Playing Our Song: Southern Kentucky Notes

Southern Kentuckians love music! From the amateur playing his Hawaiian steel guitar to the singers and bands that have put WKU on the map, this region’s musical heritage is rich. Whether you like Country, Classical, Rap or Rock, you will find that Southern Kentuckians are indeed playing your song. Over the years, the Kentucky Library and Museum has collected a significant sheet music collection, photographs, sound recordings, posters, and ephemera illustrating the importance of music to this region.

Jambodians

Jambodians

Including Mary Clyde Huntsman’s Merry Makers, Duke Allen and the Kentucky Ramblers, WKU faculty musicians, Hawaiian steel guitar instructor Freddie Joe Lewis, local DJ Tommy Starr, New Grass Revival, and Kentucky Headhunters, a selection of treasures given by numerous musicians and collectors are displayed. Gospel musicians, including Hillvue Heights Music Group and John Edmonds’ Gospel Truth, and Country musicians, including Jordan Pendley, Cousin Emmy, and the Mighty Jerimiahs, provide evidence of the enduring popularity of all forms of music. Nappy Roots, Government Cheese and the Hilltoppers show the Hill’s influence on our song. Enjoy the exhibit in the Harry Jackson Gallery of the Kentucky Library and Museum during the Spring and Summer of 2010 and search “Southern Kentucky Music” on KenCat to explore the rest of our song.

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March is Women’s History Month

Pearl Carter Pace

Pearl Carter Pace

“Well-behaved women seldom make history,” observed Harvard professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.  But what about a woman who took issue with the behavior of others — for example, the rumrunners of Cumberland County?  Pearl Eagle Carter Pace, born in Tompkinsville in 1896, became the first woman in Kentucky elected to a four-year term as sheriff.  Before taking office in 1938, she had taught school, kept the books for several family businesses, and become the mother of three children.  Succeeding her husband, Stanley D. Pace, as sheriff, she declared war on the bootleggers of Cumberland County.  Although she insisted that she’d never used a gun, she was tagged with the nickname “Pistol-Packin’ Pearl.”

After her husband’s death in 1940, Pace immersed herself in state Republican politics.  In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed her to the War Claims Commission; as its chairman in 1959, she became the second-highest ranking woman in the administration.  Pace’s work for numerous civic, political, business and professional organizations in both Kentucky and Washington, D.C. continued, despite failing health, until her death in 1970.

Through the generosity of her family, WKU’s Special Collections Library holds a large collection of Pearl Carter Pace’s personal and professional papers.  Included are her arrest log book and other sheriff’s records, dozens of speeches, correspondence relating to her political and civic work, photos, family letters, and much more.  A finding aid for the Pearl Carter Pace Collection can be downloaded here.

Search for more women’s history resources in KenCat.

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Elizabeth Tucker Scrapbook

etsb011Elizabeth Curd Tucker was born February 9, 1863 near Glasgow, Kentucky. She attended Glasgow Normal School graduating in 1880 when she delivered the valedictory speech at commencement. The Glasgow Normal School was the first incarnation of what has become Western Kentucky University.  In 1975 her daughters donated Mrs. Tucker’s scrapbook to University Archives.

The bulk of the scrapbook is made up of newspaper clippings of poetry and articles regarding education and sermons. There are Glasgow Normal School commencement programs and drawings by her son Charles and an unidentified artist in the scrapbook as well. The following articles are of particular interest regarding the Glasgow Normal School:

    “Glasgow Normal Senate,” Friday May 28, 1880 which mentions Ms. Curd, p. 49.”Glasgow Commencement Exercises,” June 30, 1880 which mentions Ms. Curd giving the
    valedictory, p. 50.”Graduates of Glasgow Normal School,” p. 58.

    Glasgow Normal School commencement programs

The scrapbook has been digitized and is now available on TopScholar.

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Mark Irons at Java City

Mark Irons
WKU alumni Mark Irons entertained the crowd at Java City today with is original songs and his sophisticated musical styling.

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New Database Subscriptions

WKU Libraries now has three new databases: Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature 1890-1982, Education Index 1929-1983, and HeinOnline.

The Reader’s Guide Retrospective contains all information from the printed Readers’ Guides from 1890 to 1982, indexing over 375 magazines and journals. Subject headings have been updated with modern terminology, although the original subject headings are also available.

The Education Index Retrospective 1929-1983 contains cover-to-cover indexing of over 800 periodicals and yearbooks in the field of education.

HeinOnline contains full-page images for all issues of over 1,200 legal journals, cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Attorney General Opinions, and English Reports Full Reprint (1694-1867). Also contains all issues of the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and U.S. Statutes at Large. HeinOnline also contains all issues of the Congressional Record (1873 to present), the Annals of Congress (1789-1924), Register of Debates (1824-1837), and Congressional Globe (1833-1873). Many sources for international law, United Nations, and treaty research are included, and the database contains a large number of full E-Book reprints of classic and historic legal books.

To access these databases, go to http://www.wku.edu/library and click the link for databases. If you are off-campus, log in with your WKU email username and password.

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Kentucky Live! Presented Fred Gross

Fred Gross talked about his book One Step Ahead of HitlerWKU Libraries’ Kentucky Live! talk series featured Fred Gross, author and speaker from Louisville. Gross talked about his book One Step Ahead of Hitler to a Bowling Green, KY audience of over 40 people at Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Cambell Lane in the evening of March 5, 2010.

Fred Gross, a graduate of New York University, was a reporter for the Journal-Courier, a daily newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut, and has been a public-relations specialist for nearly thirty years, specializing in education. Gross has been actively involved in the Jewish community in Louisville, Kentucky. He has taught a Holocaust curriculum to Sunday school students, and for years has also shared his story with middle and high school students.

Fred Gross knew much about the history of the Holocaust, but he didn’t know his own, being a young Jewish child during those terrible years. In the late 1980s, he asked his mother to tell him the story of his family’s flight from the German invasion of Belgium and the Nazi policies that would become the Holocaust. One Step Ahead of Hitler is a story of survival told in words and in photographs of a journey beginning in Antwerp and ending with his freedom in America.

More Photos | Podcast | Audio File

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What’s in a Name?

A postcard to Mary Lou

A postcard to Mary Lou

Sometimes, postcard collections donated to WKU’s Special Collections Library have a specific theme.  A handful of 10 from collector James H. Holland, for example, were mostly scribbled by merchants in Lexington, Winchester and Somerset during the 1880s to arrange for the delivery of whiskey, hemp seed or tobacco.  But among them is one addressed anonymously to Miss Mary Lou Barker of Lexington and posted from Maysville in the early 1900s.

“A mystery solved,” its writer declares.  “Coming in on the bus this morning, it was my good fortune to be seated by a sweet little girl of about two years of age.  She soon made friends with me,” the card relates, until, growing sleepy, she “nestled her head against me and I loved her all the more.”  Puzzled at the source of such sweetness, the writer soon found a simple answer.  “The veil was lifted, the cloud vanished–the mystery was solved, for her name was Mary Lou.”  Left to us is the small mystery of this turn-of-the-century token of affection, written by someone to a little girl named Mary Lou.

To learn more about our postcard collections, search for “postcards” in KenCat.

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Build It with Clay

child building a clay vesselLooking for a fun activity for your child over Spring Break? Does your son or daughter have a creative side they need to explore? Register them for the Hand Building with Clay workshop at the Kentucky Library & Museum the week of April 5th – 9th. Taught by area ceramicist Laura Bain-Selbo, participants will learn various techniques and make both decorative and functional ceramic pieces. Designed for children in grades 1 through 5, the camp runs from 8 a.m. to Noon, and after camp care is available from Noon to 4 p.m.

More information.

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Quilting Workshop at the Kentucky Museum

Learn to piece together nine-patch quilt designs with quilter Nancy Baird. Workshop will take place on March 27 from 9-3. Registration is $15 and includes material. Email nancy.baird@wku.edu for more info.

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Beulah Collins Ellis Autograph Books

Edgar Cayce Autograph
Beulah Collins Ellis attended the Southern Normal School and kept two autograph books.  The first book has a padded cover of brown cloth and is in fragile condition. The majority of the autographs date to 1902 and 1903. Mrs. Ellis’ daughter Lena wrote in the book in 1922. Of special note is an inscription by Edgar Cayce:

“To thine own self be true and it must follow as the night the day. That you will be true to others. Your friend, Edgar Cayce, BG, September 17, 1902”

The Kentucky Library & Museum also holds papers regarding Edgar Cayce and his activities in Bowling Green.

The second autograph album dates from 1904-1907 and is autographed by natives of Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Tennessee.

Both books have been scanned and are available on TopScholar.  These and other records are available for researchers in the Kentucky Library & Museum.

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