Conditions Governing Use

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], Franklin Brand, Lawyer and Politician, Papers, A&M 3796, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Franklin Marion Brand (1880-1963), also known as Frank M. Brand, was born in Monongalia County, West Virginia, on 13 March 1880. He was the son of James C. Brown and Mary Alice (Fleming) Brand. He married Myrtle O. Core on 12 November 1910. He was a lawyer, and served in the West Virginia house of delegates as a Republican from Monongalia County in 1919-1920 and 1943-1944; he was defeated in the 1940, 1950, 1952, and 1954 elections. He was a member of the American Bar Association and the Sigma Nu fraternity.

Scope and Contents

Papers of Franklin Marion Brand, lawyer and politician of Monongalia County, West Virginia.

Includes mostly correspondence related to legal and political matters (some personal) in Monongalia County and the state of West Virginia (inclusive dates: 1917-1944; bulk dates: 1935-1943). Diverse in content, this correspondence includes material regarding activities of city government (Morgantown), local schools and churches, bar associations, the Republican State Committee, state government, and other organizations.

A series of correspondence dating from 1943, labeled "legislative" by Brand, includes a wide range of material reflecting his activities as a delegate from Monongalia County.

There is also an extensive series of political handbills and pamphlets, many of which advocate Republican opposition to the New Deal policies of President Franklin Roosevelt.

The collection also includes a series of land records, including many deeds related to Brand family properties.

Other material includes:

ephemera (including West Virginia University football schedules from 1935, 1937, and 1939; and a printed note card with a history of Laurel Run School in Marion County, 1893-1943), and

Civil War Service Certificates issued by the Ohio Adjutant General's Office (4 items for Private Albert G. Fleming, Nathan F. Lemert, Private David A. Sherrard, all from 1930).

Scattered throughout the collection are many political handbills from the office of Senator Rush Holt. Some of these items evidence advocacy of coal company interests.

Oversize material includes four newspapers, one complete issue of each:

1. "The News Index, A Weekly Magazine of Current Events in West Virginia", 9 February 1935, Vol. 1, No. 2

2. "Market Bulletin, Publication of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture", 1 March 1938, Vol. 22, No. 3

3. "Voice of Labor", 4 November 1938, Vol. 4, No. 16

4. "The Cairo Enterprise", 28 January 1943, Vol. 39, No. 23 (includes prohibition related front page article regarding proposed beer law)

Genealogy work by Frank M. Brand can be found in:

A&M 1266 (genealogical notes on the Family of Thomas Minor)

A&M 1463 ("The Joseph Weaver Family of Monongalia County, West Virginia")

A&M 1576 and A&M 1602 (genealogical notes on the family of Samuel and Elizabeth Musgrave and the McDougal family)

Brand family papers can be found in:

A&M 1576 and A&M 1602

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Brand, Frank Marion, 1880-1963
• Brandt family
• Lawyers - letters and papers.
• Monongalia County (W. Va.)
• Morgantown (W. Va.)
• New Deal, 1933-1939
• Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )