17.75 Linear Feet, 17 ft. 9 1/4 in. (42 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 large flat storage box, 3 in.; 1 folder, 1/4 in.)
Creator
Kilgore, Harley Martin, 1893-1956
Location
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown,
WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Conditions Governing Access
No special access restriction applies.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Harley Martin Kilgore (1893-1956), Senator, Papers, A&M 0967, West Virginia
and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Harley Martin Kilgore (January 11, 1893 - February 28, 1956) was born in Brown, West Virginia, to Quimby and Laura Martin
Kilgore. He received his LL.B. from West Virginia University in 1914 and was admitted to the bar the same year.
He taught school in Hancock, West Virginia in 1914 and 1915. Also in 1915, he organized the first high school in Raleigh County,
WV, and served as principal. He established his law practice in Beckley, WV in 1916. During World War I, he served in the
infantry from 1917 and was discharged as a captain in 1920. Kilgore married Lois Elaine Lilly in Huntington, WV on May 10,
1921. That same year, he helped organize the West Virginia National Guard, and was promoted to major and appointed commander
of 2nd Battalion the following year. He also served as Beckley city recorder in 1922. His son, Robert Martin Kilgore, was
born in 1924. His daughter, Elinor Stuart Kilgore, was born in 1926.
In 1932, Kilgore was assigned to the state headquarters of the National Guard. He was elected judge of the Raleigh County
criminal court from 1933 to 1940 on the Democratic ticket. In 1940, he was elected to the U.S. Senate with support from the
Neely faction of the Democratic Party, and won reelection in 1946 and 1952. Also in 1940, he was placed on active military
duty as judge advocate for West Virginia's Selective Service system until he entered the Senate. A member of the U.S. Senate
from 1941 until his death, Kilgore served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Committee to Investigate the National
Defense Program. In October 1942, he became chair of the Subcommittee on War Mobilization of the Military Affairs Committee
(also known as the Kilgore Committee).
In 1948, Kilgore served as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, where he was an outspoken supporter of Harry
S. Truman. He retired from the West Virginia National Guard as a lieutenant colonel in 1953. He died in 1956 at age 63 at
Bethesda Naval Hospital, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Papers of Harley M. Kilgore, U.S. Senator from West Virginia. Includes typescripts, correspondence, printed materials, clippings,
broadsides, and a photograph. Topics include congressional bills and legislation on diverse subjects; committees with which
Kilgore was involved, including the Senate
Military Affairs Subcommittee on War Mobilization, the Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program (also
known as the Truman Committee), the Committee on Military Affairs, and the Committee on the Judiciary; the National Science
Foundation; various presidential speeches; and a wide variety of material relating to West Virginia, including items pertaining
to the Charleston Airport, the Parkersburg Flood Wall, the Upper Monongahela Project, and many other topics.
Series 1. Bills Introduced by Senator Kilgore, 77th-82nd Congress
Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 1 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 2 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 3 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 4 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 5 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 6 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 7 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 8 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 9 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 10 Mixed Materials Series 1, Box 11 1941–1952
Scope and Contents
This series includes printed bills, correspondence, and other documents pertaining to the bills. All items are filed by bill
number under each section of Congress. The subjects in these folders are duplicated in some of the later series.
Series 2. General File (miscellaneous correspondence)
Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 1 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 2 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 3 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 4 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 5 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 6 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 7 Mixed Materials Series 2, Box 8 ca. 1937-1956
Scope and Contents
This series includes correspondence, printed bills, memoranda, and other materials bearing on Congressional legislation. Content
is arranged alphabetically by folder subject headings.
Series 12. Oversize Pictorial and Printed Material
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1 ca. 1945-1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Scrapbook of newspaper clippings relating to Senator Kilgore's activities in Congress
1945
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
"Charters of Freedom," Washington (National Archives Publication No. 53-14)
1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Materials on the Harpers Ferry National Monument
ca. 1945-1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Text of an address, "E-Day," Arthurdale
ca. 1945-1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
West Virginia plant of Silman Manufacturing Corporation
ca. 1945-1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Photographs
ca. 1945-1952
Scope and Contents
Subjects of these photographs include:
the Hatfield clan
Woodrow Wilson
Colonel J.M. Kirby, 101st Ohio Regiment
General William T. Sherman
Stonewall Jackson
General N.B. Forrest
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
the battleship U.S.S. West Virginia
President Truman addressing a joint session of Congress
a World War II dockyard
Senator Kilgore's campaign posters
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Printed text of Franklin D. Roosevelt's last message to the American people
ca. 1945-1952
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
General Eisenhower addressing joint session of Congress
1945 June 8
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Posters
ca. 1948, undated
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
Prime Minister Churchill addresses the Congress in the Senate Chamber (photograph)
1941 December 27
Mixed Materials Series 12, Box 1
"For Distinguished Service in the U.S. Senate," West Virginia Council of B'nai B'rith Lodges (citation)
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