Senator John Davison (Jay) Rockefeller IV served the people and state of West Virginia for more than half a century. In 2014, he donated his papers documenting his 30-year career in the United States Senate to the WVU Libraries’ West Virginia and Regional History Center. Rockefeller came to West Virginia in 1964 as a 27-year-old VISTA volunteer in the small community of Emmons, an experience that shaped his extensive career in public service. He served in the West Virginia House of Delegates (1966-1968); as Secretary of State of West Virginia (1968-1972); President of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1973-1976); and Governor of West Virginia (1977-1985). In 1984 he was elected to the United States Senate and was reelected four times, in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008, before retiring in 2015.
Selected photographs, legacy memos, and holiday cards are available online at https://rockefeller.lib.wvu.edu/.