About this collection:

➤James R. Paisley was born on March 7, 1901 in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. In 1927, Paisley married Kathareen Conklin. Paisley worked in the insurance business beginning in the 1930s and lived in the Edgewood neighborhood of Wheeling. He was involved in the workings of local government and became a member of The Wheeling Association, a “non-partisan citizen’s organization, incorporated for the promotion of good government.” The Board members of this group included many notable Wheeling businessmen, including A.W. Paull, Jr., Thomas M. Bloch and W. Flaccus Stifel. The Wheeling Association was primarily concerned with changing the municipal governing structure of Wheeling to a proportional representation system. The organization was formed in the mid-1930s, disbanded during WWII, and reorganized in 1947. Paisley died on October 26, 1987 in Wheeling and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

The collection consists of material related to The Wheeling Association’s campaign and subsequent implementation of the proportional representation form of municipal government. Materials include correspondence between Paisley and the National Municipal League in New York City, brochures, publications and other material all related to proportional representation. The collection also contains a significant amount of newspaper clippings chronicling the campaign for proportional representation in Wheeling city government. Also of note is a June 1935 edition of The State Advocate, the official publication of the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly.

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