WKU Libraries blog

Amelia Smith attended the Southern Normal School in the mid-1880’s. During her time at the school, she kept an autograph book which has been donated to WKU University Archives.  This small book has been scanned and posted in TopScholar.  This and other student and alumni papers can be viewed in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room of the Kentucky Library Monday - Saturday 9 - 4.  Come visit.

Mike Glenn and Jonathan Jeffrey, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Coordinator, Kentucky Library & Museum

On June 5, 1961, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) authorized 44 local African-American veterans to establish John Hicks Post No. 1682 in Bowling Green.  The authorizing certificate, with the veterans’ names inscribed thereon, was recently donated to the Kentucky Library & Museum by Mr. Mike Glenn.

John Hicks Post No. 1682 was located at 519 East 2nd St., and its commanders included Welmon Britt, Jr., Jesse Cook, James Carr and Sam Boyington.  The post appears to have been active until 1985.

A finding aid for this welcome addition to the Kentucky Library & Museum’s collections documenting African American history can   be downloaded at:http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_mss_fin_aid/1123

Donnie Love's Autograph Book

Miss Donnie Love, a native of Horse Cave, Kentucky attended Southern Normal School about 1890. She received a teaching certificate and began teaching in Edmonson County by the age of 16. Her autograph book is now in University Archives and has been scanned for viewing online. There are 53 pages of autographs including this notation by Donnie Love herself inviting friends to write in her book.

The book is available online through TopScholar.

Helm-Cravens Library will open at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, January 31.

Follow this link http://dib.cambridge.org and try the dictionary. There’s no need to log in. Please send your feedback to amy.slowik@wku.edu.

31-W Garage, Bowling Green, Ky.

For most of the 1950s, the 31-W Garage stood at 95 State Street, providing auto parts and service to Bowling Green motorists.  During 1950, owner Andy Raby kept an account book recording his daily receipts.  This account book is now housed at the Kentucky Library & Museum, along with many other collections of records, clippings and photos that document the history of Bowling Green businesses.

As the 31-W Garage account book shows, gas prices in 1950 were about 27 cents per gallon - Bowling Green resident Duncan Hines (yes, that Duncan Hines) paid $2.70 for just over ten gallons.  At first glance, this seems like a real bargain but, adjusted for inflation, works out to about $2.39 per gallon at today’s prices. 

A finding aid for the 31-W Garage account book can be downloaded at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_mss_fin_aid/1067

Rodes Kirby Myers son of W.H. and Helen (Kirby) Myers was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky on June 29, 1900.  He attended Ogden College from 1916-1919 and taught there in 1920 and at Morganfield High School in 1921. Myers went on to study law at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Kentucky where he obtained his LLB in 1925. 

Rodes Myers followed his father into politics and served in many capacities including state representative 1934-1939 and 1945; state senator 1948-1950 and lieutenant governor 1939-1943. He died March 10, 1960.

Browning Club, 1989

“All weather and winds are alike / Skies may be smiling or frowning / Earth’s a forgotten dream to one / Who opens a volume of Browning.”  These lines by Bowling Green author Eliza Calvert Hall reflected the joy with which Americans in the late nineteenth century embraced the poetry of Robert Browning.  Beginning in the 1880s, Browning Clubs sprang up across the country, providing women in particular with the opportunity for intellectual and cultural stimulation as well as fellowship.

Bowling Green’s Browning Club was founded in 1895.  Although its main purpose was to read and study the poet’s work, discussions soon extended to history, politics and music as well as authors and literature in general.  A year’s worth of club programs usually explored different aspects of a general topic: for example, Thomas Hardy (1928-29), the seventeenth century (1933-34), Russia (1937-38), Latin America (1940-41), and Shakespeare (1950-51).

The Browning Club has recently donated a collection of its club materials to the Kentucky Library & Museum.  Included are minute books, membership information, clippings, photos, and program lists.  Most of the material dates from 1950-1997, but the programs date as early as 1913.

These materials expand the Kentucky Library & Museum’s collections documenting the history of many local men’s and women’s clubs, including the XV Club, Twentieth Century Club, Ladies’ Literary Club, Current Events Club, Mothers Club, Fortnightly Club, Warren County Garden Club, and others.  For further information, e-mail mssfa@wku.edu.

On Sunday, January 17th, over 100 art students, parents, and professional artists attended the “2010 Side By Side VSA arts” exhibit opening at the Kentucky Library & Museum. The art exhibit, which is in the Garden Gallery, includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, and ceramics. VSA arts of Kentucky is a statewide, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting arts, education and creative expression for all, with an emphasis on persons with disabilities.The work will be on exhibit thorough March 31st.

Scraps to Quilts exhibit, 1986

In 1986, students in WKU’s Folk Studies program created “Scraps to Quilts: Derby Fabrics, Women’s Quilts, and Family Stories,” an exhibit of local quilts that had been made using fabric scraps from the Union Underwear Company’s “Derby” plant in Bowling Green.  The students began by inviting owners to bring in quilts to be photographed and have their histories documented.  The Kentucky Museum then displayed a selection of the quilts from April to October 1986. 

Although the physical exhibit is long gone, the information collected by the students, including photo proof sheets and negatives, quilt data sheets, audiotaped interviews, exhibit labels and associated research, remains available in WKU’s Folklife Archives.  A finding aid for the “Scraps to Quilts” exhibit materials can be downloaded at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_fa_fin_aid/267