In order to reconstruct the story of West Virginia's growth and in turn to throw light on the State's connection with our national development, the West Virginia University Collection of Historical Manuscripts at Morgantown was established in 1931. Since then, voluminous material pertaining to various significant events in the political, economic, and social evolution of the State has flowed into the Library. It is the purpose of this article to review the economic and business aspects of this collection, although, of course, it is recognized that the institution gives equal emphasis to other phases of history.

The story of that epochal day when Europe and America were first successfully connected by cable is told in the “Diary of the Great Eastern Telegraph,” written on board the ship that completed the task in 1866. A copy of this diary, one of the few actually printed on board the ship, and autographed by Cyrus W. Field, is available in the Baker Library.

In the development of a great industry or a new territory there is quite often one man who stands out as a symbol of its evolution. Such was the case in the development of the upper peninsula of Michigan. The man was Peter White; and the truth of this statement is borne out by even a hasty perusal of the voluminous papers, account books, and letters in the White collection held by the Baker Library.

In collecting historical material, a society such as ours counts itself fortunate if from time to time the inflow of material, valuable because of its prospective usé, is sweetened by the appearance of items valuable because of their scarcity — and so usually valuable in a monetary sense.

An interesting sidelight on the attitude of white laborers toward potential competition from slaves in the pre-Civil War period is found in the Baker Library's Baldwin collection.