WKU Libraries Blog

Gordon Wilson, in his ornithological habitat.

Among those who witnessed WKU’s two-day-long move from downtown Bowling Green to its new hilltop campus was Calloway County, Kentucky native Gordon Wilson (1888-1970).  But he and his classmates were not just mere spectators.  “At 1:00 p.m.,” he wrote in his journal on February 3, 1911, “students assembled at the old building and under the supervision of various teachers marched to the Hill carrying such furniture as was convenient, such as chairs.”  Books and heavier items were hauled in wagons to their new home, which was barely ready.  “[T]he Rotunda is unfinished,” Wilson wrote of Van Meter Hall, “and the great steps leading into the Auditorium are only about half complete.”

Gordon Wilson joined WKU as an instructor in 1915, and in August 1959 retired from a 31-year career as head of the English department.  Not only had he taught generations of students (in 1968, the former library building was named in his honor), but over his career had distinguished himself in two pursuits: folklore and ornithology.  Wilson published his first major article on birds in 1921, and was a founding member of the Kentucky Ornithological Society.  In 1935, he began his column “Tidbits of Kentucky Folklore,” which appeared in local newspapers for the next 35 years.

After retiring, Wilson ramped up his research and writing in both fields.  He was especially interested in the Mammoth Cave region of southcentral Kentucky–not just its bird life, but the speech, lore, superstitions and folk beliefs of its people–and his fieldwork generated numerous monographs, including Birds of the Mammoth Cave National Park and Folkways of the Mammoth Cave Region.  Always a prolific writer, Wilson still had time to compose his chatty “Diary to Kelly.”  Part autobiography, part history and gossip, it was a collection of musings to WKU president Kelly Thompson about life in general and the state of the university in particular.

Gordon Wilson’s research, writing and correspondence are part of the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives collections of WKU’s Special Collections Library.  Click here to download a finding aid.  For other collections, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

Halley’s Comet in 1986 (NASA photo)

On this day (April 11) in 1986, all eyes were on Halley’s Comet as it passed its closest point to earth (39 million miles) before returning to the depths of space.  A few of the collections in the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives section of WKU’s Special Collections Library document the fascination and trepidation that these phenomena have evoked in humans across time.

Issachar Bates (1758-1837) recalled that as a child, he feared that “God would come upon me some day in judgment because I was not good” and he began to “watch the heavens” for signs of that momentous time.  Sure enough, he soon glimpsed “a blazing comet [perhaps the Great Comet of 1769] which could be seen every clear night for weeks.”  As if to underscore its terrible portent, it was trumpet-shaped, and sometimes “would look as red as blood.”

Lucilla Booker, who lived in the Shaker community at South Union, Kentucky, recorded the approach of Halley’s Comet in 1910.  “People in country all excited about the Comet all this year fearing it will do harm to some of them,” she wrote on May 18.  Nine days later: “Moonshines bright & People see Halley’s Comet with a new Tail on it.”

Meanwhile, over in Floyd County, Kentucky, young Sarah Copeland was witnessing the same wonder.  “My mother hollered ‘come out here you all, see what I’d seen,'” she remembered.  “And when we got outside. . . it just looked like an airplane. . . a great long tail.  And we watched it as far as we could.”  Later, she heard a rumor that the “thing we seen in the sky, they said it fell in Italy and burnt up a lot where it landed.”

Late in 1985, WKU faculty member Marjorie Clagett wrote alumnus Dee Carl Perguson that she was looking forward to the latest arrival of Halley’s Comet, but despite her work “determining compass points and degrees and elevation, and despite looking out the window at 3:00 every morning,” she was still waiting for a glimpse of the celestial visitor.

Click on the links above to access finding aids for these collections.  And be patient: the next chance to see Halley’s Comet won’t be until 2061.

The Barons, Bowling Green’s semi-pro baseball team, and mascot “Spot,” about 1938 (WKU Special Collections Library)

For baseball fans, the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives section of WKU’s Special Collections Library holds several collections relating to the history and folklore of America’s pastime.

Oakland, Kentucky native Jennie Bryant Cole recalled that community’s first baseball team in a short historical sketch written in 1939.  Known as the Oakland Reds, the team formed about 1881.  Each player wore red flannel trousers and “any kind of shirt that suited him.”  Perhaps their greatest victory was in a game at Horse Cave in which they trounced their opponents 22-2.  At home, the team’s field consisted of a patch of pasture and a grandstand, where fans enjoyed watching for some 30 years.

Baseball’s rich folklore–stories, superstitions and oral traditions–is explored in several papers housed in the Folklife Archives.  Examining newspaper reports surrounding some of the great milestones of the game, Kevin Kelly found allusions to the supernatural and the superhuman, as well as the usual obsession with numbers and statistics.  During an oral history interview in Floyd County, Kentucky in 1984, James Spradlin heard about industrial leagues of coal miners and the excitement of witnessing baseball commissioner “Happy” Chandler (in between his two terms as governor of Kentucky) speak at the dedication of one of their fields.  Another collection includes some of the countless player superstitions relating to the game:  Always touch third base when returning from the field to the dugout.  Never cross the bats when stacking them.  Don’t put your right shoe on first or you’ll lose the game.  Fans are equally superstitious.  In 2009, Brendan Sullivan documented the extremely elaborate ritual of cap-touching, tongue-clicking and “bird noises” performed by a young fan in order to conjure up a win for his Philadelphia Phillies.

Click on the links above to access finding aids for these collections.  For more, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.