This is it. This is my last week in the Department of Library and Special Collections, and I am very grateful for the time I have spent here. Since I finished working on the Parking Exhibit, which if you have not checked out yet you should, I have moved on to processing files and photos from the WKU Theatre and Dance program. I have to admit I was a little nervous before I started going through everything. There was so much history and hard work that was being showcased in the photos and programs. I wanted to make sure it was all preserved and documented so people years from now could enjoy it. I enjoyed learning about the Western Players. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Photographs
Beth Sutherland: Intern Experience
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Out of the Box – November
100 Years Ago – The Elevator, Vol. VII, No. 2, Nov. 1915
- The Chestnut Hunt
- An Evening with Poe
- The Turkey Trot and much more
75 Years Ago – Le Cercle Francais Club Bulletin No. 3, 1940
- Le Pique Nique du 12 Octobre (Picnic held Oct. 12)
- Reunion D’anciens (Homecoming)
- Calendrier francais (French holidays)
WKU Faculty/Staff 1965
50 Years Ago – Faculty / Staff Group photo, 1965
- See how many people you can recognize
- See how small the administration was
25 Years Ago – Student Honors Research Bulletin, 1990
- Ritalin Controversy
- 1988 Presidential Primaries
- Gay & Lesbian Couples
- Popcorn and Salt or Salt Substitutes and much more
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Behind the Scenes
WKU Archives is staffed by a full time archivist (Suellyn Lathrop) a full time archives assistant (April McCauley) and a 10-hour per week student worker (Jack). We work Monday through Friday 8 to 4:30 and a couple Saturdays each semester.
Suellyn and April spend most of their time processing collections and doing reference work for patrons who come in or contact us by telephone or email. Jack spends his ten hours a week digitizing the stuff that Suellyn and April pile up for him to do.
Processing refers to the act of arranging and describing records so researchers can find what they want and need quickly. Processing can be very time consuming. Continue reading
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Back in Time – August
We’re changing up the format a bit due to the website audit. We will be highlighting documents, photos and events which took place 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago.
25 years ago – Student Activities & Organizations 1989-90 Annual Report
50 years ago – Photos of students moving into the dorms in 1965.
75 years ago – Nina Hammer Oral History. William Jenkins interviewed the former Bowling Green Business University Registrar about her time as a student and working at the BU.
100 years ago – Photo of the WKU student body in 1915
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International Kissing Day
Today is international kissing day something WKU is totally behind. Early in the history of WKU students met at the spoonholder to “study.”
Everyone has heard of the Kissing Bridge. It is said that a couple on a first date who kiss on the bridge will marry. 
Enjoy International Kissing Day with someone you love!
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Cherry Statue Time Capsule
Cherry Statue Unveiling, 11/16/1937
As archivists we evaluate our collections and process them in order of importance. That importance can be calculated in terms of rarity, pressing preservation issues or research value. We also process collections as researchers use them. This past week we spent time processing the Cherry Statue Committee records for a student working on a capstone project. This is a small collection just 31 folders of documents and one oversize drawing of the statue base. In archives speak a mere .25 cu. ft. or a single box measuring 15 1/2″ x 7″ x 10″.
In using the collection the researcher found information regarding the time capsule placed beneath the statue on November 10, 1937. There were two lists of items that had been placed in a bronze box and sealed inside the base. There was also documentation that indicated a second box had been purchased for duplicates to be placed in the Kentucky Museum. The museum curator brought the box out for the student to see. 
Before the box went back to the Kentucky Museum, we digitized everything in it. We also were able to identify a few items that had not been duplicated and created the Cherry Statue Time Capsule online exhibit.
Here you will see most of the items that the Cherry Statue Committee felt important enough to store for posterity. Most of the items reflect Henry Cherry himself and include his two books, several speeches showing his interest in education, agriculture and politics; photographs and program of his memorial service. The Glasgow Normal and Southern Normal Schools are represented in commencement programs and publications. Also included are representations of what Cherry meant to the faculty, staff, students, alumni and community in the lists of donors to the statue fund
, resolutions of respect and other tributes. Lastly there are many representations of how WKU had grown and flourished in the 31 years since its founding in 1906 until November 16, 1937 when the statue was unveiled.
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March Out of the Box
Chapel – students on the steps of Van Meter
Elevator 3/1915 – student happenings 100 years ago
Fanlight, Spring 1990 – Kentucky Museum happenings 25 years ago
Gender & Womens Studies – collection inventory, records available for research
Health Clinic Report 1965
Potter Hall – building history which answers the question, “Who was Potter?”
Softball – a variety of sources on a favorite spring sport
University Center Board – Meeting 3/28/1990
Volleyball – a variety of sources on Volleyball
WKU Map 1965 – could you find a parking place in 1965?
WKU vs Austin Peay – men’s basketball program 2/22/1965
Womens Basketball – photos through the years
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January Out of the Box
WKU Winter Scene
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Kentucky Cave Wars
Since the first tourist tract written by Alexander Clark Bullitt in 1844, it seemed everyone wanted to visit the “Mammoth Cave.” He considered such a visit an almost spiritual pilgrimage. “Awe and apprehension soon yield to the influence of the delicious air; and after a time a certain jocund feeling is found mingled with the deepest impressions of sublimity. I recommend all broken-hearted lovers and dyspeptic dandies to carry their complaints to the Mammoth Cave, where they will undoubtedly find themselves ‘translated’ into very buxom and happy persons.”
Mammoth Cave is the country’s 26th national park and contains almost 60,000 acres of land in South Central, KY. But, the entire region, because of our 
karst topography is riddled with caves. This push for visitors lead to one of the most interesting parts of Mammoth Cave history. It was the period known as the “Kentucky Cave Wars.” It was a time when local cave owners used devious advertising and other illegal means to lure tourists to their underground treasures and away from the “real” cave. They did this impersonating rangers and flagging travelers off the road before they could reach the cave and national park. A recent book by David Kem, The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park, delves into this time by “telling the story of Mammoth Cave’s greatest competitors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the death of Dr. Croghan and the first competitors popping up in Cave Country, to the national park’s creation and beyond, more than a century of fighting for tourist dollars shaped the decisions in and around the famous cave.” Kem used several photographs and other illustrative materials from the Kentucky Library Research Collections to illustrate his new book. Find materials about the cave and other subjects in the Department of Library Special Collections by searching TopSCHOLAR and KenCat or request more information from spcol@wku.edu.
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Dear Santa
This 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:
- help identifying unidentified photographs in KenCat
- help tracking down missing publications on the WKU Archives Wishlist
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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