Category Archives: Events

     

  The Friday weekend edition of the China Daily (U.S.A.) is now part of WKU Libraries’ print newspaper subscriptions. The newspaper, a full-color, English language publication, offers news on Chinese business, politics, culture, sports, technology, and a host of other newsworthy topics. Analysis on economics, trade issues, military issues, foreign affairs, and many other spheres of interest are also part of the content. Readers are welcome to submit comments to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to specific columnists for the paper.

       As part of WKU Libraries’ efforts to expand newspaper holdings dealing with international matters, the China Daily is a welcome addition to our international newspaper subscription portfolio. The WKU community has a growing international presence both here and abroad, as evidenced by growing numbers of students from China and other countries, as well as a vigorous program of travel and study beyond American borders.

        The China Daily, other international newspapers, and national, state, and local papers can be found on Helm Library 2nd floor. The most recent edition of any print newspaper to which we subscribe can be found in the plastic display towers next to the periodicals help desk, near the center of the floor. Older editions of our newspapers can be found in the orange hanging folders, located in the northeastern corner of the floor, adjacent to the computer lab. Restricted access newspapers (the Courier Journal, Wall Street Journal, Park City Daily News, and The Tennessean) are in Helm office 204, which is near the older editions collection.

Yesterday marked the 86th anniversary of the Scopes Trial which began on the morning of Friday, July 10, 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee at the Rhea County Courthouse. Four months earlier, John Washington Butler’s “Anti-Evolution bill” had became law. It made it unlawful for any teacher in any of the universities, normals, and all other public schools in the State, to teach any theory that denied the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible. (Allen, 1925) Continue reading →

Postcard of Helm Library as the Former Athletic Building

According to the Institutional Self-Study Report from 1982-84 of Western Kentucky University, the Margie Helm Library was in full service for students by 1965. Back then, Western Kentucky University was actually coined Western Kentucky State Teachers College. What’s interesting is that originally it was not a library but a physical education, recreation and varsity building. It served that purpose until 1963. I personally witnessed the gymnasium floor being uncovered last Spring of 2011 as the grounds were laid for what is now the Confucius Institute.

Postcard of Former Swimming Pool Adjacent to Helm

School Emblem of the Former Basketball Court Next to the Confucius Institute

Continue reading →

WKU Libraries recently received a major collection of the literary works of southern women writers.  The three thousand volume collection was the generous gift of the former Dean of Potter College and Department of English Professor Ward Hellstrom who is now retired and living in Florida.  The collection contains many valuable first editions and copies signed by the authors and will be an incredible asset to the library’s holdings.

“None of the life of a good man should be lost but should be preserved for the beneficent results it would give posterity.”     Alfred Leland Crabb

Alfred Crabb included the above epigram in a letter to a former student prior to being approached by Mary Leiper Moore, head of the Kentucky Library & Museum, about depositing his correspondence and manuscripts at WKU.  Although he taught at Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville for over twenty years, Crabb had deep ties to WKU.  He was born on 22 January 1884, the son of James Wade Crabb and Fannie (Arbuckle) Crabb in Warren County’s Girkin community.  He attended the Plum Springs Grade School and later matriculated at Bethel College in Russellville.  He received a life [teaching] certificate from Western Kentucky State Normal School in 1910.  From 1913 to 1927 he served on the faculty at Western.

After completing his doctorate at Peabody, Crabb accepted a faculty position there in 1927 and remained until his retirement in 1949.  He wrote extensively for scholarly journals and was editor of the Peabody Journal of Education from 1932 to 1967.  He is best remembered for his historical fiction novels about Civil War-era Nashville and middle Tennessee.  However, he never forgot Warren County.  Crabb wrote a number of “Plum Springs School” stories, several published in national periodicals, which recalled his early educational experiences.  He also published the locally popular Peace at Bowling Green, a saga that traced the Park City’s heritage from the 1790s to the Civil War.

Crabb’s manuscript collection consists chiefly of his published and unpublished writings, including a draft of Peace at Bowling Green.  Of interest is a large grouping of manuscripts entitled “Hilltop Stories” which are loosely based on his experiences as a student at WKU.  Anyone familiar with WKU’s history will recognize the professors Crabb creates and no one would fail to discern that the president of Hilltop Academy is based on Henry Hardin Cherry.  The collection includes one box of correspondence which includes a number of letters penned by Dr. Cherry as well as Thomas Crittenden Cherry, James Lewie Harman and J. Murray Hill, Sr., and other Bowling Green notables of the era.  Click here to see the finding aid for the Crabb Collection.  To look for other literary and historical collections in WKU’s Manuscripts & Folklife Archives search TopSCHOLAR and/or KenCat.

We appreciate your forbearance during the past two very hot and humid days without air conditioning.  A transformer that controls the water pump has broken.  While it was hoped that the replacement part might arrive and be installed today it appears that the part may not arrive until tomorrow at the earliest leaving the building with no air conditioning until Wednesday.

We are therefore closing the Cravens Library effective at 1:00pm today and plan to reopen at 8:00AM on Wednesday.

I will continue to check on the progress of the arrival of the part and the installation, so please continue to check your email for updates in the event it is repaired earlier or it is delayed longer.

If you have any further questions please email eric.fisher@wku.edu

“Led by traditional Chinese Lion Dancers to summon luck and fortune, several hundred people entered Helm Library on Friday afternoon to participate in the new Confucius Institute Chinese Learning Center at WKU…” reported WKU News. Visit WKU’s Blog to read more of the news.

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After her service as the Manager of Community Outreach for WKU Libraries for four years, Tracy Harkins left her position for another job on campus. WKU Libraries threw a  farewell party to thank her for her service on May 19, in Cravens 100.

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