Author Archives: Lynn Niedermeier

by | September 24, 2010 · 7:05 am

A Family of Kentucky Gunsmiths

Felix Settle, master gunsmith

Felix Settle, master gunsmith

When smallpox swept through Barren County, Kentucky in 1808, one of its victims was 38-year-old William Settle, the county’s first gunsmith.  But his third son, Felix Settle (1801-1871), took up his father’s trade, establishing a rifle shop in Roseville, then in Glasgow.  After learning the business from their father, Felix’s sons Simon Settle and Willis F. Settle made guns in Greensburg, Glasgow, Hiseville and Russellville.

Today, a historical marker in Barren County commemorates three generations of Settle gunsmiths, and a rifle bearing the “SETTLE” mark is a prize for collectors.  Some say that Felix Settle was one of the best rifle makers in the country, but Felix’s great-grandson maintained that it was Simon Settle who had no equal in the manufacture of muzzle loading (cap and ball) rifles.  Of the three in his collection, he said: “They are neatly made, perfectly balanced, finely inlaid, and shoot true to the mark today [1943].  They are indeed a work of art.”

In addition to several Settle rifles in its collection, WKU’s Special Collections Library has more information on the family and its gunsmiths in the Settle-DeWitt Family Papers.  Click here to download a finding aid.

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by | September 17, 2010 · 8:36 am

A Message from the King

World War I message from King George V

World War I message from King George V

“Well, I got my gun,” wrote Wilson Sprowl to his family from Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan.  It was June, 1918, and the Monroe County, Kentucky resident, in training for duty with the American Expeditionary Force, boasted of his prowess on the rifle range.  Tied with another soldier for the top score, he reported that “I warent beet.”  A month earlier, Wilson’s biggest complaint was the series of inoculations that had left him with a sore arm and caused some of his mates to become sick or faint.

One of the letters Wilson sent home was not his own; it was instead a neatly handwritten message from George V of the United Kingdom.  The King welcomed Wilson and his fellow recruits “on your way to take your stand beside the Armies of many Nations now fighting in the Old World the great battle of human freedom.”  He wrote of his desire to shake the hand of each American soldier and “bid you God speed on your mission.”

Wilson Sprowl’s mission, unfortunately, ended with his death on October 4, 1918.

A finding aid for Wilson Sprowl’s letters in the collections of WKU’s Special Collections Library can be downloaded here.  For more World War I materials, search TopScholar and KenCat.

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by | September 10, 2010 · 7:01 am

A “Letter on a Record”

USO "Letter on a Record"

USO “Letter on a Record”

Before there was e-mail or Skype or DVDs or even cassette tapes, there was the “Letter on a Record.”  During World War II, servicemen could enter a booth at USO clubs operated by the National Catholic Community Service and make an audio recording.  The result was a two-sided, wax-coated cardboard disk, 6-1/2 inches in diameter and playable on a turntable at 78 r.p.m., that could be mailed to friends or loved ones back home.

One of these “letters on a record” is part of the collections of WKU’s Special Collections Library.  Speaking from Camp Crowder, Missouri, Private Thomas W. Sutton extends greetings to Eva Mae Stone in Washington, D. C.  In the few minutes of recording time available, Sutton asks her if she’s heard any good dance records lately (like Don’t Do It Darling), tells her about mutual friends, including “Chuck” (“he had to take a few weeks of basic [training] all over again and of course that didn’t appeal to him”) and, true to the nature of many soldiers, talks about his plans for his next furlough and how much he misses the “barbecue sandwiches and milkshakes” at one of his favorite hangouts.

A finding aid for Thomas W. Sutton’s “letter on a record” can be downloaded here.  For more information on World War II collections at WKU’s Special Collections Library, search TopScholar and KenCat.

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by | August 27, 2010 · 7:15 am

Unequal Justice

Johnson & Hardin, Attorneys

Johnson & Hardin, Attorneys

A memorandum prepared in 1866 by the law firm of Johnson & Hardin, recently acquired by WKU’s Special Collections Library, provides a glimpse into the post-Civil War legal status of African Americans in Kentucky.  Unlike other border states, Kentucky had not recognized the right of former slaves or free blacks to testify in court against whites.  Such resistance had attracted the attention of the Freedmen’s Bureau, which possessed the authority to operate a court system in which blacks qualified as witnesses.  The passage of a federal Civil Rights Act in April, 1866 only intensified the constitutional tug-of-war over how much justice should be afforded African Americans in Kentucky.  Not until 1872 was the issue resolved with a state law equalizing testimony rights.

That left the Johnson & Hardin firm in June, 1866 to ponder the procedural question of bringing an indictment against three men “for outrages committed on persons of color” in Nelson County.  In the absence of a grand jury, the memo explained, a county judge had no authority to indict the men.  Once in session, the grand jury could consider the matter and, “if they think it their duty to find a true bill on the testimony of colored persons,” hand down an indictment.  Rather than rely upon the Freedmen’s Bureau, however, witnesses had to present themselves in person to the grand jury.  “The papers before the Bureau,” the memo concluded, could not be used as evidence in state court.

A finding aid for the Johnson & Hardin memo can be downloaded here.

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by | August 20, 2010 · 7:35 am

North and South

Union support on a Civil War-era envelope

Union support on an envelope (Kentucky Library & Museum)

Letters between two brothers, part of the Furman A. Smith Collection at WKU’s Special Collections Library, demonstrate the intensity of feeling that fractured families during the Civil War.  Writing from central Illinois in 1863 to his brother Furman in Trigg County, Kentucky, William Riley Smith reported that “blood still gets hotter here for the cause of the Union.”  William himself was a believer: “I say crush the rebellion to bug dust.”  He focused most of his anger, however, on the slaves emancipated by President Lincoln’s executive order of September 22, 1862, which had taken effect on January 1, 1863.   Using a racial epithet associated more with the South, William declared bitterly that “all our troubles have grown out of the n—-r.”  He recalled his father’s prophesy that slaves “would prove a curse to our nation” because God would not allow their suffering to continue forever.  As a result, William had lost one of his best friends to rebels who, in his opinion, preferred shedding blood over the fate of slaves to preserving “our glorious government.”

Three years after the war, William was still smoldering. Writing to Furman about another brother from whom he had not heard in six months, he complained, “I suppose he thinks that if the South could not dissolve this great Union that he will dissolve friendship between himself and those that love the Union.”

For more Civil War resources, click here or search TopScholar and KenCat.

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by | August 13, 2010 · 7:40 am

A Little-Known Bowling Green Author

Rosa Belle (Praigg) Dickerson, 1843-1902

Rosa Belle (Praigg) Dickerson, 1843-1902

When one of 16-year-old Rosa Belle Praigg’s stories was accepted by the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1859, she used her earnings of $15 to buy the first oil lamp in her home town of Perryville, Kentucky.  She later wrote a story based on her experiences during the Battle of Perryville in 1862.

After coming to Bowling Green to teach school, Rosa married Dr. William H. Dickerson.  She became the mother of 5 daughters but continued to write, publishing under her own name and under the pen name Violet (or Violette) Woods.  Her stories and poems appeared in newspapers and journals such as Peterson’s Lady’s Book, the Louisville Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Kentucky Tribune, the Bowling Green Democrat and the Bowling Green Gazette.

At a time when women who took up the pen were liable to shy away from publicity, the young Rosa actually seemed to court it.  In 1860, she sought an opinion from George D. Prentice, the editor of the Louisville Journal, about a poem she had recently placed in a Danville newspaper.  Promising to look for the piece, Prentice assured her that “I love poetesses exceedingly” and “I expect to love you when I read your stanzas.”

A finding aid for the Rosa Belle (Praigg) Dickerson Collection at WKU’s Special Collections Library can be downloaded here.

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by | August 6, 2010 · 7:13 am

Bowling Green’s Founding Fathers

Proposed (but never built) Warren County courthouse, 1807

Proposed (but never built) Warren County courthouse, 1807 (Kentucky Library)

Robert Moore (d. 1819) and his brother George (1771-1812) are thought to have come from Rockcastle County, Virginia to settle in what is now Warren County, Kentucky.  In 1797, in an attempt to foster the beginnings of civilization, the brothers donated land near present-day Fountain Square for construction of a courthouse.  The following year, on a larger plot of land also donated by the Moores, the county court established the town of “Bolingreen.”  The Moores, as a consequence, have been hailed as the founders of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

After George Moore’s death, it appears that Robert took responsibility for the fortunes of his brother’s widow and five children.  Unfortunately, disputes arose between the families relating to the brothers’ management of their landholdings, and the result was prolonged litigation.

As vexing as they can be for the parties involved, lawsuits have their rewards for historians.  Records of the lawsuit, heard in Barren County because of the local prominence of the litigants, provide most of the information that we know today about the Moores, their business and their families.

A finding aid for a collection of documents in the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives section of WKU’s Special Collections Library relating to the case of Robert Moore and the heirs of George Moore can be downloaded here.

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by | July 30, 2010 · 12:33 pm

Smiths Grove College

Smiths Grove College commencement

Smiths Grove College commencement

A historical collection on Smiths Grove, Kentucky housed at WKU’s Special Collections Library offers a look at the educational heritage of this Warren County community.  In 1875, William Wirt Beck established Smiths Grove College on the site now occupied by North Warren Elementary School.  The college operated until 1901, when it was sold to the Methodist Church and renamed Smiths Grove Training School for Vanderbilt University.  Another sale in 1910 transformed the school into the Warren Baptist Academy.

At a meeting on January 27, 1884, the trustees of Smiths Grove College considered a disciplinary matter involving Professor W. P. Maury and student John Hazelip.  After hearing from six witnesses, the board found Professor Maury “justified in chastizing Jno. Hazelip for disobedience, and that said Jno. Hazelip had to some extent been mischievous and annoying before this discipline took place.”  He was asked to apologize to his teacher for “language used outside the house.”

A finding aid for the collection, which includes the Smiths Grove College trustees’ minute book for 1884-1901, can be downloaded here.  For other collections on Smiths Grove history, search TopScholar and KenCat.

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by | July 23, 2010 · 1:35 pm

Emanie (Nahm) Sachs Arling Philips Collection Available

Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927); Emanie Philips (1893-1981)

Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927); Emanie Philips (1893-1981)

After establishing herself in New York during the 1920s as an author of novels, short stories and reviews, Bowling Green native Emanie (Nahm) Sachs longed to write the biography of a “wild woman.”  In 1927, fate handed Emanie her subject with the death of the notorious nineteenth-century feminist, free love advocate, spiritualist, suffragist and presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull.  The result was The Terrible Siren, published in 1928.  A feast of gossip and hearsay that made its publisher’s attorneys nervous about libel suits, the book nevertheless remained the standard work on Woodhull for decades.

The  Emanie (Nahm) Sachs Arling Philips Collection at WKU’s Special Collections Library preserves much of her fascinating research into Woodhull’s life.  Emanie and her assistants combed through libraries and newspaper archives and contacted individuals who had personally known Woodhull and her colorful family.  While some informants had scandalous stories to tell, others defended Woodhull as a clever and charming woman who was far ahead of her time.

After her success with Woodhull’s biography, Emanie went to work on a history of Kentucky.  She became particularly fascinated with the state’s early years, gathering primary and secondary resources on pioneers, Indians and politicians.  Although the work was never published, her manuscript and much of her research is also part of the collection.

A finding aid for the Emanie (Nahm) Sachs Arling Philips Collection can be downloaded here.

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by | July 15, 2010 · 10:27 am

Party with Mary Kay

Mary Kay consultant

Mary Kay consultant

Most of us think of an “itinerant seller” as an encyclopedia salesman, Fuller Brush man, tinker, peddler, drummer or other transitory vendor of goods.  But in the 21st century, the term can also describe the “independent beauty consultants” of Mary Kay Inc., who buy a reported $2.2 billion worth of skin care products and cosmetics and resell them at “Mary Kay parties.”

The Folklife Archives of WKU’s Special Collections Library holds tapes of 3 interviews conducted in 1985 with Brenda Venable, a Mary Kay consultant.  She talks in detail about the company, its products and distribution system, her sales strategies, and what her work is like.  Transcripts of the interviews are also available.  “Mary Kay’s company structure shouldn’t work according to accountants, lawyers and finance,” Venable observed.  “So she took the bumble bee as her symbol because aerodynamically speaking the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly.  But it does fly and so does Mary Kay.”

A finding aid for the collection can be downloaded by clicking here.

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