Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the West Virginia and Regional History Center is open by appointment to WVU students, staff, and faculty only. However, we are hopeful that the material in the guide will help you conduct West Virginia related research from home. While most of this material can be accessed from off-campus, there are some materials that require a visit to the WVRHC. If you are not affiliated with WVU, please email please email us at: wvrhcref@mail.wvu.edu to connect to our reference staff.
Nearly 55,000 digital images from the WVRHC collection
Curated digital collections of WVRHC materials
County histories, city directories, as well as many WVU materials hosted on the Internet Archive
Here you can navigate to West Virginia Newspapers that are available online through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America Project
Features newspapers from the Eastern Panhandle of the State
In addition to the LOC newspaper collection, the WVU Libraries are currently trialing this additional newspaper archive. It is not West Virginia specific, but does include some papers not included in the Chronicling America Project.
An assortment of digitized material from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, arranged by county
A wide variety of primary sources held by the Library of Congress - including maps, Statehood documents, Federal Writers' Project manuscripts, and an African-American pamphlet collection
a list of the locations for the congressional papers of the United States Senators and Representative of West Virginia
This database provides access to a wide range of historical and genealogical research sources.The types of records that can be found include all United Census records and census records from other countries, vital records (births, deaths and marriages), military records, immigration records, land and probate records, obituaries, church records, directories, narratives by the enslaved, photographs and more.
Historical documents collections, most never before available before on the Internet, relating to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, US Presidents, historical newspapers and naturalization documents.
Additionally, through West Virginia Archives and History, you can search West Virginia Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates.
More genealogical resources can be found on the Genealogy Research Guide
Unfortunately, the WVRHC collection of West Virginia History is non-circulating, so you will have to book an appointment to see volumes of interest.
While not available online, most volumes are available in the Appalachian Collection. Be sure to check the index to find the articles that are most relevant to your research.
The largest collection of printed ephemera related to West Virginia
Check out the 2009-2018 exhibitions held at the WVRHC
Online exhibitions from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
