Inventory of State Gubernatorial Archives (New York through Wyoming)

Note: State gubernatorial archives for Alabama through Iowa are available on page one of the index. Archives for Kansas through New Mexico are available on page two of the index.

 

New York

The New York State Archives
New York State appears to be the only state publishing a list of its governors identifying the sites where their collected papers are held at some 40 sites other than the archives. For every governor from 1777 to 1982, there is an entry and a link to the collection (which are both digitized and non-digitized).

Also in the New York State Archives is digitized material on a handful of state governors including photograph collections for governors from 1883-1982, archived websites for Governor Eliot Spitzer (2007-2008) and Governor George Pataki (1995-2006)and five audio and video entries including,“Governor W. Averell Harriman at the Whiteface Ski Center Opening, 1958”; Governor W. Averell Harriman’s 4th of July Highway Safety Announcement, ca. 1950s”; “A New York State Olympics: A behind-the-scenes look at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, including video clips of Governors Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hugh Carey”; Teenage Drunk Driving…It Wrecks Lives! 1985: Governor Mario Cuomo asks for help from fellow New Yorkers to prevent teenagers from drinking and driving in a promotional announcement created by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee”; and “What of Your Child? Governor Thomas E. Dewey introduces this film that describes childcare options for working mothers during World War II.

The New York State Library
The New York State Library has a website with selected digital historical documents that includes state documents from the colonial period to today. Searching through the website’s digital collections individually was more useful than using the search feature. Non-digitized archival material is also available and can be searched for through the library catalog, which is more user friendly then the digital archives catalog. Information for obtaining the material is available online.

North Carolina

Oral Histories of the American South
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill project Oral Histories of the American South has downloadable interviews with full transcripts with Governor Terry Sanford (1961-1965).

Duke University Library
Duke University Library has the non-digitized archival material from the production of the documentary film, “Terry Sanford and the New South” including, “digital videotapes and duplicates from the production of “Terry Sanford and the New South,” as well as research notes, production notes and timelines, an index of filed images, and subject files for images used in the film.

The Duke University Digital Collection
The Duke University digital collection has 65 results for “Governor” which are mostly coats of arms images and their descriptions as well as photographs and a few proclamation or pamphlets featuring information relating to the governor.

North Carolina State University Library
North Carolina State University Libraries maintains the collected papers of Josephine Scott Hudson that includes non-digitized archival material for North Carolina Governor Robert W. Scott (1969-73). The material is limited to a single box for the entire Scott family.

The North Carolina State Archives
The North Carolina State Archives includes the North Carolina State Government Website Archives with governors’ sites dating back to 1996. Governor web pages have their own listings by date, which researchers can use to find relevant information. Easy to use website, with a good layout. The Archives has also set up a Flickr account where 31 pictures from gubernatorial inaugurations can be views. “Treasures” is a website filled with digitized primary documents. They must be searched through individually (they are grouped together by time period) for information pertaining to the office of the governor. The site is constantly updated and information on updates is available at their blog. Original documents dating back to the mid-1600s to today are available for viewing online and include mostly letters and personal papers. The manuscripts and archives record system maintains the official papers of Governors William Woods Holden (1818- 1892); Zebulon Baird Vance (1830 -1894) and Terry Sanford (1917- 1998). A search engine for all digital material maintained by the state of North Carolina is also available.

The University of North Carolina Digital Collections
University of North Carolina digital collections includes primary documents from the governor during the 1898, as well as official colonial and state records – the text of which is available without a digitized image of the original document.

North Dakota

The North Dakota State Archives at the North Dakota State Historical Society
The North Dakota State Archives, managed by the State Historical Society, maintains non-digitized archival material for state Governors Andrew Burke (1891-1893), Nehemiah Ordway (1880-1884); John Moses (1939-1945); William Guy(1961-1973); George Sinner(1988-1992); John Davis (1957-1961); Roger Allin (1895-1897); Walter Welford (1935-1937); George Shafer (1929-1933); Newton Edmunds (1863-1866); Lynn Frazier (1917-1921); Frank Briggs (1897-1898); L. B. Hanna (1913-1917); Arthur Link (1973-1981); Allen Olsen (1981-1985). Material includes personal and public papers as well as legislative records. The non-digitized oral histories, also maintained by the society, have 10 interviews relating to the Governor’s Mansion from governors and their families.

North Dakota Online Governors Online Exhibit
The State Historical Society of North Dakota has the North Dakota Governors Online Exhibit, which has the Governor’s official portraits from 1861 to today.

North Dakota Digital Horizons
North Dakota Digital Horizons has collections of photos and official portraits of the governors as well as digitized archival material including letters, newspaper clippings (mostly political cartoons), personal papers and other types of memorabilia.

The North Dakota State Library
The North Dakota State Library is a repository for non-digitized state and federal documents.

Ohio

Ohio University
Ohio University maintains the archives of Governor George Voinovich (1991-1998) including “Correspondence, reports, legal opinions, subject files, renditions, requisitions, speeches, audio tapes, video tapes, photographs, briefing files, public inquiries, legislative bills, executive orders, schedules, interoffice and agency communications, and memorabilia.” Some of the content is digitized. Excellent layout, easy to use website.

The Morgan Library’s Ohio Imprints Digital Library
The Morgan Library’s Ohio Imprints Digital Library has a digitized copy of the “Annual Message of the Governor (Thomas Corwin 1840-1842) of Ohio Transmitted to the Fortieth General Assembly. Tuesday, December 7, 1841

The Ohio Memory Project
The Ohio Memory project maintains a digitized archive of 82 official government documents from the office of the governor as well as the archives of the the Wilbur H. Siebert Underground Railroad Collection.

The Ohio State Historical Society
The Ohio State Historical Society, which maintains the official archives of the state has finding aids for official government documents relating to the office of the governor, as well as a database of pictures to be viewed online with 139 pictures relating to the office of the governor.

OhioLink
OhioLink, maintained by the Ohio Library System runs the Digital Resource Commons, a search engine of databases of all the state’s universities. Search results related to governors included mostly photos and a few digitized primary handwritten documents.

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Department of Libraries
The Oklahoma Department of Libraries 100 Years of Governors website from provides finding aids for Governor’s records from 1907 to 2003 that are housed in the State Archives. Records include administrative and legislative files; pardon and parole records; correspondence; addresses and speeches; state finance reports; state agency and institutional reports; board and committee records; press releases; photographs; newspaper clippings and articles; other miscellaneous documents.

Voices of Oklahoma
Voices of Oklahoma, an oral history project, has planned interviews with former Governors Henry Bellmon (1963-1967) (1987-1991) and George Nigh (1963-1963) (1979-1987).

Oregon

The Oregon State Archives
The Oregon State Archives, maintained by the Secretary of State, has finding aids for Governor’s records from 1845-2003 including biographical notes, speeches, letters, and official records. Transcripts of speeches are available. Excellent website, easy to use.

University of Oregon
University of Oregon has 8 digitized images for Governor Joseph Lane (1849-1850).

Oregon State Capitol Foundation Oral History Project
Oregon State Capitol Foundation Oral History Project provides researchers with interviews with Governors Victor Atiyeh (1979-1987) and Barbara Roberts (1991-1995) for a cost of $10 for either a DVD or VHS. A video preview is available online.

The Oregon Historical Society
The Oregon Historical Society maintains a catalog of non-digitized archival material for state governors. The Historical Society also has the Oregon History Project, a digital archive of material that includes photos, official government documents, letters, telegraphs, and artifacts from the governors themselves. Governors have individual pages (with links to further related material online) but to get to the page, a governor must be searched for individually.

Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania State Archives
The Pennsylvania State Archives maintains detailed finding aids on the non-digitized papers of numerous governors. The archives also maintains the non-digitized, official state documents and photographs. Easy to use website with a simple layout and an excellent search engine.

The University of Pittsburgh Library System Pennsylvania Digital Library
The University of Pittsburgh’s Library System maintains the Pennsylvania Digital Library (PADL) a “state-wide metadata repository for digital resources created by Pennsylvania libraries, museums, educational institutions, and other cultural heritage organizations. PADL provides researchers with an aggregated search interface for these digital materials.” A search for “Governor” yielded 500 results from across the state’s collection. Excellent search engine. Note that registration and a log-in are necessary for some services.

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania
A non-digitized guide to the collected papers of Governor John S. Fisher (1927-1931) is available from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The entire contents of the collection are available at the University library in a single box.

The Pennsylvania Historical Society
The Hampton L. Carson Collection at the Pennsylvania Historical Society includes the non-digitized letters from Pennsylvania governors in the 18th and 19th century.

Dick Thornburgh Papers, University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh maintains the collected digitized papers (a work in progress) of the career of Governor Dick Thornburgh (1979-1987), who also served as US Attorney General (1988-1991) and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations (1992-1993). Governor Thornburgh donated his papers to the University of Pittsburgh, his law school alma mater, in 1998. They include materials from his campaigns, his term as governor (including the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, which took place 70 days after Thornburgh’s inauguration), and his life and positions post-governorship. The Center on the American Governor considers it the best individual governor archival website we have encountered. It publishes a full range of archival material – including official and personal documents as well as memorabilia — and provides a model for other archives in organization and publication of material. Development of the site included scanning and online presentation of 37,000 pages of text, hundreds of photographs, and hours of video and audio. Excellent search engine, easy to use website, simple and well-designed layout.

Rhode Island

The Rhode Island State Library
The Rhode Island State Library maintains the state’s official government records through the Office of the Secretary of State.

The Rhode Island Historical Society
The Rhode Island Historical Society has the non-digitized collected papers of Governors, Stephen Hopkins (1755-1768), William Greene (1778-1786), George Peabody Wetmore (1885-1887), and Theodore Francis Green (1933-1937), as well as State records.

The University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island has finding aids for the collected papers of Governors John H. Chafee (1963-1969); Frank Licht (1969-1973); Bruce Sundlun (1990-1995); and William Vanderbilt (1939-1941).

Brown University Center for Digital Initiatives
Brown University’s Center for Digital Initiatives has online archival material, mostly relating to governor’s interactions with the University, including the school’s proclamation of founding. Other results include general proclamation for the office of the governor (mostly from the 1700-1800s). A few pictures (including those of governors’ and the historic Governor’s mansion), paintings and portraits, campaign literature, news clippings, and other forms of political memorabilia are also available for viewing online. Searching throughout the collection, at least one result pertaining to Governor’s in Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vermont and New York were also discovered and were mostly in the form of pictures and portraits.

South Carolina

South Carolina Department of Archives and History
South Carolina Department of Archives and History maintains the non-digitized records of the state from 1671 to the present, including the records of 54 state governors. Among the many types of records are legislative files, minutes of governing boards and committees, legal opinions, narrative and statistical reports, policy and project files, correspondence and memoranda, published works, audio recordings of meetings and hearings, photographs, maps, and electronic records.” Searching for individual governors proved to be the most efficient way to find relevant material. Both the overall library catalog on the individual catalogs (separated by state, local, federal, personal, etc…) were useful in conducting such a search. No single page listing all the governors’ finding aids for their collected papers was found.

Clemson University Digital Archives
Clemson University’s digital archives has a collection of over 100 pictures of former Governor James Byrnes (1951-1955) . The university also maintains a collection of non-digitized papers of some of the state’s governors but the researcher must know which governor they are specifically researching to use the site as there is no single page listing all finding aids for the Governor’s papers.

South Carolina University Library Political Collections
South Carolina University Library Political Collections has the non-digitized papers of Governors James Edwards (1975-1979), Ernest Hollings (1959-1963); Robert McNair (1965-1971), Richard Riley (1979-1987), Donald Russell (1963-1965), Mark Sanford (2003-2011) and John West (1971-1975). Finding aids and information for obtaining the material is available on the website. Governors have individual pages that link to all material available at the university as well as material available elsewhere. The university also has an Oral History Project and transcripts of interviews are available to download for Governors McNair (1965-1971) and West (1971-1975). There is also an interview with Governor Russell (1963-1965), but no transcript is available. Online exhibits of digitized archival material – including photos, speeches, letters, audio files, official documents, news clippings and other types of memorabilia – are available for Governors McNair (1965-1971), Hollings (1959-1963), Russell (1963-1965) and West (1971-1975). There is also a digitized collection for the collected papers of colonial Governor James Glen (1738-1756).

South Dakota

South Dakota State Historical Society
The South Dakota State Historical Society maintains detailed finding aids, available to download as a PDF, for the non-digitized papers for state governors from 1861 to the present. They are divided into sections for Territorial Governors (1861-1889), State Governors (1889-1925), State Governors (1925-1959) and State Governors (1959-Present).

The South Dakota State Library
The South Dakota State Library maintains the official non-digitized government records of the state.

University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota (USD) houses more than thirty archival collections from South Dakota’s major political figures, including the papers of sixteen South Dakota governors. Since 2012, USD has been home to 375 boxes containing the records of the late Gov. William Janklow. Covering his four terms as governor (1979-87, 1995-2003), the records offer crucial insights to South Dakota’s political, economic, and social history over the last quarter of the twentieth century. In addition, Janklow (1939-2012) donated to USD his personal political papers, which include videos, film reels, cassette recording, and other documents that cover his service as an attorney on the Rosebud Reservation, his time as South Dakota attorney general, his political campaign work, and his service in the U.S. House of Representatives (2003-04). Other gubernatorial records housed at USD include the papers of: Arthur C. Mellette (governor, 1889-93), Andrew E. Lee (1897-1901), Robert S. Vessey (1909-13), Peter Norbeck (1917-21; the Norbeck Papers focus largely on his three terms as a U.S. Senator from South Dakota, 1921-1936), William H. McMaster (1921-25), Harlan J. Bushfield (1939-43), Merrell Q. Sharpe (1943-47), George T. Mickelson (1947-51), Sigurd Anderson (1951-55), Joseph Foss (1955-59), Ralph Herseth (1951-61), Archie Gubbrud (1961-65), Nils A. Boe (1965-69), Frank L. Farrar (1969-71), and Richard Kneip (1971-78).

Tennessee

Tennessee State Library and Archives
Tennessee State Library and Archives maintains finding aids for the Governor’s papers from 1790-2003. Other materials maintained by the Library and Archives include: Alexander Inauguration Papers, 1978-1979: The collection is concentrated on the activities surrounding and leading up to the inauguration of Governor Lamar Alexander on January 20, 1979. It is composed of correspondence, financial documents, identification, lists, maps, media information, minutes, newspaper articles, photographs, programs, reports, and tickets; Governor Frank G. Clement Audio Collection, 1955-1969: The Governor Frank G. Clement Audio Collection consists of 21 audiocassette copies of speeches made by, and one interview of, Frank Clement. Frank G. Clement was Governor of Tennessee from 1953-1959, and again from 1963-1967. The collection concentrates on speeches made during his terms of office. Most of the speeches made were in joint sessions of the Tennessee House of Representatives and Senate; Lee S. Greene Collection On Frank G. Clement, 1973-1982: This collection consists of research materials and copies of the manuscript for the book Lead Me On: Frank Goad Clement and Tennessee Politics. Frank G. Clement served three terms as Governor of Tennessee. It contains correspondence, taped interviews, transcripts of the interviews, and copies of the manuscript.

Tennessee State Library and Archives Digital Collection
The Digital Collection from the Library and Archives maintains official government documents, digitized “landmark” documents from the founding of the nation and photographs all pertaining to the office of the governor. Visiting the site of individual collections and searching with the individual search engines is particularly useful.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville Archives
University of Tennessee, Knoxville archives maintains numerous digital initiatives including the “Modern Political Archives” which includes manuscripts, books, photographs, fine art, sound recordings, digital files, and ephemera from a handful of the state’s governors. The University also maintains the “Tennessee Documentary History, 1796-1850,” an on-line project that will contain 2,000 documents and images relating to the history of antebellum Tennessee. A search retuned over 200 results. There is also a special online exhibit entitled, “Andrew Johnson Bicentennial, 1808-2008”, which is a collection of 32 pieces of archival material including digitized personal papers, photos and memorabilia belonging to the former Governor.

Texas

The Texas State Archives and Texas State Library
The Texas State Archives preserves and documents the history of Texas by identifying, collecting, and making available for research the permanent official records of Texas government, as well as other significant historical resources. The State Archives includes archival government records dating back to the 18th century, as well as newspapers, journals, books, manuscripts, photographs, historical maps, and other historical resources. The Texas State Library maintains finding aids for the Records of Governor George W. Bush (1995-2000) based at the Library of the University of Texas, but none of the collection is currently digitized for online viewing. The holdings include “correspondence, memoranda, legal records, legislative records, financial records, speeches, reports, meeting records, publications, printed material, lists, calendars and schedules, electronic records, audio and video tapes, and photographs… from January 17, 1995 to December 21, 2000.” There is also an archive of official state portraits with a few digitized primary handwritten documents for each Governor.

The University of North Texas Oral History Project
The University of North Texas Oral History Project has interviews with governors, their family and staff. There is no search engine, but a PDF finding aid is available for download and searching. Information for obtaining the audio or transcripts of are available on the website.

Utah

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University has digitized the collective archives of Governor Michael O. Leavitt (1993-2003), including Schedule; Executive Order; News; Policies; Speeches; Legislation; Photographs; Audio/Video and Correspondences.

The Utah State Archives
The Utah State Archives maintains the non-digitized records of state governors from 1850 to the present. Detailed finding aids are available for viewing and information for obtaining the material is available on the website. The archives also store official state documents. There is also a limited digital archives for two governors and includes official government documents, newspaper clippings, speeches, press releases, documents from the First Lady, photographs and scrapbooks.

The Utah Division of State History
The Utah State History website (which includes the State Historical Society) features a digital photo archive with numerous pictures relating to state governors and online collection catalog which revealed two collections specific to the governor, including “Utah Territorial and State Governors Photograph Collection” and “Governor Michael Leavitt Olympic Photograph Collection, 2002.” There is also a collection of non-digitized personal and family papers, but a researcher using these aids must know which specific governor they are searching for to best use the site.

Utah Division of Archives and Record Service
The Utah Division of Archives and Record Service, the state government’s digital archive, includes official government documents and digital archival material – photos, news clippings, official documents, letters, scrapbooks, statements and speeches for Governors Michael Leavitt (1993-2003) and Olene Walker (2003-2005).

Vermont

Vermont State Archives
The state archives has the text of each governor’s inaugural and farewell speeches from 1779 to today. It also maintains a non-digitized database of photos but the archives catalog does not provide a separate search engine for them. A search for Governor in the catalog revealed recorded (video) interviews with Governors F. Ray Keyser (1961-1963), Robert Stafford (1959-1961), Philip Hoff (1963-1969), Thomas Salmon (1973-1977), Deane Davis (1969-1973), and Richard Snelling (1977-1985) as well as the collected papers – including official government documents, letters, personal papers, campaign memorabilia and administrative material – for every Governor from 1820 to 2003. Collections are separated by Governor, type of material and date fom the 1700s to today.

The Vermont Historical Society
The Vermont Historical Society has the non-digitized archives that includes an audio interview in 1986 with Governor Philip Hoff (1963-1969) as well as campaign memorabilia, official government documents, speech transcripts, and recordings of gubernatorial debates. The catalog turned up mostly information unrelated to the Governor, and the historical Society archives stores a lot of material on lieutenant governors and those that ran unsuccessfully for the office of the governor. Information for obtaining the material from the archives is available on the website.

Vermont State Library
Vermont State Library has non-digitized archival material – all official documents, letters and speeches from Governors Jim Douglas (2003-2011), Howard Dean (1991-2003), Philip Hoff (1963-1969), Richard Snelling (1977-1985), Horace Graham (1917-1919), Redfield Proctor (1878-1880), Roswell Farnham (1880-1882) and Madeleine Kunin (1985-1991). Easy to use website, good search engine.

The University of Vermont Archives
The University of Vermont archives holds the non-digitized collected papers of William H. Wills, Stanley Calef Wilson, Lee E. Emerson, John Eliakim Weeks and Benjamin Collins.

Virginia

The Virginia Heritage
The Virginia Heritage website maintained by Special Collections of the University of Virginia Library allows a search for manuscripts and archival material held by 23 different institutions across the state, including the Library of Virginia, historical societies and academic libraries. A very good search engine with descriptive titles yielded 1336 results for “Governor,” including biographies and finding aids to collections but there appeared to be few original source documents available for online viewing.

The Virginia State Library Memory Digital Collection
This site is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia, the state archives and reference library. The Library maintains varied collections of print materials, manuscripts, archival records, newspapers, photographs and ephemera, maps and atlases, rare books, and fine art related to the history of Virginia. It also includes an online classroom with lesson plans. It has an extensive collection of digital materials. from the State Library, including archived Web sites for Governor Mark R. Warner (2002-2006) and Governor Tim Kaine (2006—2010), as well as digital images of letters received for the state’s first six governors from 1776 through 1784.

Campbell Family Papers, Duke University Libraries
Duke University has the non-digitized collected papers of the Campbell family, including Governor David Campbell, who served as governor of Virginia from 1837 to 1840. The archival material is described as “a set of remarkable papers concerned with many activities, including education, politics, wars, religion, household economy, methods of travel, slavery, secession, commission business, settlement of the old Southwest, legal practice, and general mercantile pursuits. Included also are many letters concerned with the War of 1812, in which he served as major and lieutenant colonel of infantry, with information bearing on quarrels among officers, inefficiency of military organization, courts-martial, lack of patriotism, and promotion of officers over their seniors.” Finding aids and information for obtaining the material is available online.

The Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents covering his public and private life, including his service as governor of Virginia 1779-81. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript volumes. In its online presentation, the Thomas Jefferson Papers comprises approximately 83,000 digital images.

Thomas Jefferson Papers: An Electronic Archive, The Massachusetts Historical Society
This website presents full-color images and some transcriptions of manuscripts selected from the Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Massachusetts Historical Society maintains a private, non-profit manuscripts repository located in Boston, and received a federal grant to preserve Jefferson manuscripts and to prepare digital images of selected manuscripts.

The Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library
The Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library has the letters and personal papers of Francis Nicholson, governor of Virginia (1698-1705) governor of Nova Scotia (1713-1717), and governor of South Carolina (1721-1725), as well as the letters, deeds, and legal papers “regarding sale of certain parts of the land formerly attached to the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg.

The Virginia Museum of History and Culture
The Virginia Museum of History and Culture has digitized and non-digitized archival material including family papers with mentions of governors as well as portraits, pictures, postcards news clippings and other pieces of memorabilia.

The West Virginia State Archives
The West Virginia State Archives maintains non-digitized archival material for Francis Harrison Pierpont, called the “Father of West Virginia”, who was provisional governor of the Union-controlled parts of Virginia during the Civil War with its capital at Wheeling. At the end of the war in 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Pierpont as the provisional governor of the reunited state with the capital at Richmond.

Washington

The Secretary of State of Washington
The Secretary of State maintains digitized archives with copies of each governor’s signature as well as the archived websites for Governor Mike Lowry (1993-1997) and Gary Locke (1997-2005). The archive also maintains the official state documents – some digitized, some not – for every state and territorial governor including the “Inauguration of Governor Ferry Photographs, the Portraits of State Governors, 1889-2004, the Portraits of Territorial Governors, 1853-1889 and the State Governors’ Negative Collection, 1949-1975.

The Washington State Library
The Washington State Library digital collection has a site dedicated to images of the Governors. Very limited in use.

The Washington State Historical Society
The Washington State Historical Society has digitized archival material including newspaper clippings, photos, portraits, campaign memorabilia, official government documents recorded interviews, and other miscellaneous items relating to the Governor and the First lady. Good website with a good search engine.

Washington State Archives
The Washington State Archives has holdings on a number of governors, including the papers of Gov. Daniel Evans. Many are not digitized, but finding aids are available.

The University of Washington
The University of Washington maintains official government documents, photos, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes and letters for a wide variety of Governors for the state. The search engine is good and the descriptions are adequate.

West Virginia

The West Virginia State Archives
The West Virginia State Archives maintains non-digitized archival material including, “Governor’s Office. Records, 1948-1954; 1957-1960”; “Governor’s Office. Messages to the legislature, 1861-1875”; “William W. Barron Papers, 1945-1970”; “Hulett C. Smith Papers (1965-1969)”; “Arthur Ingraham Boreman (1823-1896) Papers, 1863-1869”; “William Erskine Stevenson (1820-1883) Papers, 1869-1871”; “John Jeremiah Jacob (1829-1893) Papers, 1871-1877”; “Henry Mason Mathews (1834-1884) Papers, 1877-1881”; “Jacob Beeson Jackson (1829-1905) Papers, 1881-1885”; “Emanuel Willis Wilson (1844-1905) Papers, 1885-1890”; “Aretas Brooks Fleming (1839-1923) Papers, 1890-1893”; “William Alexander MacCorkle (1857-1930) Papers, 1893-1897”; “George Wesley Atkinson (1845-1925) Papers, 1897-1901”; “Albert B. White Papers, 1901-1905”; “William M. O. Dawson Papers, 1905-1909”; “John Jacob Cornwell (1867-1953) Papers, 1917-1921”; “William Gustavus Conley (1866-1940) Papers, 1929-1933”; “Herman G. Kump Papers, 1933-1937”; “Homer Adams Holt (1898-1975) Papers, 1936-1941”; “letters of Governor Arthur I. Boreman, and miscellaneous papers, 1879-1902,”; “Governor’s Office. Proclamations and executive orders, Civil War, 1863-1865; banks; courthouses; elections to be held and results, 1864-1924; holidays, 1863-1924; miscellaneous, 1875 and Governor’s Office. Rewards for arrest and conviction of persons and escaped prisoners, 1864-1922; martial law and coal strikes, 1913-1922; special weeks, 1911-1924; state legislature called to convene, 1864-1923; corporation delinquent taxes, 1913-1920”; “Public and private papers of Cecil H. Underwood”; “Correspondence, speeches, legislative materials and files of Governor John D. Rockefeller IV, 1977-1985”; “Correspondence and files of Governor Gaston Caperton and administrative staff, 1989-1997”; “Wise, Governor Robert. Papers of Wise Administration, 2001-2005” and other types of official documents, photos and proclamations from the office of the governor.

The West Virginia University Library
The West Virginia University library has a digital collection of archives and manuscripts with over 203 results for Governor including letters, proclamations, personal papers, and official government as well as collection of digital photographs with over 200 photos pertaining to the office of the governor.

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society maintains the official archives of the state. Among the digital collections, a search for Governor from among the “Image collection) yielded over 800 official portraits and photos as well as primary archival material including manuscripts, handwritten letters, not all of it directly relating to the office of the governor, but much it pertaining too. The digitized “Historical Collections” which include twenty volumes of pioneers’ memoirs archival records, interviews and other primary sources, originally published 1855-1915.A very user friendly website yielded over 390 digitized documents which must be looked through to find information pertaining to the Governor. But with excellent and detailed descriptions this is not difficult to do. Also available are the collected papers of Harrison Ludington, 1876-1878.

University of Wisconsin Digital Collection
University of Wisconsin Digital Collection has digitized the official state documents from 1852 to 1914.

Wisconsin Heritage Online
Wisconsin Heritage Online has “digitized materials from the collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across Wisconsin…. [with] over 55,000 photographs, diaries, letters, maps, books, magazines, newspaper clippings, postcards, artworks, oral histories, museum artifacts, and much more. A search yielded over 700 results, mostly photos of Governors but also a few official government documents.

Wyoming

The Wyoming Historical Society
The Historical Society maintains an archive of non-digitized official government documents, photos and audio. Information for obtaining material from the society is available on the website.

The Wyoming State Archives Digital Collections
Wyoming State Archives Digital Collections has an archive of official state documents as well as the Governor’s Executive Orders from 1969 to today.

The Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources
The Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources at the State Archives has interviews to listen to online of Governors Milward Simpons (1955-1959), Clifford Hansen (1963-1967), Stanley Hathaway (1967-1975), Ed Herschler (1975-1987), Jim Geringer (1995-2003), Mike Sullivan (1987-1995) and wife Jane Sullivan.

The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming digital collections has photos, letters, political cartoons and campaign memorabilia relating to the office of the governor. It also maintains a digital archive of papers for Governor Lester Hunt (1943-1949), Nels Smith (1939-1943) and Milward Simpson (1955-1959).