speeches, and proclamations documenting Fleming's term as Governor of West Virginia (1889-1939). The Charles Ward Engineering Works records include: a technical paper by Charles Ward titled "Shallow-Draught River Steamers"; a photograph of the historic contest between a stern wheel boat (The D.T. Lane) and a propeller powered boat (The James Rumsey), (ca. 1903); financial statements (1931-1942); minutes of stockholder's meetings (1931-1942); and a photograph album of ships built by Ward Engineering (ca.1923-1932). There are also five personal letters addressed to Margaret Fleming Ward (1914), including a 24 September 1914 letter relating the "exciting times" of relatives caught in Europe when World War I (WWI) broke out.

The collection also includes motion picture footage documenting several Ward Engineering boat projects, including launchings, the company's facilities on the Kanawha River, and Ward family activities (ca. 1927-1932). Film elements include one reel of 1100 feet of 16 mm silent positive film compiled from footage originally on 11 reels, a duplicate archival negative derived from the compilation, a copy on Betacam D40 tape, and two DVD copies. In addition, the original boxes containing the reels have been preserved for the historical information recorded to them.