Series 1. Correspondence, 1950s-2020s

Internal memos and external communications related to the operation of the West Virginia and Regional History Center. Topics include exhibits, professional development, policy updates, and collaboration with other institutions, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the West Virginia State Archives.

Key correspondents include Deans of West Virginia University Libraries, Ruth Jackson and Robert Munn, and West Virginia Collection Curators, George Parkinson, Harold Forbes, Charles Shetler and John Cuthbert.

Most requests for information, or reference requests, were shredded per WVU retention policy. Those documents represented requests for research assistance with genealogy and subject based research projects. People also asked for printed resources like our guides and list of newspapers, as well as our list of researchers. Some reference requests from organizations putting together compilations of historical resources were retained, as they do not compromise individual privacy and they document the role that the WVRHC (and institutions like it) played in scholarly communication and research in a time before wide computer and internet usage.