Category Archives: Events

The Helm & Cravens Library will be closed for the Holidays from December 17th until January 2nd. Happy Holidays!

Kentucky Land Grant

Land Grant 425, the newest addition to the Kentucky Library & Museum’s Land Grant Collection is a bit of a curiosity.  Dating from 1826, the piece looks like many of the other land grants  in appearance.  For the most part these documents were large printed paper forms with blanks for pertitent information.  Many times a wax or embossed seal was attached near the bottom left margin.  Land grants were issued for military service or to pioneers willing to settle on theretofore unclaimed land.

Land Grant 425 was issued by Governor Joseph Desha  (1768-1842) in 1826 to the Trustees of Augusta College, a Methodist institution located in Bracken County, Kentucky.  It was certainly not unusual for educational institutions to receive tracts of land to underwrite their operating costs, but this particular grant included five hundred acres in Sumner County, Tennessee.  Why was the state of Kentucky allowed to issue a grant for land in another state’s territory?

This curiosity is acutally one of nearly 4600 grants that Kentucky issued for land in Tennessee between 1820 and 1926.  The land, as delineated in Land Grant 425, was located “South of Walker’s line.”  This disputed land  was part of a large sliver of land at Kentucky’s southern border that was inaccurately surveyed in 1779-80 by Thomas Walker.  The dispute was inconclusively settled with a new survey in 1859, but political wrangling over the matter continued for several generations.  Because of this boundary dispute, some people located in Cumberland County, Kentucky in the 1810 U.S. census are found in the Tenneessee counties of Jackson or Overton ten years later.

A finding aid and photograph of the land grant can be found here.

At noon on December 16, 2010 in Mariah’s Restaurant, Bowling Green, KY, the WKU Libraries celebrated the Holiday and gave annual awards to faculty, staff, students, and a team that excelled in the past year. The Margie Helm Awards are given in memory of Margie Helm, who used to be the Director of WKU’s library services in the 1950s.

This year’s faculty award goes to Christy Spurlock from the Library Special Collections, and the staff award goes to Eric Fisher, Library Facilities Coordinator. The team award goes to the “Far Away Places and Kentucky Live” planning group consisting of Peggy Wright, Brian Coutts, Haiwang Yuan, Bryan Carson, Daniel Peach, and Jason Hatman.

The student awards were given to Cassandra Matthews from the Dean’s Office, Tea Lacic from Library Technical Services, Courtney Hatley from Library Special Collections, and Arthur Petersen from the Library Public Services.

Besides good food, party goers also entertained themselves with intriguing games. The party has been organized by Amy Slowik, Amanda Hardin, Kath Pennavaria, Kathy Fushee, and Brent Fisk.

Photo Album (More are coming)

Let’s celebrate Christmas in the Kentucky Building on Saturday, December 4, at 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. There are children’s activies, carloers, ornament making, and picture taking with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

This Christmas in Kentucky event is free, so bring your family to the event!

Celebrate with WKU Libraries!

Christmas in Kentucky will be held on Saturday, December 4th from 11am – 2pm.  Come over after the BG Christmas parade for children’s activities, carolers, ornament making, gingerbread sampling and a visit with Santa, Mrs. Claus and Big Red!  This is always a fun, free event for the whole family!