Former Senator Georgia Powers Attended Program Highlighting Her Career

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Anne Onyekwuluje, Associate Professor of Sociology at WKU, spoke about her book titled Georgia Powers: A Grassroots Civil Rights Leader in Kentucky on Thursday, February 9 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Former Senator Powers was present at the event. She spoke to the audience and answered their questions. The event concluded with a book signing by both speakers.

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The Art of Mazie Thomas

Mazie Lee Thomas

Mazie Lee Thomas

Among the students at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial University (now Tennessee State) in 1953 was a 47-year-old resident of Adairville, Kentucky named Mazie Lee Thomas.  Born in Georgia, Thomas (1906-2001) had begun teaching herself to draw and paint at an early age.  One day, having grown tired of “piddling around” with her skills, she took a bus to Nashville to show some of her paintings to one of Tennessee A&I’s art teachers.  After the teacher made a personal trip to Adairville to secure her husband’s cooperation, she enrolled at the school for a year’s training.

In addition to painting in oil, watercolor and acrylic, Thomas fashioned greeting cards and craft items such as corn shuck dolls and paper mache figures.  Today, some of her paintings are held in the collections of Morehead’s Kentucky Folk Art Center and at WKU’s Special Collections Library.

The Library also holds manuscript materials documenting the work of this African-American folk artist.  Included are clippings and artwork collected by her niece into a scrapbook, slides of her paintings, and a short video of Thomas discussing her work.

Click here to download a finding aid for the Mazie Lee Thomas Collection.  For more on African Americans and folk artists, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

Mazie Thomas's artwork

Mazie Thomas’s artwork

 

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Growing Up in Chile in the 21st Century

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WKU student Christopher McConnell was featured in the monthly library event We’ve Been Everywhere in Helm 100 on the morning of February 7, 2012. Christopher, who works in the DLPS Office, talked about almost every aspect of Chile, his parents’ native land that he has been frequenting. The talk was concluded with a show of Christopher’s culinary skill in making a Chilean salad and a tasting experience of the salad by the audience.

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Two Workshops Tomorrow on Libraries’ Newest Database Web of Science

Tracy Matthews will be on campus February 7 from Thomson Reuters in New York to do a workshop on “The Web of Science,” the Libraries’ newest and most comprehensive database.  We’ve scheduled two workshops tomorrow:

  • Gary Randsell Hall, Lab 1 (on the 2nd floor) at 10:00 a.m.
  • VPAL Lab (Cravens Library 2nd floor) at 1:00 p.m.

The Web of Science consists of the following major components:

  • Science Citation Index Expanded®:
    8,300 major journals across 150 disciplines — 1900 to present.
    JOURNAL SEARCH
  • Social Sciences Citation Index®:
    2,697 journals across 55 social science disciplines, as well as selected items from 3,500 of the world’s leading scientific and technical journals — 1900 to present.
    JOURNAL SEARCH
  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
    Fully indexes over 2300 arts and humanities journals, as well as selected items over 250 scientific and social sciences journals— 1975 to present.

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February Reference Book Display

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With Valentine’s Day coming up, the reference display this month is “The Sciences Look at Love” with a collection of books from both the hard and soft sciences regarding love and relationships. Selections include books from anatomy, physiology, psychology, anthropology and sociology.

Books on Display

1. The atlas of heart disease and stroke / Judith McKay and George A. Mensah with Shanthi Mendis and Kurt Greenlund. RC 683. M34x 2004
2. Atlas of the human brain / Jürgen K. Mai, Joseph Assheuer, George Paxinos. QM 455.M347 2004
3. Gray’s anatomy : the anatomical basis of clinical practice / editor-in-chief, Susan Standring ; section editors, Neil R. Borley … [et al.].  QM 23.2.G7 2008x
4. The encyclopedia of the heart and heart disease / Otelio S. Randall and Deborah S. Romaine. QP 111.4.R36 2005
5Atlas of human anatomy. QM 25.A798 2001
6. The Greenwood encyclopedia of love, courtship, & sexuality through history / edited by James W. Howell … [et al.]. HQ 21.G67125 2008 v.1 (of 6)
7. Marriage, family, and relationships : a cross-cultural encyclopedia / Gwen J. Broude. GN 480.B76 1994
8. Encyclopedia of human behavior / editor-in-chief, V.S. Ramachandran. BF 31.E5 1994 v.1 (of 4)
9. Encyclopedia of human relationships / Harry T. Reis, Susan Sprecher, [editors]. HM 1106.E53 2009 v.1 (of 3)
10. Encyclopedia of human emotions / edited by David Levinson, James J. Ponzetti, Jr., Peter F. Jorgensen. BF531.E55 1999 v. 1 (of 2)
11. The concise book of muscles / Chris Jarmey. QP321.J45 2008x

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“In Account With…”

John H. Brown's drugstore accounts

John H. Brown’s drugstore accounts

The question of how to streamline, share and protect medical records in an electronic age is high on the agenda for health care reform.  In the mid-nineteenth century, however, record keeping was far less complex and more likely to reflect the idiosyncracies of the health care providers of the day.  Take, for example, the account book of physician-druggist John H. Brown.  Born in Greensburg, Kentucky in 1832, Brown was raised in Illinois, where he took up his profession in the Mississippi River town of Cairo.  His account book, dating from 1856-1862 and now held by WKU’s Special Collections Library, offers a unique look at his trade with the local population, and how he kept track of a rather curious pageant of customers.

In particular, names were not always a necessity for Brown.  His book tallied charges for a “Little Scotchman” who purchased unspecified “Pills and powds.”  There was the “Old Gentleman who lived beyond Mr. Givins” and his modest account for “Tonic Powds.”  Brown sold some “medicine” to “Pastry Cook John” and similarly dosed the daughter of the “Dutch sausage maker.”  The aforesaid Little Scotchman must have provided a good recommendation, because soon afterward Brown sold a toothbrush, pills and “solution for mouth” to the “Big Irishman who stays with little Scotchman.”  No doubt the “Sore mouth gentleman at Mr. Hanes” required the same relief, although his account also included a bottle of “sherry wine.”  Sales to various customers “on boats” provided evidence of Brown’s ongoing trade as a riverside pharmacist.

But Brown’s account book was not as chaotic as it might seem, for at the front was an index allowing one to easily find “Gentleman, Old who lives beyond Mr. Givins” on page 59, “Boy at King’s brickyard” on page 62, or “Irishman, Big who stays with little Scotchman” on page 61.

A finding aid for John H. Brown’s account book can be downloaded here.  For other collections on medicine and medical-related topics, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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Growing Up in Chile in the 21st Century

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Christopher McConnell is a student assistant for the Department of Library Public Services. He lived for 5 years in Chile, South America. Over those five years, he lived in Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, and Reñaca. Before moving back to the U.S. in June 2006 he crawled through mining channels hundreds of feet under the ocean in the south of Chile, walked through the Atacama desert and Valle de la Luna (Valley of the moon)  and achieved many honors such as class best friend and honors in Philosophy. While in Chile, he also toured the country playing rugby. He embarked on his adventure to Chile in order to spend more time with his family (on his mother’s side) in Chile, and strive for a better education. His mother enrolled him in the Mackay School (a Britannic Bi-lingual All Boys Private School). He achieved the National Society for High School Scholars where he shook hands with Claes Nobel and was a recipient of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. He is majoring in Accounting and Finance with a certification in Real Estate. At Western, he works in Helm-Cravens Library designing the Kentucky Live! & Far Away Places posters, flyers and post cards. His desires in life are to become an entrepreneur who will provide jobs, housing, products and services to world as a whole.

He will be speaking about his adventure in Chile on February 7th, 2012 at 10:00am in Helm 100.

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WKU Libraries Users to Get Full-text Search in HathiTrust Collection

A new agreement with HathiTrust will enable library users to carry out full-text searches of the HathiTrust collection via the One-Search Box on the Libraries home page. Users are already able to search the collection’s metadata, which was previously indexed through this system powered by ExLibris.

For more information, following this link: http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=16485.

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We’ve Been Everywhere! Welcome Everyone to Come and Find Out

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Where’s W. H. Smith?

 

Letter of W. H. Smith, 1840

Letter of W. H. Smith, 1840

Bowling Green has many unique aspects, but its name is not one of them.  In addition to the Kentucky city, there are “Bowling Greens” in Ohio, Virginia, Missouri, Florida, Indiana and South Carolina, as well as the famous park in Lower Manhattan.  Accordingly, when the Special Collections Library acquired an 1840 letter written from “Bowling Green,” our first task was to confirm that it was indeed a local product.

Finding clues in the letter was made more difficult by the fact that it was written in the crosshatch method–filling a page, then turning it 90 degrees and writing over the completed text, in order to save paper and postage.  The author, W. H. Smith, was writing to his brother Joseph in Warrenton, Virginia.  His main topic was the illness of several family members.  One was “taken with a severe chill and burning fever” so extreme, he reported, that she became deranged and begged their slaves to throw water on her.  Others succumbed to similar symptoms, requiring the application of “heated salt red pepper & whiskey” on their arms and legs, as well as repeated doses of quinine, to break their chills.  Turning to other matters, Smith discussed his efforts to “buy a negro boy” at a reasonable price, and his mother’s distress at the prospect of unruly slaves being whipped.

Interesting, but not indicative of any particular location.  But then there was this: “We are to have a large & grand whig festival here on 5 Oct[obe]r to celebrate the Battle of the Thames,” wrote Smith, referring to a political event commemorating an American victory in the War of 1812.  Did Bowling Green, Kentucky host such a festival?  An internet search revealed a broadside in the collections of the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio, announcing the very same event, sponsored by the “Whigs of Warren.”  This could have referred to Warren County, Ohio, were it not for the fact that among the individual sponsors of the event were men named Grider, Quigley, Covington, and Wilkins–easily recognizable as prominent citizens of Warren County, Kentucky.  Mystery solved!

Click here to download a finding aid and typescript of W. H. Smith’s letter.  For more collections, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.

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