Editor-in-Chief & business manager Lawrence Stone launched the BUKY in March 1936. The publication statement indicates that it was to be a student magazine published monthly “during the college year except for July and August in the interests of the students of the Bowling Green Business University and Western Kentucky Teachers College.” It cost $.75 for a year’s subscription and $.10 per single issue.
The next extant issue May 1936 indicates a change in the title to BUWKY due to a misunderstanding in the pronunciation. Although published at the BU, there were more Western students on the rolls of reporters in the early issues each with pseudonyms such as Rusty Rhythm and Norothy Nix. The magazine covers WKU sporting events, alumni of both schools, and highlights BU students and faculty. The ads are also an interesting component highlighting local businesses of the period as well as national trends.
The University Archives does not hold a full run of the magazine. Those that are extant 1936 and 1938-1943 have been digitized and are now available on TopScholar. They are a wonderful view into student life at both schools. Please contact the University Archivist at archives@wku.edu if you have more issues of this publication to donate. Also, check out the University Archives wish list.
These magazines and other records regarding the Bowling Green Business University are available to researchers in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room of the Kentucky Library & Museum Monday – Saturday, 9 – 4.
The Bowling Green Business University split off in 1906 as WKU was formed. It functioned as an independent business college until 1963 when it merged into WKU and formed the basis of what is now the Gordon Ford College of Business. In 1948 the students of the BU as it was known, created a monthly student magazine named Towers and Toppers or T ‘n’ T. Student reporters highlighted faculty and students, tracked alumni whereabouts, dished the latest gossip and talked WKU sports.
Goldia McKeel Dunn Curd attended WKU between 1920 and 1924. During her time in Bowling Green, she lived at the Fisher boarding house and kept a photograph album. The album has been digitized and is now available online at: 
When it is the program for Gilbert & Sullivan operatta Iolanthe performed at WKU March 29, 1927. This program is chock full of ads for Bowling Green businesses. Some ads tell us where the business was located, especially in the downtown area. It is also a record of how much support the citizens of Bowling Green have given to WKU throughout the years.