Series 5. Fact Book, Boxes 93-103

The Fact Book series contains:

1. Fact Book--General, boxes 93-98 2. Fact Book--Manuscript of "West Virginia, A Guide to the Mountain State", boxes 99-100 3. Fact Book--African-Americans, boxes 100-103

The materials in this series includes: research reports collected and prepared by the Writers' Program staff, narratives, inventories, geological studies, transcripts of government reports and records, correspondence, maps, magazine articles, illustrations, bibliographies, statistics, ephemera, graphs, clippings, bibliographies, manuscripts, newsletters, transcripts of court records, newspaper articles, editorials, and interviews.

1. "Fact Book--General" includes material regarding several topics that are also listed in the Counties series, however this material relates to the State. There is also information pertaining to agriculture, architecture, sports and recreation, coal, labor and miners, federal and state government, courts, public health and other services, Revolutionary War records, West Virginia authors, Greeks and Lithuanians in West Virginia, covered bridges, geology and geography, and newspapers published in West Virginia.

Notable items in Fact Book--General include:

typescripts of the 1795-1800 Kentucky and Virginia boundary line settlement, and excerpts from 1870 United States Supreme Court Reports regarding the transfer of Jefferson and Berkeley Counties from Virginia to West Virginia (located in box 95, folder 1);

a typescript of the 1919 report from a commission appointed by West Virginia Governor Cornwell regarding the charges by coal miners against coal operators (the coal operators were accused of employing armed guards and posting them in the Guyan field of Logan County to physically assault and intimidate miners) (located in box 95, folder 6).

2. "Fact Book--Manuscript" includes a set of typescripts for "West Virginia, A Guide to the Mountain State".

3. "Factbook--African-Americans" contains materials from ca. 1815-1942 documenting African-Americans in West Virginia, including records regarding slavery, abolition, and antebellum laws. There are also biographies of several prominent individuals, and information regarding educational institutions, organizations, and rural life.

Notable materials in Fact Book--African-Americans include:

several transcripts of county court records regarding slavery, such as wills claiming slaves as chattel (for delivery to a new owner "forever"), declarations of emancipation, bills of sale for slaves, records regarding the use of slaves as payment to settle debts, and indictments of "free negroes" on various charges (many of whom were charged with remaining in the Commonwealth of Virginia after manumission);

transcripts of articles and editorials, ca. 1814-1860, from western Virginia newspapers addressing several issues regarding slavery such as expansion into the territories of the western United States, abolition of slavery, treatment of freemen, and reactions to Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin";

newspaper article regarding an attempt by slave traders to kidnap a free African-American in Wellsville, reported 1858/7/17 in The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (located in box 100, folder 3);

article entitled "Slave Trade Horrors" reporting the capture by authorities of a slave trade vessel off the Virginia coast (out of 120 slaves on board all but two were age eleven or younger) reported 1841/12/4 in The Kanawha Republican (located in box 100, folder 3);

transcripts of newspaper articles and editorials from western Virginia newspapers regarding John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, the raiders' trials, their executions, and the reactions of Virginians, the deep south, and northern states (located in box 100, folder 4 and box 103, folder 1);

interviews, narratives, and research reports regarding successful and prominent African-Americans in West Virginia (ca. 1900-1942) such as John Warren Davis, President of West Virginia State College (located in box 100, folder 5);

transcript of the Virginia Court of Appeals decision regarding a challenge to a deceased slave-owner's Will (The Will declared his slaves were to be allowed to choose either freedom or to remain enslaved to a new master. The court ruled against the last request of the deceased and in favor of the executor of the Will, claiming the African-Americans were not capable of making such a decision and therefore were to stay in bondage.) (located in box 100, folder 8).