The Royce J. and Caroline B. Watts Museum is dedicted to preserving and promoting the social, cultural, and technological history of the coal, oil, and natural gas industries of the state of West Virginia through the collection, preservation, research, and exhibition of objects relevant to these industries.

Over the past eighty years, the Watts Museum has acquired over three thousand objects representing distinct eras in the coal and petroleum industries. The Museum’s collection is comprised of a wide selection of mining and drilling artifacts, including flame safety lamps, gas detection devices, canary cages, and model oil derricks. Books, archival documents, and a large collection of historic mining photographs are also included in the Museum’s holdings.

The Watts Museum is housed in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University. Selections from the Museum’s permanent collection are always on view, and temporary exhibitions are displayed on a rotating basis throughout the year.