This guide will provide an introduction to learning how to search, use, and visit Marshall University Archives and Special Collections. Topics will include where to search our collections and how to find digital resources, options for teaching with Special Collections materials, and how you can plan your visit.
If you have any other questions, ask us! There is always somebody ready to help you at the Special Collections reference desk. You can also reach us via email at speccoll@marshall.edu or by phone at (304) 696-2343.
Since 1971, Marshall University Archives and Special Collections has been home to the history of Marshall University and the surrounding region. Special Collections has more than 850 unique collections consisting of correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, oral histories, film reels and tapes, and artifacts from individuals, families, and businesses from West Virginia and the surrounding region. It is also home to the University Archives, consisting of materials related to Marshall University, as well as unique collections including the Rosanna Blake Library of Confederate History, the Charles Hoffman Medical Library, the General Chuck Yeager Room, a rare book library, and West Virginia books, periodicals, and state documents.
The Rosanna Blake Library of Confederate History was given to Marshall in 1987 by noted government lawyer Rosanna Blake, and consists of Civil War era Confederate imprints, correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, pamphlets, books, periodicals, works of art, and more. Books in the collection may be searched by visiting our catalog and selecting "Special Collections" from the dropdown box. Manuscripts, prints, objects, and ephemera can be viewed in the Blake Collection finding aid.
Charles "Carl" Hoffman was a Huntington, West Virginia urologist who later became president of the American Medical Association. Special Collections houses his personal and professional papers as well as his library of then contemporary and historical medical texts. The collection may be searched by visiting our catalog and selecting "Special Collections" from the dropdown box.
Special Collections maintains a rare book collection containing primarily nineteenth and twentieth century texts. Of particular note is our collection of McGuffey Readers and Jesse Stuart texts. The collection may be searched by visiting our catalog and selecting "Special Collections" from the dropdown box.
Special Collections maintains an extensive library of books and periodicals published in, by, about, or for West Virginia and West Virginians. Strengths of the collection are local history and genealogy. The collection may be searched by visiting our catalog and selecting "Special Collections" from the dropdown box.
Marshall University is an official repository for West Virginia State Documents. West Virginia State Documents are a collection of documents published by various state entities from the state’s inception to today. This includes publications from a variety of public departments as well as the state legislature. The collection includes newsletters, maps, pamphlets, legislative bills, reports, and more and can be search through an inventory on Marshall Digitial Scholar.
A native West Virginian, General Charles "Chuck" Yeager is a record-setting test pilot and the first person to have exceeded the speed of sound in flight. At Marshall, he founded the prestigious Yeager Scholars program. Special Collections is home to his personal and professional papers as well as artifacts, which are housed in the General Chuck Yeager Room. A finding of the materials is located at here: Yeager Finding Aid
