Digital Commons Network^™

Oetzel, Virgil Donaphin, 1911-1998 (Sc 3725), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3725. “Virgil Oetzel: HIs Life & Times in the Kentucky Hills,” a memoir by Virgil Oetzel. The Campbell County, Kentucky native recalls his family, childhood, activities and pastimes, farm work, schooling, church, memorable local personalities, the Depression years, marriage and children, encounters with hoboes, and a deep-sea fishing trip to Florida.

Moses Family Papers (Mss 763), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 763. Personal papers of the Moses family of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and of related Covington and Williams family members. Includes some materials relating to the Southern Queen Hotel, operated by the families to serve African American guests from 1945-1975.

County Of Warren Public Judiciary Corporation - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 3722), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3722. Articles of incorporation and minutes of one meeting of the County of Warren Public Judiciary Corporation, a non-profit corporation acting as agent for Warren County, Kentucky, in the planning and development of new judicial and correctional facilities. Includes a letter to a Louisville, Kentucky architectural firm inviting a proposal for the project.

Petition - State Street, Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3723), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3723. Petition signed by property owners and residents in the vicinity of the 100 block of State Street, Bowling Green, Kentucky, opposing the proposed rezoning of land at 130-134 State Street from a light industrial to a heavy industrial district for use as an auto body and repair shop.

Royal Knights - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3721), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3721. Minute book of the Royal Knights, a men’s auxiliary club for the State Street Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

George Washington Carver Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3720), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3720. Miscellaneous material relating to the George Washington Carver Club, Bowling Green, Kentucky, founded by Ashula P. Williams and her daughter Dolores (Williams) Moses to serve local children. Includes children’s activity plans; meeting agendas and budgets; and workshop invitations.

Ladies Art Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 762), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 762. Minute books of the Ladies Art Club, an African-American women’s club in Bowling Green, Kentucky, whose objectives included social and charitable activities and annual exhibits of sewing work.

Lost River Cave Oral History Project (Fa 1414), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1414. Recorded interviews with 16 informants regarding their memories of the nightclub operated at Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Lost River Cave.

Minton Family Papers (Mss 761), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 761. Primarily personal correspondence of John Dean Minton, a Trigg County, Kentucky native who served as fifth president of Western Kentucky University, his father John Ernest Minton and brother Layton Wilson Minton.

Parenting And The Academic Library: Experiences, Challenges, And Opportunities, Courtney Stine, Sarah Frankel, Anita Hall

Faculty Scholarship

Academic Library Workers in Conversation is a C&RL News series focused on elevating the everyday conversations of library professionals. The wisdom of the watercooler has long been heralded, but this series hopes to go further by minimizing barriers to traditional publishing with an accessible format. Each of the topics in the series were proposed by the authors and they were given space to explore. This issue’s conversation revolves around parenting and how academic libraries must do more. The insights from the authors apply beyond parenting and are a great reminder that people make our academic libraries work.— Dustin Fife, series …

Edmonson County, Kentucky - Records (Mss 760), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans of selected items (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 760. Primarily nineteenth-century records of Edmonson County, Kentucky, particularly the county court. Includes the county court order book beginning in 1825, the year of the county’s creation, militia lists, deed lists, and fee books. Also includes genealogical and historical data on the Houchin family.

Historical Horse Racing Dominates Gambling Expenditures In Kentucky—Even Outperforms The Lottery. But Why?, Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty Scholarship

With sports gambling coming to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in September 2023, another competitor to various gaming activities in the state raises the question of how it is doing relative to the others, especially its major competition. As can be seen in the table below, for its first four months of operation, sports gambling in the state brings in almost $900 million and averages around $223 million per month. This average is better than typical monthly lottery sales which come in at around $161 million per month and is far above on and off-track (including simulcasting) racing betting which averages …

Horse Racing And Historical Horse Racing’S Impact On The Kentucky Economy: Possible Hhr Saturation?, Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty Scholarship

The Commonwealth of Kentucky currently has 5 thoroughbred racing tracks and 3 harness racing tracks (Kentucky Horse Racing Commission 2023 and Mint Julep Louisville 2021). As Table 1 below shows, the industry employees roughly 7,000 people (direct jobs), and these jobs annually support another 2,000 jobs or so throughout the state. These 2,000 jobs are jobs that are provided by the suppliers to the horse race tracks (indirect jobs) and jobs that are created by the spending of the race track employees and the employees of suppliers on food, housing, transportation, and clothing by vendors and retailers throughout the state …

Bowling Green Area Microcomputer User Group, Inc. - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3719), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3719. Constitution and bylaws of the Bowling Green Area Microcomputer User Group, Inc., Bowling Green, Kentucky, as amended from 1990 to 2012. Includes a brochure for this non-profit computer help organization.

Eastwood Baptist Church - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3718), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3718. Records of Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Kentucky, 1963-1966: reports of Treasurer, Sunday School, and Trustees; Visitation and Building Planning Committee reports; and church rolls.

Smith, Patrick Cavanaugh, 1886-1973 (Mss 758), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 758. Art work in pencil and ink by Louisville, Kentucky commercial artist Patrick C. Smith. Includes Christmas greetings drawn by Smith for friends.

The Impact Of Wwii And Changes Brought By The War On A Small Kentucky Community, Barry A. Kennedy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

War is a regular tool that brings changes and new opportunities for people. For the people of Logan County, life was rather stagnated between the American Civil War and WWII. During the Civil War Logan County played a very important role in the pro-Confederate movement in Kentucky, even housing multiple meetings and a convention with the goal of Kentucky joining the Confederacy. While this did not happen, this movement continued in the years that followed the war, as a massive Confederate hangover reigned over the county. This hangover, which can be associated with the “lost cause” dominated the way of …

Porter Et Al. V. Mccormack Et Al. - Warren Circuit Court (Sc 3717), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3717. Case file for L.R. Porter and Lizzie Porter v J. N. McCormack, John H. Blackburn, Henry James and Tom Potter (Warren County, Kentucky Circuit Court) relating to a restraining order secured by Luther R. Porter of Bowling Green to block the removal of his smallpox-infected daughter and the rest of the family to the local pest house. Includes affidavits of physicians, public health officials and locals familiar with the pest house. The restraining order was subsequently lifted by a Louisville judge. Also includes a 1902 Courier-Journal …

Joint Map Of Hardin County, Kentucky, Steven L. Martin, Emily Morris

Map and Chart--KGS

New field mapping of joints with previously published joint and fault locations. This fracture map can be used as a critical data source for hydrological, karst or geotechnical applications. Joint orientations were measured in 2009, 2022 and 2023, and are combined with joint and fault locations for Hardin County, Kentucky from 1:24,000-scale USGS geologic quadrangle maps that were published from 1962 to 1977. The geologic quadrangle maps for the county were digitized from 2002 to 2007.

The geology of Hardin County consists of Upper Devonian New Albany Shale overlain by Lower to Upper Mississippian-age sequences of limestone, dolomite, sandstone and …

Behen, Lafe Johnson, 1881-1971 (Sc 3715), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3715. Letter, 5 April 1941, to Gayle Carver at the Kentucky Museum, WKU, from L. J. Behen, Clerk of the City of Cloverport, Kentucky. He describes two defunct nineteenth-century railway lines constructed from Cloverport for the transport of cannel coal, and suggests items for the Museum such as pieces of the rails and novelty items cut from the coal. He also makes known the location of other artifacts, namely the bed in which Jefferson Davis was born, and an Aeolian piano.

Lesieur, John Bryan "Jack," B. 1986 (Sc 3713), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3713. Photographs, floor plans, and specifications relating to a proposed restoration of the Reservoir Hill Pump House, Bowling Green, Kentucky, as an office for the Landmark Association.

Lesieur, John Bryan "Jack," B. 1986 (Sc 3712), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3712. Narrative, photographs, and floor plans relating to a proposed restoration of “Potter Castle,” the former home of James Erasmus Potter at 1310 College Street, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Cook, John Loy, 1838-1878 (Sc 3709), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3709. Biographical data on John L. Cook, a physician of Henderson, Kentucky. Includes an 1878 article on yellow fever by Cook, published in the Louisville Medical News just prior to his death from the disease; a memorial address read before the McDowell Medical Society at Hopkinsville, Kentucky after his death; and information on his wife Annie.

Hill, John W., 1836-1928 (Sc 3708), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3708. Letters of John W. Hill, a sergeant in Terry’s Texas Rangers of the Confederate Army, written from Bowling Green, Kentucky and vicinity. Recovering from measles, he recounts the illnesses of some of his comrades, and scouting expeditions in which they experienced a skirmish and stole livestock from Union men. He also describes the battle and casualties at Woodsonville, Kentucky. Includes letters from Hill’s brother Robert (Bob), serving as assistant surgeon with the company, remarking on the fortifications at Bowling Green and the possibility that Union troops would find a “second Manassas” if …

Knapp, Obadiah Mead, 1841-1921 (Sc 3707), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3707. Letters of Connecticut native Obadiah M. Knapp, written during his U.S. Army Civil War service. A steward at the Army’s General Hospital in Bowling Green, Kentucky, he writes of conflict between the hospital surgeon, with whom Knapp wishes to advance his medical studies, and a commanding officer. He also describes the welcome arrival of a chaplain, local prejudices against Northerners and abolitionists, the threat of guerrillas, and the development of hospital facilities in Bowling Green to treat both whites and African Americans. The original letters are held by the University of Texas …

Investigating Drought Response And Paleoclimate Potential Of A New Network Of White Oak Chronologies In Western Kentucky, Usa, Audrey J. Heichelbech, Maegen L. Rochner, Megan Gibson

Undergraduate Research Events

In Kentucky, historic and paleo-climate data are limited, and current understanding of long-term climate change in the state relies on instrumental data spanning only 1895-present. Proxy data are necessary to extend the temporal and spatial span of climate information. One potential proxy source for Kentucky is tree ring data, but currently, only four such datasets are publicly available on the International Tree Ring Data Bank (ITRDB). Archaeological and archival timber sources may help to fill in this gap. In the 1940s, Florence Hawley-Ellis, the first woman dendrochronologist, collected samples of white oak (Quercus alba L.) from four counties in western …

Horse Cave Heritage Festival, 2022 (Fa 1410), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1410. Audio, photographs, and video documenting the Horse Cave Heritage Festival, an annual September event in Horse Cave, Kentucky celebrating local heritage with craft artisans, antique vehicles, children’s activities, food, music, and other attractions. Includes interviews and a narrative stage hosted by the Kentucky Folklife Program.

Horse Cave Heritage Festival, 2021 (Fa 1409), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1409. Audio, photographs, and video documenting the Horse Cave Heritage Festival, an annual September event in Horse Cave, Kentucky celebrating local heritage with craft artisans, antique vehicles, children’s activities, food, music, and other attractions. Includes interviews and a narrative stage hosted by the Kentucky Folklife Program.

Baird, Nancy Disher, B. 1935 (Sc 3705), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3705. “Enid Yandell: Kentucky Sculptor,” a speech delivered at the Filson Historical Society, December 1983, by Nancy Baird [also the author of an article subsequently published as “Enid Yandell: Kentucky Sculptor,” Filson History Quarterly v. 62 (1988)].

Horse Cave Heritage Festival, 2019 (Fa 1408), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1408. Audio, photographs, and video documenting the Horse Cave Heritage Festival, an annual September event in Horse Cave, Kentucky celebrating local heritage with craft artisans, antique vehicles, children’s activities, food, music, and other attractions. Includes interviews and a narrative stage hosted by the Kentucky Folklife Program.