Category Archives: General

Far Away Places presents “The Dominican Republic: The Land Columbus Loved, or the Land that Loathes Columbus”

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Bellarmine historian Eric Roorda was the featured speaker in WKU Libraries’ Far Away Places series on the evening of March 23, 2017 at Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Bowling Green, KY, on the topic The Dominican Republic: The Land Columbus Loved, or the Land that Loathes Columbus. His talk concluded with him signing his eponymous book.

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Filed under Events, Far Away Places, Flickr Photos, General, Latest News, New Stuff, Podcasts, Stuff, Uncategorized

Kentucky Live! presents David J. Bettez with “Kentucky and the Great War: World War I on the Home Front”

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David Bettez, the retired Director of the Office of International Programs at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, spoke in this year’s Kentucky Live! series on March 9, 2017 at Barnes & Noble Bookstore (1680 Campbell Lane). He talked about his newest book Kentucky and the Great War: World War I on the Home Front . The publication of his book and his talk coincide with the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I.

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Filed under Events, Flickr Photos, General, Kentucky Live, Latest News, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, New Stuff, Stuff, Uncategorized

Kentucky Live! presents “Wine-ing Your Way Across Kentucky” with Becky Kelley & Kathy Woodhouse

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WKU Libraries’ “Kentucky Live!” speaker series opened up its spring season with “Wineing Your Way Across Kentucky: Recipes, History, and Scenery” on the evening of February 16, 2017 in Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Bowling Green, KY. While Kentucky is known for its bourbon industry, wine has been a growing industry in recent years with new wineries applying for licenses every year. Childhood friends Becky Kelley and Kathy Woodhouse traveled across Kentucky visiting over seventy wineries. The book includes Kelley’s description of each winery, with its location, hours, and events information, along with Woodhouse’s amazing photography and favorite recipes using the wines.

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Library Professor named in Huffington Post’s Best Film Books of 2016

Congrats to Library Professor Sean Kinder and author of Una Merkel: The Actress with Sassy Wit and Southern Charm Recently named Huffington Post’s Best Film Books of 2016 (Listed under the section “More biographies of Actresses)!unamerkel_bookjpg

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Far Away Places presents Clinton Lewis’ “Exploring New Zealand”

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The 2016-2017 season of WKU Libraries’ “Far Away Places” talk series kicked off with Clinton Lewis, WKU’s University Photographer, who spoke about “Exploring New Zealand” at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Bowling Green, KY on the evening of September 15, 2016.

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Haiwang Yuan translates popular children’s book series

Haiwang Yuan, Professor of Library Public Services, WKU, has recently published his translation of Different Carmela, a set of children’s picture books in China. This set of 12 books were originally the work of French author and illustrator Christian Jolibois and Christian Heinrich. It was translated into Chinese and sold millions in China. Yuan was invited to translate the Chinese version into English, as many of the Chinese parents want their children to start learning English at an early age. The original French version has won the French Cherbourg Teenagers’ Book Awards in 2001, the French Goncourt Children Literature Awards in 2003, the French Country Children’s Literature Awards in 2003, and the French Le Havre Children Literature Jury Awards in 2006.

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Haiwang Yuan, Professor & Coordinator of Web & Emerging Technologies, DLPS, WKU Libraries

Each of the 12 books describes an adventure by brother and sister chickens with their lamb friend. The adventures introduce to young readers great people like Columbus, Galileo, Aesop, the Montgolfier Brothers, and Sir Lancelot – one of the Knights of the Round Table, and even Martians! Without their even knowing it, young readers will learn from these adventurous stories how to be curious and courageous, and how to treat fairly those who look different from us.

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Different Carmela children’s book set, translated by Haiwang Yuan

The set of books is accompanied with dramatic recordings of the text by two Americans, and the recording is accessible via a QR code printed on the back cover of each book. Readers of the books can scan the code with a scanner available in Wechat, a popular social media platform recently featured by New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/video/technology/100000004574648/china-internet-wechat.html. Entering the password acquired by purchasing the books, the readers can listen to the recordings right on their mobile devices.

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Filed under Acquisitions, ERC, General, Latest News, New Stuff, Past Events, People, Stuff, Uncategorized

Hale’s Recollections of Confederate Guerilla “Champ Ferguson”

Champ Ferguson

Champ Ferguson

The Civil War as a research topic never ceases to draw interest. The addition of a broadsheet to the Kentucky Library Research Collections adds to our excellent holdings about Champ Ferguson. This sheet features Dr. Jonathan D. Hale’s recollections of the life of the Confederate Guerilla and includes a facsimile of a Ku Klux Klan threatening letter sent to Hale in 1868. The letter received from the Klan in 1868 was sent from Lodge Headquarters in Arkansas, on a “dark and dismal night, from a “muddy Road with BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD. The letter issued a strong warning: “This is to notify you that the Spirit of Champ Ferguson still lives, and there are men living that are determined to avenge his death – and you are also aware that your oppressive and wicked acts toward the best citizens of Overton County stand recorded against you -… Prepare to meet your God.”
Champ Ferguson was a personal enemy of Hale and destroyed his home and business. The state of Kentucky, John Hunt Morgan, Alvan Cullom, the killing of “Little Fount Zachery”, Henry Sublits(sic), loss of much property and the loyalties of Ferguson are noted. And that he was worthy of execution by hanging. “The military trial, held in Nashville, Tennessee, lasted from July to October 1865. Ferguson was sentenced to be hanged; he was denied the opportunity to provide a defense on his behalf, and the sentence was carried out on October 20, 1865. Ferguson’s body was turned over to his wife and daughter, who fulfilled his last request which was to be buried at his home in White County, Tennessee, on a branch of Calfkiller Creek.”
Hale would leave Tennessee and live out the rest of his life in New Hampshire having grown tired of being a “damn Yankee.”
See http://www.ajlambert.com/history/ct_hus.pdf
For more information on Champ Ferguson and the Civil War, visit WKU’s Department of Library Special Collections, or contact spcol@wku.edu. For more collections, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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Filed under General, Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, New Stuff

GARMENT WORKERS WANTED!! Your voices and your memories, that is.

Lisa K. Miller of WKU Libraries is doing an oral history project on garment workers of Southcentral  KY, particularly those who are retired, or worked for companies that are no longer in business here.  We are interested in documenting what your workplaces were like, how things were done before mechanical and technological improvements, and your personal memories of your working life.  These digital audio interviews will be archived on our website, and will be freely available to anyone.  If you are interested in participating, please contact me at lisa.miller@wku.edu or (270) 745-6122.

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An American Odyssey: Photos from the Detroit Photographic Company, 1888-1924

An American Odyssey: Photos From the Detroit Photographic Company 1888-1924

An American Odyssey: Photos From the Detroit Photographic Company 1888-1924 cover

A child asleep in a cotton field. Jupiter and Minerva Terrace, Yellowstone.  A Pike’s Peak prospector. The Battery, Charleston. Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. Emancipation Day in Richmond, Virginia.  The glorious azaleas at the Magnolia Plantation.  Weighing sugar cane in Havana. Dinner hour on the docks, Jacksonville. Unloading bananas in Mobile.  The Liberty Bell. Child coal miners. All these remarkable historical images, and hundreds more, are collected in this new Reference acquisition (FOLIO REF TR 820.5 .A44x 2014).  “The archive of the Detroit Photographic Company (DPC) is probably the most important ever created on the subject of North America between 1888 and 1924…”  so begins the brief history of the company that produced the images in this extraordinary work.  Many of these were colorized with an early process known as Photochrom; therefore you can see a color image of the Grand Canyon 10 years before the invention of color photography.  The images of Kentucky show the tobacco markets and warehouses in Louisville.  Page 100 depicts White Sulphur Spring, Saratoga Lake, New York, and shows people drinking the “miraculous” sulphur water. Grab this weighty and wonderful tome, find yourself an afternoon, and dive in.

Blog entry by Lisa Miller

The Statue of Liberty in photochrom

The Statue of Liberty in photochrom

The Sagamore dock, Green Island, Lake George

The Sagamore dock, Green Island, Lake George

In the surf at Old Orchard, Maine (photochrom)

In the surf at Old Orchard, Maine (photochrom)

Gardens by the lake on the Magnolia Plantation, South Carolina (photochrom)

Gardens by the lake on the Magnolia Plantation, South Carolina (photochrom)

Arrowmaker, Ojibwa Brave, photochrom

Arrowmaker, Ojibwa Brave, photochrom

“Out for a good time” Long Beach, California

“Out for a good time” Long Beach, California

Hotel Green (top) and the Colorado Street Bridge over Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, California

Hotel Green (top) and the Colorado Street Bridge over Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, California

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Filed under Acquisitions, General, Latest News, Reference, Stuff, Uncategorized

Little Nemo comes to WKU Libraries

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Front cover of “The Complete Little Nemo” two volume collection, recently added to the WKU Libraries collection

Spanning more than 20 years and three different newspapers, “Little Nemo” is the story of a boy, Nemo, and his journey through Slumberland. Creator Winsor McCay’s use of bright colors, imaginary figures and anthropomorphic animals combine to create a fantasy world that still often mirrors the “real” world. Nemo’s dream world, where he plays many roles and wears elaborate dress, is in sharp contrast to his reality. The last panel of each cartoon is repetitive and simple, showing Nemo waking in his bed, wearing his nightshirt and often being scolded by his parents. While first published over 100 years ago, “Little Nemo” has cultural relevance today. It has influenced authors from Europe and Asia as well as being referenced on the American television show “The Simpsons” in 2011, at least two music videos, and in 2012, Google featured the strip in its homepage (v2, 140).

Those interested in reading Nemo’s adventures can see WKU Libraries’ copy of The Complete Little Nemo by Winsor McCay, compiled by Alexander Braun (Folio PN6728 .L49 M33 2014) and its companion volume The Complete Little Nemo: Winsor McCay A Life of Imaginative Genius (Folio PN6728 .L49 M33 2014 v. 2).

— Blog post by Kathy Foushee

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