In 1911 and 1912, the West Virginia state superintendent of schools, Morris P. Shawkey, issued books that listed all the state's school children who had perfect or near-perfect attendance during the school year. The information was provided by county superintendents, who, doubtless, looked to the local schools for the names of boys and girls to include.
Both books are organized by county. In addition to name, the 1911 book includes age, community, number of days absent, and number of days tardy. For Kanawha, Nicholas, Ohio, Randolph, Tyler and Wayne counties, a few schools have separate listings. In 1912, students were listed in one of two groups: Perfect or Second. The latter was for those absent no more than three days and tardy no more than three times. More counties had listings by school.
