The most comprehensive listing of published West Virginia local histories, state histories, and biographies, including books, pamphlets, and articles, is: Harold M. Forbes. West Virginia History: A Bibliography and Guide to Research. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 1981.)
General surveys of West Virginia state history include:
Charles H. Ambler & Festus P. Summer. West Virginia, The Mountain State. 2nd Edition. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall, 1958.)
Phil M. Conley & William T. Doherty. West Virginia History. (Charleston, W.V., Education Foundation 1974.)
Otis K. Rice & Stephen W. Brown. West Virginia: a history. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 1993)
John Alexander Williams. West Virginia: a Bicentennial History. (New York: Norton. 1976)
John Alexander Williams. West Virginia: a history. (Morgantown, W.V.: West Virginia University Press. 2003)
Multi-volume state histories also include extensive coverage of local history, biography, and family history. These are significant sources for brief biographies and family histories of West Virginians of state and local prominence.
Notable works in this category include:
James M. Callahan. West Virginia Old and New. 3 vols. (Chicago: American Historical Society, 1923)
Thomas C. Miller & Hu Maxwell. West Virginia and Its People. 3 vols.(New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1913),
Sylvester Myers. Myers' History of West Virginia.2 vols. (Wheeling, W.V.: The Wheeling news lithograph company, 1915)
Oscar D. Lambert West Virginia; its people and its progress. 3 vols. (Hopkinsville, KY: Historical Record Foundation, 1959)
Morris P. Shawkey West Virginia, in history, life, literature and industry. 5 vols. (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1928)
The published histories of West Virginia's communities, counties, and regions include historical, biographical, and genealogical data from the earliest settlements to the period immediately preceding the book's publication. Such local histories have been published in West Virginia since the 1870s. Notable examples of local history works include:
Peter Boyd. History of Northern Panhandle embracing Ohio, Marhall, Brooke and Hancock counties. 2 vols. (Topeka: Historical Publishing Co., 1927)
Millard Kessler Bushong. A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia. (Charles Town: Jefferson Publishing Company, 1941)
Bernard L. Butcher. Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia. 3 vols.(New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1912)
Earl L. Core. The Monongalia Story:a bicentennial history. 5 vols. (Parsons, W.V.: McClain Print co. 1974-1984)
Gibson L. Cranmer. History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and representative citizens. Chicago: Biographical Company, 1902)
Dorothy Davis. History of Harrison County, West Virginia. (Clarksburg, W.V.: American Association of University Women, 1970)
Elvin L. Judy. History of Grant and Hardy Counties, West Virginia. (Charleston, W.V.: Charleston Print Company, 1951)
W.S. Laidley. History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens (Chicago: Richmond-Arnold pub.co., 1911)
Glen D. Lough. Now and Long Ago: a history of the Marion County area.(Morgantown, W.V.: Morgantown Printing and Binding Co., 1969)
Hu Maxwell. The History of Barbour County, West Virginia. (Morgantown, W.V.: Acme Publishing Company, 1889)
Hu Maxwell. The History of Randolph County, West Virginia. (Morgantown, W.V.: Acme Publishing Company, 1898
Hu Maxell. The History of Tucker County, West Virginia. (Kingwood, W.V.: Preston Pub. Co, 1884)
James H. Miller. History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time. (Hinton, W.V.: J.H.Miller, 1908)
Oren F. Morton. A History of Preston County. 2 vols. (Kingwood, W. Va.: Journal Pub.Co., 1914)
Scott Powell. History of Marshall County from forest to fileds. (Moundsville, W.V., 1925)
The Encyclopedia of West Virginia is an extensive online resource for the State published by the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Additionally, the 51 volume West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia (Richwood, W. Va.: Jim Comstock, 1974-78) could be of use. The first 25 volumes are a traditional encyclopedia of names, places, and topics presented alphabetically. Numerous entries in these first 25 volumes refer to the second 25 volumes, which contain fuller treatment of selected subjects and reprints of important works of West Virginia history. Volume 51 is an oversized "coffee-table book" of West Virginia pictures and portraits.
[see Book Locations Map for details on location in the reading room. call numbers starting at: ]
Barbour County 975.459
Berkeley County 975.497
Boone County 975.439
Braxton County 975.466
Brooke County 975.413
Cabell County 975.442
Calhoun County 975.429
Clay County 975.467
Doddridge County 975.456
Fayette County 975.471
Gilmer County 975.427
Grant County 975.375492
Greenbrier County 975.488
Hampshire County 975.495
Hancock County 975.412
Hardy County 975.493
Harrison County 975.457
Clarksburg 975.458
Jackson County 975.431
Jefferson County 975.499
Kanawha County 975.437
Charleston 975.438
Lewis County 975.461
Lincoln County 975.443
Logan County 975.444
Marion County 975.454
Marshall County 975.416
Mason County 975.433
McDowell County 975.449
Mercer County 975.474
Mineral County 975.494
Mingo County 975.448
Monongalia County 975.452
Morgantown 975.453
Monroe County 975.478
Morgan County 975.496
Nicholas County 975.469
Ohio County 975.414
Wheeling 875.415
Pendleton County 975.491Pleasants County 975.421
Pocahontas County 975.487
Preston County 975.482
Putnam County 975.435
Raleigh County 975.473
Randolph County 975.485
Ritchie County 975.424
Roane County 975.436
Summers County 975.476
Taylor County 975.455
Tucker County 975.483
Tyler County 975.419
Upshur County 975.462
Wayne County 975.447
Webster County 976.465
Wetzel County 975.418
Wirt County 975.426
Wood County 975.422
Parkersburg 975.423
Wyoming County 976.445
