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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], O. J. Morrison Department Stores Company (West Virginia and Ohio), Records, A&M 1486, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

O. J. Morrison was born and raised on a farm near Ripley, Jackson County, West Virginia, on March 10, 1869, the son of Mr. and Mrs. G. P. Morrison. In 1891 O. J. Morrison married Cora A. Harpold. The Morrisons had five children: Freda, Fay, Johnson O., Carl H., and Charles W. O. J. Morrison established his first general goods business in Kenna, West Virginia, in 1890, but eventually moved the business to Ripley. He later opened shops in Beckley, Charleston, Clarksburg, Clendenin, Huntington, Fairmont, Huntington, Logan, Morgantown, Point Pleasant, Spencer, and West Union, West Virginia, as well as one in Columbus, Ohio, and did a combined business of more than two million dollars annually in 1940. In 1945, Morrison moved to Florida due to poor health.

Scope and Contents

O. J. Morrison (b. 1869) was the founder and manager of the O. J. Morrison Department Stores in West Virginia and Ohio. Collection chiefly includes correspondence and financial and legal papers that document the operation of Morrison's stores. Correspondence is a mix of personal and business letters, primarily from the 1940s. Letters about the management of his stores, including issues with personnel and vendors, recommendations for friends and former employees, requests for charitable donations, letters to and from manufacturers, and correspondence about Morrison's health in the mid-1940s and efforts to have his son released from the army to take over the company are mixed with invoices and receipts of bills paid, tax information, and real estate transactions. There are a few personal letters from family and friends as well as correspondence with Rush Holt.

More than twenty volumes contain stockholders and directors' meeting minutes for almost all of the department stores in West Virginia and the Ohio store. These financial ledgers typically date from the 1920s to the 1980s, though dates vary depending on the store location. Topics include the financial status of the company, financial statements for individual stores, operating expenses, and by-laws dictating the organization and management of the corporation. Also includes a photograph of O. J. Morrison and biographical pamphlets written about Morrison and by Morrison about his stores and business philosophy.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Department stores
• Morrison, Okey J.
• O.J. Morrison Department Store
• Retail trade -- Charleston
• Retail trade -- Charleston