by | December 15, 2014 · 4:32 pm

WKU students receive undergraduate library research awards

fall student awards

Bowling Green, Kentucky – Western Kentucky University students Elizabeth Howard(Owensboro, Kentucky), Chris Riehl (Louisville, Kentucky), and Frances “Currey” McCullough (Nashville, TN) received undergraduate research awards at a recognition ceremony in Helm Library on Tuesday, December 2. WKU Libraries and WKU University Experience faculty offer the awards in an effort to recognize the important role of good undergraduate research in college academic success.

“Information literacy and library skills are essential for student success at any level, and I am happy to be a part of introducing the importance of college level research skills to our first year students,” said Sara McCaslin, University Experience Coordinator.

Howard, a first-year student representing the College of Health and Human Services, received the award for the subject-specific category from the University Experience class on the main campus. Her annotated resource list is pertaining to a career as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Her instructor was Lynn Hazlett-Sherry.

Riehl, a first-year student majoring in history, received the award for best annotated resource list featuring TED Talk information titled, “Photos that Changed the World.” His instructor was Cort Basham, University Experience 175 on the main campus.

McCullough, a first-year student from the University Experience class at South Campus, was recognized for the best career essay titled, “Exercise Science.” Her instructor was Dr. Anne Heintzman.

Students received a monetary gift along with a plaque honoring their achievements. The winning documents, along with those of past recipients, are posted on TopSCHOLAR–WKU’s research and creative database—at digitalcommons.wku.edu/ueul_award/. For more information, contact Amanda Drost, chair of the Research Award Committee, at 270-745-2962.

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by | December 12, 2014 · 5:45 pm

Dear Santa

Training School GirlsThis year the WKU Archives Elves have been quite good.  We have digitized over 3500 images, scrapbooks, audiotapes, videotapes, posters, student newspapers, newsletters, programs, and other types of documents and described over 400 record groups and answered over 400 reference requests.

And all we want for Christmas (in addition to our two front teeth) is:

So Santa, baby, hurry down the chimney and leave us some goodies for the collections.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

XOXO

WKU Archives Elves

 

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by | December 11, 2014 · 2:45 pm

A Cavalcade of Cards

In the course of processing family papers in Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, we regularly uncover a variety of Christmas cards sent to Kentuckians from family and friends across the country and the world.  Here are a few of the more eye-catching ones that have surfaced this year; they date from the 1920s to the 1970s:

A. Ross Pittman linoleum block prints, cards sent to Drucilla Jones, Bowling Green

A. Ross Pittman linoleum block prints, cards sent to Drucilla Jones, Bowling Green

 

From Olive Sewell, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, to Marjorie Clagett, Bowling Green

From Olive Sewell, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, to Marjorie Clagett, Bowling Green

 

Sent to the Clements family, Owensboro

Sent to the Clements family, Owensboro

 

From her niece Emma to Senora Tolle, Glasgow

From her niece Emma to Senora Tolle, Glasgow

For more on Christmas letters, cards, customs and folkways, search our collection finding aids in TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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by | December 5, 2014 · 7:57 pm

Recent book publications by DLPS colleagues

 

DSC_0494

The Department of Library Public Services hosted a reception honoring Library Professors Haiwang Yuan and Charles Smith with recently published books. Yuan’s book, Tibetan Folktales, was published in November 2014 by Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO,LLC. The collection of folktales provides readers with an extensive overview of the breadth of Tibetan culture, revealing the character of the region and its people as well as their traditional customs and values.  Haiwang Yuan is professor of Library Public Services at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY. His published works include The Magic Lotus Lantern and Other Tales of the Han Chinese and Princess Peacock: Tales from the Other Peoples of China, both Libraries Unlimited titles, as well as This Is China: the First 5,000 Years and Celebrate Chinese New Year. Yuan holds master’s degrees in history as well as library and information science from Indiana University at Bloomington, IN.

Smith’s book, Dear Sir: Sixty-Nine Years of Alfred Russel Wallace Letters to the Editor, was recently released from Siri Scientific Press, featuring Alfred Russel Wallace, a contemporary of Charles Darwin and known in many circles as the “father” of evolutionary biogeography, and more than 200 of Wallace’s published works. Charles H. Smith, Ph.D., has been studying Wallace’s work for more than thirty years, and has several other books on him to his credit; he also maintains ever expanding research on his website, The Alfred Russel Wallace Page at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, where he is the Library Faculty for Science and Professor of Library Public Services.

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by | December 4, 2014 · 8:57 pm

Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award

AdamsWKU Libraries hosted the Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award luncheon last Friday, November 21. Author Christa Carpenter and Illustrator Mark Wayne Adams were the recipients of the award for the book Jilli, That’s Silly!  Friends, Library Council members, staff, faculty, and family attended the luncheon which is given annually to recognize an author and illustrator for their work in children’s literature with a Kentucky connection. More than forty people attended the luncheon with a special program featuring WKU Libraries faculty member Lisa Miller who recently did extensive research on Evelyn Thurman, former librarian and donor for the program, and Galen Currington, the man who purchased Evelyn’s Volkswagon bug which was on display at the entrance to the building. On the days leading up to the luncheon, Adams and Carpenter went to several schools offering author/illustrator visits.

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by | · 8:27 pm

SOKY Book Fest partners select finalists for 2015 Kentucky Literary Award

Bowling Green, Ky. –The Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership announces the five finalists for the 2014 Kentucky Literary Award. This year’s award will go to a work of non-fiction by a Kentucky author or with a significant Kentucky theme that was published in 2013 or 2014. The five finalists include:

The Kentucky Barbecue Book, Wes BerryKentucky Barbecue Book

Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage, Michael R. Veachky_bourbon_whiskey_final.indd

Mud Creek Medicine: the Life of Eula Hall and the Fight for Appalachia, Kiran BhatrajuMud Creek Medicine

Never Say Die: A Kentucky Colt, the Epsom Derby, and the Rise of the Modern Thoroughbred Industry, James C. Nicholson

NicolsonCvCompFinal.indd

Unbridled Service: Growing Up and Giving Back as a Frontier Nursing Service Courier, 1928-2010, Ann Z. Cockerham

Unbridled Service

The award winner will be announced at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest’s Meet the Authors Reception to be held Friday, April 17–the night before the main Book Fest event. The Kentucky Literary Award is presented annually by the Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership, and the 2015 award is sponsored by the Friends of WKU Libraries. For more information about the award, contact Kristie Lowry, Book Fest and Literary Outreach Coordinator, at kristie.lowry@wku.edu or 745-4502.

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest is a partnership of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Warren County Public Library, and Western Kentucky University Libraries. For more information, visit sokybookfest.org.

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by | · 2:09 pm

A December Election

Elizabeth Martin's take on the 1844 election

Elizabeth Martin’s take on the 1844 election

When last we left the Whigs, they were fighting the presidential race of 1844, pitting their candidate, Kentucky’s Henry Clay, against Tennessee Democrat James K. Polk.  Both parties had dumped their presumptive heirs to the nomination, Vice President John Tyler and former President Martin Van Buren, respectively.

With their nation poised to become a continental power, the Whigs and Dems sparred bitterly over the annexation of Texas and Oregon, Manifest Destiny, and the westward expansion of slavery (Polk was for, Clay against).  But economic issues such as the tariff (Polk wanted to lower it) also hovered in the background.  Voting began on November 1–this was the last presidential election to be held on different days in different states–and when it concluded on December 4, 1844, Polk was declared the winner by a narrow margin.

In Elkton, Kentucky, 53-year-old Elizabeth Martin found herself on the wrong side of the vote (had she been able to vote, that is).  Writing to her nephew Benjamin Hinch, she mourned the outcome as “a grate calamity indeed” that left the defeated Whigs “all down in the mouth.”  Elizabeth’s daughter Avaline was also disappointed.  “The times are very hard with us,” and were likely to continue “since they have elected old Polk.”  But this joint mother-daughter letter included another, more personal debate, as the women earnestly proposed suitable names for Hinch’s newborn son.

Elizabeth and Avaline Martin’s letter is part of the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives collections of WKU’s Department of Library Special Collections.  Click here to access a finding aid.  For more collections about politics, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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by | December 3, 2014 · 7:49 pm

WKU Special Collections Department Head Jonathan Jeffrey receives the 2014 Kentucky History Award at ceremony in Frankfort

Jeffrey History AwardProfessor Jonathan Jeffrey, department head for Library Special Collections and coordinator for Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, recently was awarded the 2014 Kentucky History Award in Frankfort, Kentucky for his efforts on the JFK Memory Project. The Kentucky Historical Society sponsors this program to recognize outstanding achievements by individuals and organizations throughout the commonwealth. Jeffrey was recognized during the Kentucky History Awards ceremony on Friday, November 7, at the Old State Capitol in downtown Frankfort.

The JFK Memory Project, organized and led by Jeffrey, was a special effort to collect people’s memories of two events: John F. Kennedy’s campaign visit to Bowling Green in October 1960 and his assassination on November 22, 1963. During a five-month period, Jeffrey encouraged anyone to forward their remembrances to the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives unit of WKU Libraries for permanent retention with intent to capture a clearer picture of his local visit and to demonstrate how national/international events affect people at the local level.  As a result, 130 responses were compiled, including numerous emails, 27 photographs, 14 personal interviews, news clippings, and various campaign paraphernalia. Materials are available through WKU’s digital archives, TopSCHOLAR.

Jeffrey, a native of Texas, has been at Western Kentucky University Department of Library Special Collections since 1990. He has published numerous popular and scholarly articles and mongraphs related to local history, architecture, women’s history, the Shakers, and the history of the Commonwealth’s libraries. His most recent book is Stock Car Racing in Bowling Green. He has served on numerous boards for Kentucky historical organizations, and has been recognized with various awards, including the Historical Confederation of Kentucky’s Award of Distinction, WKU’s Outstanding Public Service Award, and WKU’s Jefferson Award for Public Service.

 

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by | · 1:48 pm

Out of the Box – November

75th Anniversary

Board of Regents 11/5/1931kybuilding75th

Cherry Hall

College Heights Herald 11/16/1956

Football, 1913

Founders Day

Fourth Estate 1980

Henry Hardin Cherry

Homecoming

Kentucky Building

ROTC Building

Veterans

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by | November 22, 2014 · 12:00 pm

From Quad to DVD

filmThis is just one of the many 2-inch quadruplex videotapes housed in WKU Archives.  These tapes were first created for use in television production in 1956.  Quads were phased out in the early-1980s and replaced by smaller videotapes. WKU no longer owns playback equipment for these tapes.

WKYU-TV recorded many programs using quad tapes that are being digitized through a $7500.00 WKU Libraries grant.  In September 59 quad tapes were shipped to Transfer Media in Indianapolis for digitization to DVD.  The first shipment of DVDs arrived at the Kentucky Building this week.

Theses titles are now available to researchers, some are available on TopScholar and on the WKU Library Special Collections YouTube channel.

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