Category Archives: University Archives
October is Archives Month
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Carlton Jackson & the Hilltoppers

The Hilltoppers, 1952
Jimmy Sacca, Billy Vaughn, Don McGuire and Seymour Spiegelman were students at Western Kentucky State College (now WKU). In 1952 they hit the big time as the Hilltoppers quartet with their song “Trying.” The group had several more hits including “P.S. I Love You” and performed together through 1963. Billy Vaughn went on to have a successful musical career with his orchestra. The group was honored at WKU’s homecoming in 1972. Check out the University Archives website: http://www.wku.edu/library/archive/ex1.php for more information regarding the group.
Carlton Jackson came to the WKU History department in 1960 where he served with distinction through 2001. He is the author of nearly 20 books and innumerable articles which earned him the title Distinguished Professor of History.
In 2003, he began researching the Hilltoppers. Dr. Jackson met and corresponded with surviving members of the group and fans, including fan club president Bobbie Ann Mason. The result was his book P.S. I Love You: The Story of the Singing Hilltoppers. The research notes and correspondence he compiled along with the drafts of the book are now a part of the University Archives Faculty/Staff Personal Papers Collection. Just processed, these papers are now available for researchers and fans interested in the back story of the Hilltoppers. The finding aid is now available through TopScholar at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/79/
If you have Hilltopper records, photographs or memorabilia that don’t appear in the finding aids, please contact the University Archives at 270-745-4793 or via email at archives@wku.edu.
Check out KenCat to get information on other University Archives collections: http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks
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Clara Ramsey DeWilde Scrapbook
Clara Ramsey DeWilde was a pretty typical WKU student in 1945. Born in Russellville, Kentucky in 1926, she was 19 when she came to Bowling Green. She lived in West Hall and created a scrapbook of photographs of her time on the Hill. These include friends on campus, Halloween in the dorm, a trip to Mammoth Cave and family.
This scrapbook was loaned to University Archives for digitization in 2007. It is now available to researchers via KenCat by searching DeWilde [http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks]. This is only one of many examples of Student/Alumni personal papers found in the University Archives.
If you have personal papers documenting life on the Hill please contact the University Archivist at klmref@wku.edu.
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Hilltoppers in University Archives

Varsity Lettermen 1959
WKU athletic records and photographs are a hot item in University Archives. We answer many questions related to coaching staff, student athletes and teams throughout the year. In order to facilitate research several series of records have been processed and detailed finding aids made available online. These include two sets of photographs:
- Athletic Media Relations Photograph Collection (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/75/)
- Athletics section of the WKU Archives Photograph Collection (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/29/ ).
Digitized images are available through KenCat (http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks).
Several athletic department office records have been processed.
- Athletic Director’s Records (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/78)
- Baseball Office 1947-1959 (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/66/)
- Athletic Media Relations
These last records are especially useful to anyone interested in the Hilltoppers as they consist of Media Guides for every major sport(http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/55/), Student Biographical File 1979-2004 (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/54/) and Clipping File 1962-present (http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/53/).
We are currently processing the Basketball Office records which consist of correspondence regarding schedules, tournaments and athletes and hope to have a finding aid posted in the near future.
The University Archives also houses an extensive film, video and audio collection, the bulk of which is made up of athletic film. The master list is available online at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/198/
If you have Hilltopper documents, photographs or memorabilia that don’t appear in the finding aids, please contact the University Archives at 270-745-4793 or via email at archives@wku.edu.
Check out KenCat to get information on other University Archives collections: http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks
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Phi Kappa Phi – UA12/2/3

D23
The Phi Kappa Phi records housed in University Archives have been processed. The finding aid is now available online through TopScholar: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_fin_aid/64/ The records can be viewed in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room in the Kentucky Library & Museum daily Monday – Saturday 9 – 4.
Unfortunately, there are gaps in the records. If you have Phi Kappa Phi documents, meeting minutes or other items that don’t appear in the finding aid, please contact the University Archives at 270-745-4793 or via email at archives@wku.edu.
Check out KenCat to get information on other University Archives collections: http://wku.pastperfect-online.com/35749cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks
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Behind the Scenes – Photograph Collection
WKU is very fortunate to have a great run of photographs dating from 1906. There are currently three students creating an inventory of the collection. As they go through the filing cabinets of photos collecting data, the university archivist reviews their work, categorizes the images based on twelve series (photo collection) and enters the data into our “Past Perfect” database.
Many of the images are very well described, listing the people, places or events they depict. However, there are a number of images that do not have any or incomplete descriptions. The students do research in the Talisman and other sources to more fully describe the images. The photos that remain unidentified will be scanned and posted online so the public can help us identify them.
We also scan images on demand for researchers. This is a service we provide free for students and faculty and for a fee to those outside the university. The images that are being scanned are being described as fully as possible in Past Perfect. The goal is to mount the descriptions and images online using Past Perfect.
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