The final Lincoln lecture took place Tuesday, December 6, 2011 in the Kentucky Library & Museum. Carol Crowe-Carraco, Nancy Baird, Patricia Minter, and Cecile Garmon discussed Lincoln’s legacy and the effects of his Constitutional decisions and leadership in our own time.
Photo Album | Audio | Podcast
Comments Off on Concluding Panel Discussion on Lincoln Today at KY Museum
Filed under Uncategorized
Community members joined the KY Museum , WKU Chemistry Club and over 70 Hilltopper Atheletes for this year’s Christmas in Kentucky on the afternoon of December 3, 2011 in the Kentucky Museum. Children of all ages enjoyed the variety of activities and performances such as carolers, magic show, ormanment making, gingerbread sampling, and picture taking with Santa and Mrs. Claus throughout the museum. Admission was free.
Comments Off on Christmas in Kentucky Celebrated in Kentucky Museum
Filed under Uncategorized
KHQS's logo features the Kentucky Star quilt pattern
Nothing says comfort like a handmade quilt. These cultural gems are closely associated with Kentuckians; thousands of these pieced, applique, and whole-cloth quilts are safely tucked away in closets or chests, proudly displayed on beds or quilt racks, or exhibited in museums across the Commonwealth. Kentucky’s vintage quilts and their makers are featured in the recently processed Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society (KHQS) Collection found in Manuscripts & Folklife Archives. The 62-box collection houses over 20,000 items. Processing the collection, which started in May, was partially funded by the Society. Click here to see the collection finding aid.
In December 1980, Katy Christopherson and Melzie Wilson convened a meeting in Louisville to consider the establishment of a state-wide organization for quilters. The group voted to establish the KHQS, with three major functions: promote the understanding, appreciation and knowledge of the art and craft of quiltmaking; support and expand the collections and preservation of Kentucky quilts and the records of Kentucky’s quiltmakers and their work; and, undertake activities such as shows, contests and workshops. In January 1981, the fledgling group created a set of by-laws and elected officers and committee chairpersons. The organization’s articles of incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State’s office in April 1981, and by July the organization’s membership had grown from 15 to 105.
KHQS’s first major project was a statewide quilt contest in 1982. This successful effort included a series of seminars on “What Makes a Prize-Winning Quilt.” Since that time, KHQS has offered varied programming, ranging from design seminars, presentations about historical quilts, its popular hands-on workshops at Pleasant Hill, and its annual “Quilter’s Getaway” which has been held in various locations across the state.
KHQS also undertook a project to interview Kentucky quilters about their craft and their product. The grant-funded project, titled “Quilters on File,” allowed a cadre of women to be trained in interviewing techniques prior to conducting field work. The project resulted in 92 interviews captured on cassette tapes as well as a training manual. Auxiliary information and transcripts are sometimes available with the interview.
Surely the most daunting, but useful, project undertaken by KHQS has been a comprehensive registry of vintage quilts made in Kentucky. As of 2011, sixty counties have been surveyed. Each quilt was assigned a unique number, and information was captured about the quilt and its maker and owner. In addition the quilts were photographed. In the early years, black and white photographs were made, but since the introduction of digital photography only color images are taken. To see the registry go to www.khqs.org
Comments Off on Quilting History Documented
Filed under Uncategorized
President Henry Cherry was a man of many and varied interests and we know this by the scrapbooks he had created during his administration 1906-1937. These are held in WKU Archives and we are about half way through processing them. Most of the scrapbooks are in good condition. While education and Western Kentucky University head the list of topics covered, religion, the Temperance Movement and World War I are well represented. There are several scrapbooks dedicated to Cherry’s own personal political aspirations, his candidacy for Kentucky governor and his promotion of rural life through chautaquas held in Warren and the surrounding counties.
The collection inventory has been posted on TopScholar and gives more detail regarding these materials. These and many other records are available for researchers through our online catalog, KenCat and in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room of the Kentucky Library & Museum Monday – Saturday, 9 – 4.
Comments Off on Henry Cherry’s Interest Wide Ranging
Filed under Events, University Archives
Virginia Wood Davis, 1919-1990
After she got a job in 1942 doing war work in an Owensboro factory, Smiths Grove native Virginia Wood Davis was unsure about finishing her degree at Western Kentucky State Teachers College (now WKU). On one hand, the war wouldn’t last forever, but on the other hand Virginia and her widowed mother had learned to watch their pennies, and her $80-per-month paycheck at least allowed them to stop worrying about food.
But Virginia did return to school and graduated in 1943. Taking a teacher’s suggestion that she pursue newspaper work, she embarked on a career that lasted more than 40 years and took her to reporting and editorial positions in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and finally back to Kentucky, where she spent eight years as managing editor of the McCreary County Record.
In a profession where women were still a curiosity, Virginia trod the reporter’s beat, learned to “go toe to toe” with men, and cultivated her resume. She won an award from the South Carolina Press Association in 1960, became the first woman to run the main copy desk at the Florida Times-Union, and earned numerous press awards for the McCreary County Record. She covered civil rights marches in Alabama, migrant workers in Florida, and striking miners in Kentucky. But the hours were long and the pay was low. From a starting salary of $25 per week in 1943, Virginia retired in 1985 earning $325 per week at the Record.
To colleagues and friends, Virginia’s personal habits, which included an obsessive frugality and a lifestyle that some called “primitive,” were proof of her lifelong poverty. But they were in for a shock. When she died in 1990, Virginia left a small house, a beat-up truck, some personal possessions… and investments that, after being rumored to be as much as $2.5 million, were eventually valued at $400,000. The major beneficiary of her scrimping and saving was her alma mater. Virginia left 80% of her estate to WKU–the largest bequest ever given up to that time–to be used for the benefit of its journalism department.
WKU was equally honored when a family member donated Virginia Wood Davis’s personal papers to WKU’s Special Collections Library. This collection, which includes more than 4,000 items of correspondence, diaries, genealogy records, news writing and photos, is now processed and available to researchers. It provides a full and fascinating picture of the life and times of a daughter of Smiths Grove, a hardworking woman journalist, and a uniquely successful investor. Click here to download a finding aid. For more of our collections, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.
Comments Off on A Journalist’s Life…With a Surprise Ending
Filed under Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
We are pleased to announce that new content has been added to American History in Video that we have subscribed to. The addition includes 47 titles from four new publishers, plus more titles from PBS and Universal Newsreels. This update brings the total number of videos in American History in Video to 5,864, or 1,529 hours of content.
All of the new films in American History in Video enhance the collection distinctive ways. You can see a list of all the new content here:http://ahiv.alexanderstreet.com/WhatsNew. The American History in Video collection is accessible fromhttp://www.wku.edu/library/dlps/vpal/streaming_media.php linked from our Libraries’ homepage: http://www.wku.edu/library.
Comments Off on New Content Added to American History in Video
Filed under Uncategorized
Comments Off on Join Us in Celebrating Christmas in Kentucky
Filed under Uncategorized
On the morning of November 21, 2011, staff from the Dean’s Office of WKU Libraries surprised Interim Dean Connie Foster with a birthday party in her office. They had planned for the party without her knowledge.
Comments Off on Staff of Dean’s Office Surprised Dean with a Birthday Party
Filed under Uncategorized
Katie Pickard Fawcett won this year’s Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award for her book To Come and Go like Magic. The book is set in the 1970s, when twelve-year-old Chili Sue Mahoney longed to escape her tiny Kentucky hometown and see the world. In doing so, she comes to recognize beauty in the people and places around her.
On November 18, 2011, Interim Dean of Libraries Connie Foster gave the award to Ms. Fawcett at a luncheon in the Kentucky Room. At the luncheon were Evelyn’s relatives, friends, and colleagues. Organizing the event was the Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Award Committee consisting of WKU faculty and staff Sean Kinder (Chair), Deana Groves, Roxanne Spencer, Jennifer Wilson, Kristie Lowry, and Donna Vincent.
Set up by WKU Libraries, this award is given 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.
Katie Pickard Fawcett grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky and spent two years as a social worker in Appalachia. She has counseled and tutored students in the Washington D.C. area, written ads for the Peace Corps and VISTA, and worked for the World Bank, writing about development projects in Third World countries. Her personal essays have been published in several magazines, and her favorite diversion is travel and the different cultural experiences it brings. Ms. Fawcett lives with her husband and son in McLean, Virginia. To Come and Go Like Magic is her first novel.
Comments Off on Luncheon in Honor of Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Award Winner
Filed under Uncategorized
Katie Pickard Fawcett, this year’s winner of the Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award, joined WKU Libraries employees and her readers at the Educational Resources Center for a small reception in her honor on the afternoon of November 17, 2011. She had been visiting schools early that day and ended her tour with a visit to the ERC to meet the friendly faces of WKU Libraries and Bowling Green.
Comments Off on Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Award Winner Visited ERC
Filed under Uncategorized
