West Virginia & Regional History Center

According to the University, the Center holds over 36,000 linear feet of manuscripts, 100,000 books, 100,000 pamphlets, 1,200 newspaper titles, over 1 million photographs and prints, 5,000 maps, and 40,000 microfilms, as well as oral histories, films and folk music recordings.

[4][5] The Center was created in the 1920s when WVU history professor Charles Ambler began to actively seek support for the preservation of state historical records and resources.

Among the collections located, many were donated to the university including the papers of Henry Gassaway Davis, Francis H. Pierpont, and Johnson Newlon Camden, all key political figures in West Virginia history.

The WVRHC covers all aspects of West Virginia history, including the formation of the state during the American Civil War, its political development, and its economic and industrial heritage.

[6] Contained in its Civil War collection are numerous journals from soldiers, personal papers from many of the states early politicians, and two rare 35-star American Flags, one of which hangs in the entrance to the Center.