WKU Libraries blog

Southern Kentuckians love music! From the amateur playing his Hawaiian steel guitar to the singers and bands that have put WKU on the map, this region’s musical heritage is rich. Whether you like Country, Classical, Rap or Rock, you will find that Southern Kentuckians are indeed playing your song. Over the years, the Kentucky Library and Museum has collected a significant sheet music collection, photographs, sound recordings, posters, and ephemera illustrating the importance of music to this region.

Jambodians

Including Mary Clyde Huntsman’s Merry Makers, Duke Allen and the Kentucky Ramblers, WKU faculty musicians, Hawaiian steel guitar instructor Freddie Joe Lewis, local DJ Tommy Starr, New Grass Revival, and Kentucky Headhunters, a selection of treasures given by numerous musicians and collectors are displayed. Gospel musicians, including Hillvue Heights Music Group and John Edmonds’ Gospel Truth, and Country musicians, including Jordan Pendley, Cousin Emmy, and the Mighty Jerimiahs, provide evidence of the enduring popularity of all forms of music. Nappy Roots, Government Cheese and the Hilltoppers show the Hill’s influence on our song. Enjoy the exhibit in the Harry Jackson Gallery of the Kentucky Library and Museum during the Spring and Summer of 2010 and search “Southern Kentucky Music” on KenCat to explore the rest of our song.

The County Delegation Presidents Club was formed in February 1932. It was an outgrowth of the older county clubs that students were placed in upon arrival at WKU. These county clubs were formed to help students connect with their peers. A county with a large number of students stood on its own. Counties with smaller populations were combined. There was also an “out of state” club.

A faculty sponsor was assigned to several counties. Their role was to encourage attendance at chapel, elect officers and find out the names of local county papers. The secretary-treasurer was to write up press releases to be reviewed by the faculty sponsor and sent to the local papers. In this way, Dr. Cherry kept county constituents in the loop and recruited new students.

The county clubs were also instrumental during summer sessions when county teachers institutes were held throughout the western part of the state. Students were recruited to help organize the institutes. Once the County Delegation Presidents Club was formed it acted as a de facto student government organization. The club spearheaded the 1932 clean up day, ran Senior High School Day events, and over Christmas break that year collected artifacts, books and manuscripts from their respective counties for the Kentucky Library & Museum which was being created.

The few documents related to the County Delegation Presidents Club are available for researchers to use in University Archives. For more information check out the following websites:

http://www.wku.edu/Library/dlsc/ua/101.htm
http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/85/

Holy Cross archivist Sarah Campbell stated that “archives aren’t lending libraries.”  Special collections serve a different mission than lending libraries.  They hold unique, one of a kind items that need special care and handling in order to preserve them for as long as possible. 

Think about the different conditions that you subject a library book to while you have it checked out.  How many other items are in your back pack with it jostling around?  Is it raining outside as you cross campus without an umbrella?  Do you read at the dining table while eating?  Do you take notes with a sheet of paper laid over the pages?

These are things that would destroy most archival materials in a relatively short time.  Special collection books and documents don’t circulate and we have rules about how they can be handled in order to ensure that you can use them as well as the person who comes in after you.

Check out the Kentucky Library & Museum collections on KenCat.