The records of Penn Virginia Corporation cover the development and operations of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company (VC&I), a large southern Appalachian land company, with some information on its immediate neighbors and local support facilities. There are no records covering the profound restructuring that took place after 1981. There is also little material on the other Leisenring/Wentz coal companies, both anthracite and bituminous.

The records of the Virginia Coal & Iron Co. give relatively complete coverage of its development and operations. The coverage of predecessor and subsidiary companies is more fragmentary.

The Connellsville Coke & Iron Company is represented by some correspondence of Superintendent John K. Taggart (circa 1851-1896), mostly instructions from President E. B. Leisenring. Subjects of particular note include the strikes and labor troubles of 1886 to 1888, production and marketing problems and some of the events leading up to the sale to Frick and Carnegie.

The Tinsalia Coal & Iron Company is represented by prospectuses and several letters of General Imboden.

The records of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company are fragmentary up to 1910 and relatively complete thereafter. A small collection of correspondence covers the organizational period from 1896 to 1902, when VC&I was an operating coal company. The Virginia office files are complete from 1905 to about 1950 and represent the complete range of activities of an Appalachian land company. These include monitoring the activities of the mining lessees, inspecting the mines and negotiating changes in leases and royalties. Also represented are sales of timber, renting of farms and cabins and difficulties with timber poachers, undesirable tenants and moonshiners.

The Philadelphia office files are less complete for the early period, but continue into the 1970s. They cover primarily policy matters related to property ownership and diversification.

Records of the Virginia subsidiaries are fragmentary, but adequate coverage is available for the Interstate Railroad, the two water companies and the two oil and gas ventures. The records of Westmoreland, Inc., include land records, minute and account books and correspondence focusing on the acquisition and development of the West Virginia property.

The records of The Wentz Company, Inc., and the Wentz Corporation reflect the activities of a small Appalachian land company. The process of acquiring the land and its subsequent sale to U.S. Steel are well documented.

Records for the other Wentz companies are rather fragmentary and have been retained primarily to show the scope of these investments. The Virginia-Kentucky Coal Corporation conducted little business, but most of it is reflected in the minutes and correspondence.

Most of the Royal Colliery Company records passed to the Chicago, Wilmington & Franklin Coal Company. Those that remain are limited to the period of initial organization. The Virden Supply Company (1909-1915) is represented by its accounts books, and the Virden Equipment Company (1910-1915) by its account books and minutes.

The Valley Coal Company is represented by minutes and account books. In addition, there is a complete run of financial and cost statements for the Hudson Coal Company receivership.

The records of the Wentz anthracite companies are extremely fragmentary. Most of the records were turned over to Jeddo-Highland, where they were destroyed by fire in the 1970s.

The exceptions were the land companies like the Nescopec Coal Company and the Raven Run Coal Company, the associated store companies, and the Silver Brook Coal Company, which had already been dissolved. These companies are represented primarily by minutes, account books, and other corporate records. There are maps and operating data for Silver Brook, and some operating and financial reports for Hazle Brook. The store company cash books contain some data on purchases of goods for resale and on clerical salaries, but no information on miners' accounts.

The Leisenring family papers consist of a small number of letters from the three generations of the Leisenring family and two generations of the Wentz family, along with genealogical materials collected by Mary D. Wentz around the turn of the century.

There are about a dozen of John Leisenring, Jr.'s, letters from the 1830s and 1840s, mostly to and from his father. These offer a few glimpses of his early business and family life. The wills of the leading members of the Leisenring and Wentz families are also included. The account books of the Estate of Edward B. Leisenring show the range and disposition of his investments.

John K. Taggart's private papers are distinct from those generated in his official capacity with the Connellsville Coke & Iron Company and the Virginia Coal & Iron Company. They primarily document his outside business ventures, including his role as receiver of the Appalachian Steel & Iron Company, as well as some of the details of his life as one of Big Stone Gap's leading citizens.

The records of the Bullitt law firm arranged under this heading include all those pertaining to his personal and outside work. Cases involving any of the companies controlled by the Wentz and Leisenring interests are arranged under the heading of the company in question in the archives of Penn Virginia Corporation or the Westmoreland Coal Company.

The records document Bullitt's work in corporate and land law: securing charters and deeds, preparing title abstracts, and handling litigation over title conflicts. Among the companies covered are the Virginia, Tennessee & Carolina Steel & Iron Company, the Interstate Coal & Iron Company, and the Virginia Iron, Coal & Coke Company. Other large land companies include the Interstate Investment Company, the Mineral Development Company, and the Clinch Valley Coal & Iron Company, the first controlled by the Ballard and Thruston families of Louisville, and the second by McGeorge, Benson and Altemus of Philadelphia. The South Appalachian Land Company was organized by Bullitt and McDowell. The records shed some light on the early development of coal and timber resources in the Big Stone Gap area.

In the early twentieth century several firm members acted as agents in assembling coal lands in eastern Kentucky. Chalkley acted for the Kellioka Coal & Coke Corporation, which was controlled by H. Hardaway of Pulaski, Virginia, while junior partner R. D. Baker acquired tracts for John L. Kemmerer and his brother-in-law, Robert C. Ream. Firm members also took part in such local activities as the Athletic Association. Other files document James L. Camblos' role in monitoring the passage of the Social Security Act for the Virginia Manufacturers Association.

The records of Penn Virginia's subsidiaries are fragmentary. Beyond a few photographs, there are no records from Limestone Products, Pennsylvania Crusher, or Merrick.

There are no records from Whitehall with the exceptions of a few stockholders' mailings and the minutes of an early subsidiary, the Clear Springs Water Company. There are minutes and some correspondence relating to Ceramtec Industries and mine reports on Bralorne Resources. The most interesting series are the records of the fly ash companies, which document the technical and economic difficulties inherent in finding practical uses for what otherwise would be an industrial pollutant.