Category Archives: New Stuff
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WKU Libraries Halloween Potluck
WKU Library faculty, staff, and students celebrated Halloween with the annual potluck party and costume competition. The winners of the costume competition are:
Most Traditional – Jennifer Wilson – Minnie Mouse
Best Face Painting – Allison Sircy – broken strings marionette
Most Creative – Bryan Carson – Pimp
Most Original – Glenda White – One Night Stand
Best Cartoon Character – Crystal Bowling – Captain America
Best Book Character – Lesley Montgomery – Mary Poppins
Best Store Bought Costume – Laura Bohuski – Renaissance Lady
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Author Jason Mott participated in 2014 SOKY Reads!
SOKY Reads! proved extremely successful last week as numerous community members and students visited with Jason Mott, author of this year’s featured book The Returned. Mott attended David Bell’s creative writing class and talked about his book, getting published, and what it takes to be a successful writer. He also offered to sign books and addressed a large crowd at the Bob Kirby Library, and participated in two separate luncheons, answering questions from members of three different book clubs. 
This year, SOKY Book Fest partners gave out 500 books of The Returned and offered book discussions at various community locations, including the public library branches, at Western Kentucky University, and at Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College.
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Two Scottish Duchesses in the Age of Men
WKU Libraries hosted its second Far Away Places event on October 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble bookstore titled “Two Scottish Duchesses in the Age of Men” featuring Kathy Callahan. Dr. Callahan is currently Head of the Department of History at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. Her talk focused on the lives and work of two Scottish duchesses, Anne Hamilton, duchess of Hamilton, and Anna Scott, duchess of Buccleuch. The two duchesses were contemporaries in the 17th century Scotland and governed their estates during a time when men customarily handled such affairs.
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Encased Treasures (Clement Reeves Edwards)
In the photographic holdings of the Kentucky Library Research Collections are several early photographic images by C. R. (Clement Reeves) Edwards. He was a photographer, portrait and landscape artist originally from Woodston, New Jersey. He came to Bowling Green in 1857 and opened a photography studio and also offered his services as a portrait painter. This ambrotype is
an example of his fine photography work. Although, the image is not identified, it may be Edwards’s farm and his first wife, Sarah Booth. He died on February 4, 1898.
The fragility of these one-of-a-kind photographs mandated that they be cased. In 1842, Samuel Peck patented a more durable case than the previous leather or wooden ones. These “Union” cases were composed of gutta-percha, an early plastic. They could be molded to hold any surface design and dyed. This Edwards ambrotypes has a “Union” case embossed with an elk and woods scene. Additionally, the Kentucky Museum has 14 oil paintings by Edwards. Ten are portraits including two self-portraits and four are landscapes. For more information about early photographs and their identification and care email spcol@wku.edu Other photographic and illustrative holdings of the Department of Special Collections may be viewed at KenCat at kencat.wku.edu
Author Sherry Logsdon at an Encore Kentucky Live! in Glasgow
Author Sherry Logsdon speaking for Kentucky Live at WKU Glasgow Library
WKU graduate and retired teacher/counselor Sherry Logsdon discussed her new novel Asylum at our Glasgow Library on Thursday, October 30, 2014. The novel focuses attention on the incarceration of women in insane asylums in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in many cases for their outspoken views on women’s rights.
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Family Bibles
Each year the Kentucky Library Research Collection receives many valuable donations. Recently, we received a Woolsey Family Bible. The bible was an 1887 “Peerless” Edition of the Parallel Bible: containing the Authorized and Revised versions of the Old and New Testaments, arranged in parallel columns; a complete concordance; with a comprehensive Bible dictionary. Since one of our collecting strengths is genealogical, we greatly appreciated the marriages, births and deaths that were included starting with Sanford C. Woolsey and Angie Smith and their children. This genealogical information about this specified family also included photographs which made the bible even more unique. One of the marriages noted was also performed at Historic Diamond Cave in Park City, KY.
Family bibles were very important before the advent of official government records. Even many non-religious families chose to use a family Bible as a record keeper. These bibles were sold in stores, by mail order and by door-to-door salesmen. The selling factor was not the holy scriptures but the blank pages between the Old and New Testaments that were waiting to be filled in with names, dates of births, marriages and deaths. This may have been the only record of such important dates in the lives of our ancestors and may give us that elusive maiden name and include other information such as baptismal information or names of godparents. The bibles also became the repository for numerous keepsakes such as newspaper clippings, funeral cards, pressed flowers, and other items that were valuable or meaningful to the owner. Please see KenCat for a listing of our family bible holdings.
WKU Libraries announces winner of 8th Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award
Western Kentucky Un
iversity Libraries has selected Jilli, That’s Silly! –A Story About Being a Girl, written by Christa Carpenter and illustrated by Mark Wayne Adams, as the winner of the eighth Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award. The national award was created to honor the memory of former WKU librarian Evelyn Thurman, who made significant contributions to children’s librarianship and literacy during her 25 years of service to the university and community. Books eligible for the award must be written or illustrated by a Kentucky author or illustrator or have a significant Kentucky-related connection.
“The committee reviewed several great books; however, this particular book stood out,” said Deana Groves, selection committee member and department head for Library Technical Services at WKU. “It has a very positive message to be true to who you are, and the whimsical illustrations are very colorful and eye catching.”
Christa Carpenter is a mother, a teacher, and a writer. Since childhood she has enjoyed writing plays, poetry, and stories. She lives in Maitland, Florida, with her two children, Nicholas and Jillian, and their funny dog Eddie.
Mark Wayne Adams was born in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, and is a graduate of Murray State University where he received a BFA in drawing. Adams has illustrated over forty books, including The Belly Button Fairy and Polly and Her Pigtails. He has worked for Walt Disney World Company, Sea World Orlando, GSI Architectural Sign Company and is now the CEO of his own business. He currently serves as President for the Florida Authors and Publishers Association.
Both the author and illustrator will be honored at an awards luncheon in November where they will receive monetary awards from Ms. Thurman’s endowment and commemorative plaques. While in the area, Carpenter and Adams will visit local schools as part of the Southern Kentucky Book Fest’s “Fall into Books” program. For more information about the Evelyn Thurman award, visit http://www.wku.edu/library/awards/evelynthurman.php.
This program is made possible by the Evelyn Thurman Children’s Author Fund, the Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership, and WKU Libraries.
Regional Authors Showcase
More than thirty local and regional authors displayed their books at the Regional Authors Showcase at the Bob Kirby branch of the Warren County Public Library on Saturday, September 6.
The partners of the SOKY Book Fest organized the event which raised money for the Southern Kentucky Book Fest held in April. Go to sokybookfest.org for more information.
Lewis Completes Staff Leadership Program
Maria Lewis, Library Assistant in the Department of Library Special Collections (DLSC), recently completed the 2013-2014 year-long training through the Staff Leadership Institute. This program is for WKU staff members who have demonstrated advancement potential in their work. Over the past months, Maria attended classes and workshops that taught and tested, improved leadership competencies, the ability to apply basic leadership principles and to employ knowledge of WKU resources campus wide. The program is sponsored by the Staff Council and Human Resources. Selection for participation in the program is competitive and requires recommendation and approval by supervisors and departments. The program notes that it “seeks to enhance job performance and personal development skills while challenging the spirit of each individual who participates.” Maria enjoyed the diversity of people and tasks in the program and learning more about the life of campus and how things work together. The Library Special Collections department is pleased that Maria was chosen to participate and was among the 2014 recent graduates. Congratulations to Maria!
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