About the Collection


The West Virginia and Regional History Center contains the most comprehensive collection of historic photographs pertaining to West Virginia in existence. Estimated to include more than 225,000 images, these photographs are interspersed throughout the WVRHC’s broad holdings.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center has created a digital version of this tremendous pictorial resource which documents the history of countless subjects and places in West Virginia. As of Spring 2013, more than 41,000 images are available via West Virginia History OnView, and more are added on a regular basis. In addition to offering convenient on-site and remote access to these photographs, the image records offer extensive catalog and subject data which makes this resources highly searchable and user friendly.

The creators of the photos are diverse and in many cases unknown. The date range is roughly 1850 to the present. The digital resource has been in production by the staff of the WVRHC since fall 2004.

The resource is fully searchable by catalog metadata, character string, and with Boolean capability.