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West Virginia and Regional History Center
1549 University Ave.P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Business Number: 304-293-3536
wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.com
URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu
Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center
Administrative Information
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Conditions Governing Access
No special access restriction applies.
Researchers may access digitized materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Oscar Kubach Papers, A&M 2454, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Scope and Contents
This collection of personal, business and financial papers, and photographs reflect Kubach's business interests and employment in West Virginia coal mines, Honduras gold and silver mines, and other activities. The correspondence, concentrated in the years 1885-87, concerns Kubach's responsibilities as secretary-treasurer of the Beury Coal & Coke Company of Stone Cliff, West Virginia, as well as personal and family matters. There are also thirty-six letters to Kubach written in German from 1818 to 1886. Among the business and financial papers are also several publicity circulars from the Honduras Mining Company, a gold and silver ore venture in which Kubach probably had a financial stake. An index to the correspondence is available.
Addendum of 1978/08/23:
Ca. 1870s-1920s; 5 in. (1 document case).
This addendum includes mounted and loose paper photographs of railroads, settlements, and buildings, and cartes de visite, cabinet cards, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs of Kubach, Sr., his family, and other unidentified persons.
Addendum of 2018/08/02:
Ca. 1875-1933; 10 in. (1 document case, 5 in.; 2 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each).
This addendum includes photographs, documents, and other material pertaining to Oscar C. Kubach, Sr., Oscar C. Kubach, Jr., and their family. Photographs include cartes de visite, cabinet cards, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs of members of the Kubach family and other, unidentified persons. Documents include personal and business correspondence (a few items), Masonic certificates and documents, and the Kubach family coat of arms. Also included in this addendum are a large, hand-drawn map of Stone Cliff, WV, Masonic awards, a 1914 Charlestonian yearbook from Charleston High School in Charleston, WV, and other personal effects of Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Beury Coal and Coke Company
- Cherokee Coal Company
- Coal mining - coal companies.
- Coal mining.
- Fayette Coal & Coke Company
- Honduras
- Honduras Mining Company
- Hughes Awning Company
- Joes Creek Oil & Gas Company
- Kubach, Oscar C.
- Mining. SEE ALSO Coal mining.
- Moore, Humphrey Coal Co.
Container List
This series includes material pertaining to Kubach's work with mining companies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, business transactions, and personal matters, such as the death of Kubach's first wife, Clara, and the choice of hospitals for surgery. Several letters in this series (folder 2, 1914-1939) pertain to Kubach's son Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. and his time at the University of Indiana. A section of this series (folder 3) is written wholly in German; no translations are available. The final folder in this series consists of Xerox copies of the letters in the first two folders. An index of the correspondence is also available.
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1
Correspondence1880-1885Scope and Contents
This folder includes business and personal letters. The business letters focus on mines, mine production, and the acquisition of property in West Virginia. There is also a letter pertaining to Kubach, Sr.'s involvement with the Honduras Mining Company. The personal letters focus on the death of Kubach, Sr.'s first wife, Clara. An index of this correspondence is available.
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2
Correspondence1886-1939Scope and Contents
This folder includes business and personal letters. The business letters focus on Kubach, Sr.'s involvement in the Beury Coal & Coke Company, but there are also letters regarding the Fayette Coal & Coke Company, the Honduras Mining Company, and the beginnings of the New River Coal Company. The personal letters focus on Kubach, Sr.'s family and happenings in Shamokin, PA and Stone Cliff, WV. Also included are three letters regarding Oscar C. Kubach, Jr.'s time at the University of Indiana. An index of this correspondence is available.
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 3
German Language Letters1878-1886Scope and Contents
This folder includes letters from Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.'s family and friends in his native Germany written in German. These letters have not been translated, although an index with the date each letter was written and the place from which each letter was sent is available.
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 4
Correspondence (Xerox copies of letters in File Folders 1 and 2)1880-1939Scope and Contents
This folder includes Xerox copies of the correspondence in File Folders 1 and 2 made at the time of the 1978 Addendum. An index of the correspondence in this folder is available.
This series includes four books. Two of these are Kubach's account books, one personal and one business. Another is a small personal notebook with various measurements and accounting notes. The final book is a World War II military edition of "Japanese Phrase-Book for Beginners and Tourists" compiled by Arthur Rose-Innes published by the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 at the Headquarters of the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army Presidio of San Francisco, CA; this book was likely owned by Kubach's son Oscar C. Kubach, Jr..
This series includes material pertaining to Kubach's business interests and work with various companies and mines in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, including the Cherokee Coal Company of Charleston, WV, Hughes Awning Company of Charleston, WV, and the Beury Coal and Coke Company of Stone Cliff, WV. Also included are documents pertaining to the interest of Kubach's family in the Joes Creek Gas Company of Charleston, WV after Kubach's death in 1899.
This series includes material pertaining to Kubach's stocks in the Honduras Mining Company. This material primarily consists of circulars sent to stockholders from 1885-1886 and various maps of mining sites. Also included is a business prospectus from the Santa Lucia Mining and Milling Company in 1886.
This series includes bills, checks, and receipts pertaining to Kubach's business interests as well as several of Kubach's personal bills and receipts. The bills and receipts include orders for stamped envelopes, shirts, a surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Charleston, WV, and work done by employees and contractors. The checks are primarily from J. M. Shuman & Co., A. H. Thomas, Wm. W. Muir & Co., and Joseph Wolf, all from Shamokin, PA.
This series includes pamphlets, booklets, articles, personal note and card, and a 1887 tax return. The pamphlets and booklets pertain to Kubach's membership in the Shamokin Masonic Lodge, no. 155 in Shamokin, PA, including a book of by-laws from 1883, two small booklets detailing meeting dates in 1883 and 1885, and blank membership applications. The articles include a list of books on mining and a prospectus for the American Art Union from 1885.
This series includes a carte de visite, a tintype, mounted photographs, loose paper photographs, and a postcard (15 photographs in all).
The carte de visite (ca. 1870-1885) is a portrait of Oscar C. Kubach from Leaman & Lee, Photographers, in Reading, PA.
The tintype (August 8, 1880) is a portrait of Kubach and four other men taken during "Extreme Night" at Harry Phillips' Novelty Picture Gallery in Atlantic City, NJ.
The mounted photographs (ca. 1870-1910s, undated) consist of two portraits of young men (one from Harness, WV and the other from Pendleton County, WV) and a group portrait of unidentified persons at a dam.
The loose paper photographs (ca. 1910s-1920s, undated) consist of several candid portraits of unidentified persons, two landscapes (one labeled, "River View Charleston, WV"), a posed portrait of three unidentified young men, and another posed portrait of two women and a man (the man's head has been carefully cut out of the image); these photographs look to be taken after Kubach's death in 1899, so it is likely that these images were taken or owned by his son Oscar Kubach, Jr or another of his children. The postcard (ca. 1910s-1920s, undated) depicts a football team, likely high school or collegiate, with handwritten labels for each person. A note was written on the back, but someone has trimmed the post card to focus on the image, removing much of the card's content.
These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
Also included in this series are negatives and photocopies of images from both this series and the 1978 Photographs addendum.
This series includes envelopes from correspondence and orders/receipts. The correspondence envelopes (ca. 1880-1939, undated) likely correspond to those letters in Series 1. The order and receipt envelopes (1877-1898) are labeled by their past contents with recordkeeping and payment notes written on each one in pencil. The origins of most of these envelopes are unknown, but several are labeled as Stirling Colliery, Henry Clay Colliery.
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 3
Letter Envelopes1880-1939
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 4
Other Envelopes1877-1898
This addendum includes cabinet cards, mounted photographs, and paper photographs owned by Kubach and his family. Cabinet cards (ca. 1870-1898, undated) include mostly portraits of unidentified persons from studios in Pennsylvania. Subjects of mounted photographs (ca. 1870-1898, undated) include railroads and trains, Kubach's second wife, Bettie, and Kubach's oldest two children, Howard and Clara, various unidentified persons, and localities around Stone Cliff, WV and Charleston, WV. Subjects of paper photographs (1910s, undated) include unidentified people and persons and unidentified buildings and localities. Many of these images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 5a
Mounted and Loose Paper Photographsca. 1870s-1910s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs and two loose paper photographs. Subjects of the mounted photographs (ca. 1870s-1910s, undated) include building settlements, railroads, trains, unidentified groups of people, and Oscar Kubach himself. Subjects of the loose paper photographs (ca. 1910s, undated) are an unidentified woman perched on a wood pole and a large, unidentified building. These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 5b
Mounted Photographs and Cabinet Cardca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs and a cabinet card. Subjects of the mounted photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include landscapes, buildings, and construction work. The cabinet card (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) is of an unidentified infant in a christening gown taken by Thomas in Shamokin, PA.
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 6a
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include buildings and one portrait of Kubach's second wife, Bettie Toland Kubach, and two children, likely Howard Kubach and Clara Kubach. These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 6b
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include railroads, trains, and roads.
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 7a
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs of various sizes. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include railroads, trains, buildings, several unidentified groups of people, monks or priests outside a Roman Catholic church, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Charleston, WV. These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 7b
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include railroads, trains, and a group of unidentified persons.
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 8a
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include railroads, trains, and buildings. These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 8b
Mounted Photographs, Cabinet Card, and Loose Paper Photographca. 1870s-1910s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs, a cabinet card, and a loose paper photograph. Subjects of the mounted photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include buildings and several groups of unidentified children. The cabinet card (ca. 1870s-1899, undated) is a posed portrait of Oscar C. Kubach, Sr. taken by George M. Bretz's studio in Pottsville, PA. The loose paper photograph (ca. 1910s, undated) is of an unidentified river dam.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 1
Mounted Photographsca. 1870s-1890s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs. Subjects of these photographs (ca. 1870s-1890s, undated) include several posed and candid groups of unidentified children and adults, landscapes, buildings, boats, forests, rivers, roads, and construction sites. These images are available online through West Virginia History on View (https://wvhistoryonview.org/).
This addendum contains photographs of Kubach, his family, and others, letters in English and German, artifacts and certificates (most of which are related to Freemasonry or Masonry), and other material. The photographs (ca. 1875-1920s, undated) include cartes de visite, cabinet cards, cased photographs, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs. This addendum also includes a 1914 Charlestonian Charleston High School yearbook owned by Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. that was also signed by most of the graduating class, Oscar C. Kubach, Jr.'s 1919 certificate to practice law in West Virginia, Chesapeake and Ohio railway train cards, business cards, and a hand-drawn map of Stone Cliff, WV.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3
Sub-Series. Photographsca. 1875-1930s, undatedScope and Contents
This sub-series contains photographs owned by the Oscar C. Kubach family. The photographs (ca. 1875-1920s, undated) include cartes de visite, cabinet cards, cased photographs, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs. This sub-series is first organized by identified subject. Those photographs with unidentified subjects are further organized by type.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 2
Cased Photographsca. 1875-1920s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes cased tintype and paper photographs (ca. 1875-1920s, undated). The tintype depicts two unidentified children. The subjects of the cased paper photographs are an unidentified woman and Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.'s second wife, Bettie Toland Kubach, and an unidentified child, likely either Annetta Kubach or Nancie Kubach, Kubach, Sr. and Bettie's oldest daughters.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 3
Photographs, Immediate Familyca. 1875-1933, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes cabinet cards, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs (ca. 1875-1933, undated) of Oscar C. Kubach, his second wife, Bettie Toland Kubach, and their children. Subjects of the cabinet cards are Bettie Toland Kubach, Oscar C. Kubach, Jr., Annetta and Narcie Kubach, and Howard Kubach. Subjects of the mounted and loose paper photographs include Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. and Bettie Toland Kubach.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 4
Photographs, Extended Familyca. 1875-1930s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes cabinet cards, cartes de visite, mounted photographs, and a loose paper photograph (ca. 1875-1933, undated) of members of the extended Kubach family. Subjects of the cabinet cards include Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.'s sisters, brother, sisters-and-brothers-in-law, and nieces. Subjects of the cartes de visite are Kubach, Sr.'s stepmother and nephew. Subjects of the mounted photographs are Kubach, Sr.'s brother-in-law's sister and sister-in-law. The loose paper photograph is of Kubach, Sr.'s sister. All photographs are labeled by either Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. or the collection's seller.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 5
Photographs, Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.ca. 1875-1899, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes cabinet cards, cartes de visite, mounted photographs, and loose paper photographs (ca. 1875-1899, undated) of Oscar C. Kubach, Sr. Several of the mounted photographs also include other, unidentified persons.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 6
Unidentified Cabinet Cards and Cartes de Visiteca. 1875-1910s, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes cabinet cards and cartes de visite (ca. 1875-1910s, undated) of unidentified persons. The cabinet cards were made by studios in Greensboro, Philadelphia, and Shamokin, PA and Kansas City. The cartes de visite were both taken by C. Raker in Shamokin, PA.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 7
Unidentified Mounted Photographsca. 1875-1933, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes mounted photographs (ca. 1875-1910s, undated) of unidentified persons and groups of people. Some of these images have listed studios, including Fleming in Ironton, OH, an unidentified studio in Glen Jean, WV, and an unidentified studio in Gallipolis, OH.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 8
Unidentified Loose Paper Photographsca. 1875-1933, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes loose paper photographs (ca. 1875-1933, undated) of unidentified persons and groups of people. These images are predominately posed portraits. Three of these images are printed post cards with little information on the reverse. This folder also includes one image labeled "St. Paul's Cathedral," presumably the cathedral in London, England.
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 2
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 9
Artifactsca. 1875-1899, undatedScope and Contents
This folder includes three artifacts (ca. 1875-1899): a small leather wallet, a medal from the Maysville Commandery of the Knights Templar no. 10 in Maysville, KY, and a Square medal from the Shamokin Masonic Lodge no. 255 inscribed "Presented to Past Master Oscar C. Kubach by Shamokin lodge No. 255 F. & A.M."
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Object: 1
West Virginia Law LicenseJuly 15, 1919Scope and Contents
This certificate is a license to practice law in the State of West Virginia given to Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. on July 15, 1919.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 1
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company Train Cards1891-1899Scope and Contents
This folder includes four Employee's Passes and one Pass Check from Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company (1891-1899). All four Passes show Oscar C. Kubach travelling to Stone Cliff, WV, and two reference Beury Coal & Coke Company.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 2
Business Cardsca. 1875-1899, undatedScope and Contents
This folder contains five business cards belonging to Oscar C. Kubach, Sr. and one compliment card (ca. 1875-1899, undated). Only one of the business cards is related to Kubach's business work (an Edward C. Jones of Edward C. Jones & Co. in New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA). The other four cards are for a Philip Nash with Stewart & Bauer of Philadelphia, PA, a Henry W. Thomas with Geo. W. Driver of Washington, DC (this card has quotes from Hamlet on the reverse), a P. Hesse with Browning, King, & Co. of Cincinnati, OH, and a John W. Hill of Cincinnati, OH.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 3
Other Papersca. 1875-1899Scope and Contents
This folder contains other papers from Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.'s wallet, including Instructions for Washing from Dr. Jaeger's Sanitary Woolen System Co., a prescription from C. A. Barron & Company, Druggists and Pharmacists of Shamokin, PA, a prescription from F. Speth Sons, Opticians of Cincinnati, OH, and an identification card.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 4
Correspondence1882-1933Scope and Contents
This folder includes a variety of Oscar C. Kubach, Sr.'s letters. These letters, both written by and to Kubach, are predominately personal letters to his second wife, Bettie Toland Kubach, and personal letters from friends and family in Germany written in German. Also included are several business letters and personal letters to Narcie Kubach and Oscar C. Kubach, Jr.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 5
Kubach Family Coat of Arms and Other Papers1897-1973Scope and Contents
This folder includes a rendering and explanation of the Kubach family coat of arms prepared by Halberts, a guest map for an unidentified 12th century castle, an illustration of a set of armor with explanations of the different parts, and a program from the 1867 Fifth Annual Meeting of the West Virginia Coal Exchange.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4a Folder: 6
Certificates1875-1889Scope and Contents
This folder includes three certificates: a membership certificate to the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (now known as Shriners International) from the Osiris Temple in Wheeling, WV (1889), a membership certificate to the Pennsylvania National Guard (1875), of which Oscar C. Kubach, Sr. was a 1st Lieutenant of the 7th Regiment Infantry, and an achievement certificate for ascending to a 33rd Degree Mason and Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry conferred by the Supreme Council of New York (1887).
- Books Box: 4b
Charlestonian Charleston High School Yearbook1914Scope and Contents
This box contains a 1914 Charlestonian yearbook from Charleston High School in Charleston, WV. The book is inscribed to Oscar C. Kubach, Jr. and contains signatures from most of that year's graduating class.
- Maps Box: 5
Map of Stone Cliff, WVca. 1875-1899, undatedScope and Contents
Large, hand-drawn map of Stone Cliff, WV (ca. 1875-1899, undated).