Social History Commons^™

0897: William A. “Red” Dawson Collection, 1915-2023, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

William Alfred “Red” Dawson, a native of Valdosta, Georgia, led his high school football team to a state championship and played for four years at Florida State University. Dawson briefly played professional football for the Boston Patriots in the AFL and the Orlando Panthers. He was serving as an assistant football coach at Marshall University when a fatal plane crash killed seventy-five players, coaches, staff, and prominent citizens of Huntington. Dawson was essential in restarting the Marshall University football program, serving as acting head coach and coached through the 1971 season. He then began working in the construction industry and …

0894: G. W. “Jerry” Sutphin River Transportation Collection, 1832-2024, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Gerald W. “Jerry” Sutphin was a nationally recognized river historian from Huntington. He graduated from Mullens High School and Marshall University and became an army officer. Sutphin worked for and retired from the United States Army Corps of Engineers before spending twenty years operating his own business, Visual Information Ltd. The author of Sternwheelers on the Great Kanawha River, he also wrote a number of articles and contributed to numerous publications with words and/or photographs. Sutphin provided historical presentations on the Delta Queen and other large sternwheel excursion boats and served as a consultant for several documentaries and exhibits. Sutphin …

0893: Maurice G. Burnside Collection, 1793-2003, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection was deaccessioned from East Carolina University to Marshall University Special Collections. The original processing, organizing, and files were maintained in this transfer. The only change that has been made is the addition of the new accession number to the existing folders.

The bulk of this collection pertains to Dr. Burnside’s congressional and political activities (1945-1956) and is composed largely of scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Materials reflect the time and effort Dr. Burnside directed towards environmental issues, unemployment, the problems faced by small businesses and farmers, and the promotion of tariffs on foreign products that competed with local …

Damn The Dams: Framing ‘Schizophrenic’ Discourses Of The Hindu Right, Nandita Ghosh

Critical Humanities

This article examines the concept of schizophrenia as a cultural metaphor in order to analyze the Hindu Right’s contradictory language-framing politics within the public domain, particularly in relation to building mega dams on rivers Narmada and Bhagirathi. In so doing, it intends to examine the nature of the public domain itself that enables such framing politics within the context of late 20^th-early-21^st-century global capital. Language battles in the public domain have intensified during this period, especially through various forms of digital media. In India, the various groups that form the Hindu Right have often mixed the …

0886: Ken Reffeitt Collection, 1852-2023, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Ken Reffeitt was employed by Marshall University Special Collections for many years and was a member of a number of fraternal organizations. His extensive collection of materials on this subject was donated in 2024.

The Ken Reffeitt Collection consists of annual reports and other documents of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) of West Virginia, the Rebekah Assembly, I.O.O.F., the Improved Order of Red Men, the Department Council Patriarchs Militant, I.O.O.F., the M. W. Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of West Virginia, and other organizations. The collection also includes a number of books …

0892: The Gregg Family Papers, 1940-2024, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Anna Catherine “Kay” Kelly Gregg was born in 1920 in Dawson, West Virginia, to Aldridge James Kelly and Mary Leah Lowry. She was raised in Huntington, West Virginia, alongside her four siblings: James Thompson Kelly, Franklin C. Kelly, Bonna Kelly Paul, and Jeanette W. Kelly Scheerer. Kay enrolled at Marshall College in 1940 and completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Teachers College on September 12, 1944.

Harrison “Harry” Humphreys Gregg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Daniel B. Gregg and Rebecca Humphreys. He attended the University of Cincinnati and later met Kay Kelly while visiting Huntington. The two …

Красная Секта, Slav Gratchev

Books Published by MU Libraries in MDS

Грачев, Слав. Красная секта. Библиотекa университета Маршалла, Хантингтон, 2025.

Этот роман рассказывает о многом: о войне, об огромной любви и верности долгу, о советских шахматистах и, наконец, о судьбе одной маленькой испанской девочки, которая по воле случая оказалась на чужбине и смогла вернуться домой только через пятьдесят дoлгих лет. Этот роман о стране, которой уже нет на картах мира, которая не позволяла своим гражданам жить и думать свободно. То, что она всегда делала с успехом - это отнимала у людей их будущее.

Gratchev, Slav. The Red Cult. Marshall University Libraries, Huntington, 2025.

This novel discusses …

Три Шага К Свободе (In Russian), Slav Gratchev

Books Published by MU Libraries in MDS

Грачев, Слав. Три шага к свободе. Библиотекa университета Маршалла, Хантингтон, 2023.

Три шага к свободе — это первый роман исторической трилогии, которая перенесет вас в страшный мир разрушений и отчаянной борьбы за жизнь в Советском Союзе во время сталинских репрессий, Второй мировой войны, и жизни при коммунистическом режиме в 1980-х годах. События, описанные в романе, а также жесткая критика коммунизма, его бесчеловечного лица и его далекой от всякого гуманизма философии, привели бы автора к немедленному тюремному заключению, находись он в путинской России сегодня. К счастью, он не там, а значит, он сможет закончить свою работу и опубликовать все книги этой …

Cora Ann Westmoreland, Kelli Johnson

Oral Histories – NPS AACR Civil Rights In Appalachia Grant

Kelli Johnson conducting an oral history interview with Cora Westmoreland.

This oral history is part of the National Park Service African Americans Civil Rights History and Appalachia Grant Program.

How To Start A Colony, Or Not: Different Models To Colonize Bermuda, Barbados And Tobago, James William St Clair

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis considers three different and distinct models utilized by the British to colonize the Caribbean islands of Bermuda (1612), Barbados (1627) and Tobago (1763). Much has been written about the development of each one of these islands, yet it appears no study has drawn out and compared the varied development schemes employed by the British in these three instances. Such comparisons are appropriate since, unlike many other areas of British colonization, Bermuda, Barbados and Tobago were not, at the time the British arrived, occupied nor settled by indigenous people or other European settlers. This provided the British an opportunity …

William "Bill" Austin Smith Sr., Kelli Johnson

Oral Histories – NPS AACR Civil Rights In Appalachia Grant

Kelli Johnson conducting an oral history interview with Bill Smith.

This oral history is part of the National Park Service African American Civil Rights History and Appalachia Grant Program.

0869: League Of Women Voters Of The Huntington Area Collection, 1931-2020, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Initially created as an auxiliary to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the League of Women Voters was formed as an independent organization on February 14, 1920, six months prior to the ratification of the 19^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The League was designed to be “a mighty political experiment.” Although nonpartisan, the organization educates the public about politics and elections and advocates for major public policy legislation.

The League of Women Voters of the Huntington Area organized in April 1944 and was granted recognition as a local League on January 10, 1948.The program of the new …

“A Constant Reminder To All”: Remembering Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson In West Virginia, Steven Cody Straley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis argues that Confederate heritage groups leading the Lost Cause Movement in West Virginia promoted Stonewall Jackson, through tactics such as ceremonies, publications, and monuments, to the point where his appeal expanded beyond that of former Confederates and their descendants. During the late 1800s, Confederate supporters in the state formed branches of Confederate heritage organizations and espoused a Lost Cause narrative with Stonewall Jackson as its figurehead. In doing so, they accomplished two things: to integrate the seemingly proUnion West Virginia into Confederate memory, and to gain acceptance of Confederates as full members of West Virginia society. Jackson’s advocates …

0778: Jim Taylor Photograph Collection, 1880s-1910s, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of 51 TIFF images representing 50 photographs of early Huntington, West Virginia. Photographic subjects include the D. E. Abbot frame factory in Huntington, WV, Twelve Pole Creek in Wayne County, WV, Norfolk and Western Railway and Chesapeake and Ohio railroad tracks, trestles, and trains, Big Sandy River, Kenova Electric Power Plant, log and timber in rivers, log cabins in Huntington and Kenova, WV, Camden Interstate Railway train cars, tie hoists, Johnson’s Lane car house, as well as a railway car wreck in 1906, Cabell County Courthouse, Cabell County Jail, Huntington Hospital, 20th Street Hill, Kessler Hospital, “H. …

Be A Man: Childhood, Masculinity, Mental Hygiene, And The Asylum In The 1950'S, Emily Lonna Miller

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This project studies the use of mental hygiene films in the 1950s to understand the American ideal of gender, sex roles, and mental health. Focusing specifically on masculinity, this project shows that psychologists and psychiatrists of the mid-twentieth century helped to define what it meant to be a real man in America. Sources for this research included mental hygiene films, psychological studies and articles from the 1950s, and news broadcasts. Upon examination of these sources, it becomes clear that mental health specialists were concerned with the development of correct masculinity in male children and becoming the modern doctors that could …

The Cape Fear Ran Red: Memory Of The Wilmington Race Riot And Coup D'État Of 1898, Jacob Michael Thomas

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

On November 10, 1898 the city of Wilmington erupted in racial violence as the members of the white population massacred anywhere from twenty-five to a hundred of the black citizenry. The result of the Wilmington Race Riot was the reassertion of white supremacy in North Carolina and a flip in Wilmington’s population, as whites became the majority. This paper will argue that the events of the Wilmington Race Riot and Coup D’état came about from the direct interference of Wilmington’s white elite along with outside interference from Democratic Party Leaders across the state of North Carolina as well as the …

0856: Bible Of Mrs. Isabella W. Hite, 1857, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a single bible. Published by E. Stevenson & F. A. Owen, Agents, for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1856, the title page states it is the English Version of the Polyglott Bible. The book itself contains fold-out maps and illustrations. On the first page is written “Mrs. Isabella W. Hite Cabel Co. Va. Feb 24th 1857” and then in a different ink/pencil, “Isa. H. Moore.” Throughout the book, passages are marked and near them, a name and date are written in the margins. Many of the days (not all were checked) appear to have fallen …

0857: Kfeirian Reunion Foundation Papers, 1932-2017, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The majority of this collection consists of various printed media, including booklets, pamphlets, directories, and other materials focusing on the annual Kfeirian Reunion. Items date from the 4th Annual Reunion in 1936 to the 2017 85th Annual Reunion. The collection also contains pictures from various reunions, awards, name badges and other items related to the organization and its activities. The collection was donated by the Kfeirian Reunion Foundation and was organized into a number of manila envelopes. This order has been kept, and although some items had to be separated to fit into folders, the order of the items was …

0850: Oley Elementary Corner-Stone Time Capsule Of 1888 Papers, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection includes materials found in the Cornerstone Time Capsule from 1888 that was buried at Oley Elementary School. Included in this collection are the personal business cards of prominent people in the Huntington, West Virginia community who were members of secret society groups such as the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Additionally, this collection contains business cards from local Huntington shops from the 1880s, some of which contain artwork or are featured in color. Further, this collection contains books and manuals, where the majority emphasize the Huntington, WV community either in education, city statistics, religion, and masonry. This collection …

0841: Mary Lois Garrett Collection, 1941-1954, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection spans the years 1941-1954, with the bulk of the research covering the years 1950-1954. File contents were maintained in the way in which they were originally received, but folders have been arranged in a more chronological order. Some notes are entirely handwritten, while logs and records consist of typed templates which have been filled-in by hand. Notes contain illustrations of birds and nests, graphs of bird activity during observance, and descriptions of bird behavior. Nesting logs have mostly been filled out by Mary Lois Garrett, but other authors contributed, including Twila Hessin, Ruth Geib, and an unspecified ornithology …

0849: Guyandotte Poetry Society Papers, 1989-2018, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collections contains the professional documents of the Guyandotte Poetry Society. The contents in this collection span from 1989 to 2018. The collection includes correspondence, directions to meetings, directories of poets who participated in the Society, and poems that were submitted and workshopped. The materials in this collection document the various writers who either served as reviewers or submitted poetry for review. This list of writers is included following the list of folders and their contents.

Desperate And Determined Men: West Virginia's Lincoln County Feud, Brandon Ray Kirk

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The Lincoln County Feud occurred between 1878 and 1890 in the Harts Creek community of Lincoln and Logan counties, West Virginia. The aim of this thesis is to determine the causes of the feud, explore factors that contributed to its escalation, and identify reasons for its conclusion. The Lincoln County Feud arose out of personal grievances between prominent residents Paris Brumfield and Canaan Adkins, intensified due to the changing socioeconomic nature of the Harts Creek community, transformed into a contest among merchants for economic and political supremacy, and concluded with the elimination or outmigration of anti-Brumfield factions. Late nineteenth century …

Forging A Bluegrass Commonwealth: The Kentucky Statehood Movement And The Politics Of The Trans-Appalachian West, 1783–1792, Christopher L. Leadingham

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner first presented his frontier thesis to a group of historians at the World’s Columbian Exposition, a fair honoring the four-hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ expedition, in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, scholars have long debated the role that the frontier played in shaping the development of the United States. The Kentucky statehood movement emerged at a critical juncture in the early republic’s history, and, when viewed in a transatlantic context, becomes much more important to the development of the United States and larger Atlantic world than what has generally been recognized. Kentuckians found themselves at …

Surviving Fallout In Appalachia: An Examination Of Class Differences Within Civil Defense Preparation In West Virginia During The Early Years Of The Cold War, Tristan Miranda Williams

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Civil defense and West Virginia are not likely to be considered in tandem. What would make West Virginia significant during the Cold War? West Virginia is a state that has been synonymous with family feuds, hillbillies, moonshine, and coal mining. Few have considered West Virginia beyond these stereotypes and scant work has been done beyond that. The impact of the Cold War has been looked at through multiple angles but few have looked at the significant role West Virginia played during this time. Possibly, few have even considered that it played a role at all. Through examination of primary sources …

0840: Bertram (Bert) A. Dressler Papers, 1924-1998, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains football-related materials, professional possessions, educational materials, and personal memorabilia of Bertram (Bert) A. Dressler. The collection includes photographs, professional programs developed, trucking log books and certificates, as well as genealogical materials. These materials document Dressler's life as a Marshall University graduate in West Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, and beyond.

0839: Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Papers, 1941-2006, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection contains the personal, educational, and professional possessions of Mildred Mitchell-Bateman. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper articles, association newsletters, professional planners, financial documents, plaques, and other personal memorabilia. The materials document Bateman’s various roles within local, state, and national psychology and psychiatric organizations. The collection is organized into six series: Series 1, Personal; Series 2, Education; Series 3, Professional Experience; Series 4, Correspondence; Series 5, Associations; and Series 6, Bound Books, Bound Volumes and list of Newspapers.

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Papers, 1941-2006 here.

0835: The Links, Incorporated Collection, 1955-2016, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Established in 1955, the Huntington, West Virginia chapter of The Links, Incorporated is a women’s volunteer organization that works to support culture, education, health and wellness for seniors, adults, and youth in the African American community. The national Links, Incorporated organization, founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, oversees four regional areas, including the Central Area, which consists of 69 Links chapters in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Huntington, WV chapter is the only Links, Incorporated chapter in West Virginia, and its activities extend to Williamson and Bluefield. Chapter members such …

0833: Huntington League Of The Association Of Junior Leagues International, 1929-2015, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The Huntington Junior League of the Association of Junior Leagues International records consist of newspapers, League Lines, magazines, scrapbooks, organizational materials, cookbook recipes, Garden Club material, horse show material, etc. The focus of the collection is evenly distributed among the different series. The reason the Garden Club series is so large is because there were numerous large items that had to separated. The inclusive dates range from 1929-2015, however most materials are the 1940s to the 1960s.

Buffalo Soldier, Deserter, Criminal: The Remarkably Complicated Life Of Charles Ringo, Cicero Fain

History Faculty Research

This case study chronicles the remarkably complicated life of Charles Ringo who served nearly two enlistments as a Buffalo Soldier before deserting and embarking on a life of petty crime. It details his military service, his nomadic occupational life, his marriage, his acquittal of two sets of murders--one of his stepsons in West Virginia, the other of a white married couple in Illinois, and the assistance of white authorities who intervened to save and protect Ringo from the predations of angry mobs and racist courts. It situates Ringo’s exploits within the oppositional/alternative nature of African American working-class life, the failure …

0827: Rotary International - Huntington, Wv Chapter Collection, 1915-2015, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The collection includes an assortment of Rotary business files, artifacts, and images. It contains a variety of correspondence, meeting records, membership forms, awards, newsletters, memos, financial documents, newspapers, bulletins, and various Rotary artifacts including Rotary flags, proclamations, and Rotary themed desktop items. The collection showcases the Rotary Club of Huntington’s influence both in the Huntington area and within the district and international Rotary community. Many of these files, although mostly dating from time period of 1990-2015, do contain records and documents dating as far back to the founding of the Rotary Club of Huntington in 1915.