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WVRHC Subject Guides: Researching West Virginia History

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Appointments for paged material must be booked in advance. For further information, including use guidelines, please see our visit page.

West Virginia Primary Sources

West Virginia History OnView

Nearly 55,000 digital images from the WVRHC collection

 

Photogrammar

2,500 historic photos of West Virginia held by the Library of Congress - "Photogrammar provides a web-based visualization platform for exploring the 170,000 photographs taken by the FSA and OWI agencies of the U.S. Federal Government between 1935 and 1943."

 

Additional WVRHC digital collections

Curated digital collections of WVRHC materials

 

WVU Libraries Digital Collections

County histories, city directories, as well as many WVU materials hosted on the Internet Archive

 

West Virginia Newspapers

Here you can navigate to West Virginia Newspapers that are available online through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America Project

 

West Virginia Newspapers powered by Potomac State College

Features newspapers from the Eastern Panhandle of the State

 

Newspaper Archive

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.

 

Resources by County

An assortment of digitized material from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, arranged by county

 

West Virginia State Guide

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

 

Locations of West Virginia congressional papers

a list of the locations for the congressional papers of the United States Senators and Representative of West Virginia

Virginia-based Digital Collections

Many records about and created by West Virginians predate the founding of the State, so it's important to consider Virginia collections when doing your research

Genealogical resources

Ancestry (Library Edition)

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. [requires account]

 

Fold3

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. [requires account]

 

Vital Records

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

Printed Materials

West Virginia History 1939-2006

Unfortunately, the WVRHC collection of West Virginia History is non-circulating, so you will have to book an appointment to see volumes of interest.

 

West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies 2007-Present [requires account]

 

Goldenseal, the magazine of West Virginia traditional life

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.

 

WVRHC Printed Ephemera Collection

The largest collection of printed ephemera related to West Virginia

Online Exhibitions

West Virginia Day exhibitions

Check out the 2009-2018 exhibitions held at the WVRHC

 

West Virginia Archives & History

Online exhibitions from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History

Lori Hostuttler

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Lori Hostuttler
she/her/hers
Contact:
Room 6326: WV & Regional History Center

lori.hostuttler@mail.wvu.edu
304-293-1116
Website