Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Building Public Health In A Rural State: Strategies For Preventing Disease In Kentucky, 1883-1914, Abigail Stephens

Theses and Dissertations--History

During the period from 1883-1914, the Kentucky State Board of Health developed strategies for preventing disease in the state by enforcing hard power measures of vaccination, quarantine, and isolation of disease suspects, and through the soft power measures of written and spoken communication. Throughout this period their efforts to prevent and contain disease were limited by inadequate funding as well as opposition from the public, local authorities, and the state legislature, demonstrating that while hard power measures can be effective in combating disease, they cannot be fully successful without support from the people they aim to protect.

A Call To Arms: A Comparative Study Of Mississippi And Kentucky Citizens During The Secession Crisis, 1859-1861, Amy Myers

Master's Theses

Many studies of the American Civil War have considered why Mississippi leaders voted to secede, while Kentucky politicians remained in the Union. Scholars have previously focused on political elites to understand the underlying motivations behind each state’s decision. These same scholars have often confined their studies to a synthesis of why secession occurred nationally or at the state level. The question remains as to what the common citizen saw and believed when faced with secession and if their views matched their delegates.

This study utilizes the governors’ papers of John J. Pettus and Beriah Magoffin, the Jefferson Davis papers, and …

A Forgotten Shade Of Blue: Support For The Union And The Constitutional Republic In Southeastern Kentucky During The Civil War Era., Howard Muncy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Southeastern Kentucky’s political and military support for the Union during the Civil War era. In the decades prior to the 1860 election, Kentucky developed deep social and economic ties with all sections of the country. After the secession winter that followed Abraham Lincoln’s presidential election, the statewide population divided and pockets of significant Confederate sympathies emerged. Kentucky’s southeastern counties aligned with the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War because of a strong national identity and the absence of a large slave population. As the war unfolded, Southeastern Kentuckians played an important role in the disruption …

Patronage Politics In Eastern Kentucky: The Turner Family Of Breathitt County, Frank Allen Fletcher Ii

Theses and Dissertations--History

From the 1930s to the 1970s, the Turner family of Breathitt County held a political and economic monopoly over their rural county in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. They were emblematic of the patronage, clientele, and kinship politics that characterized twentieth century eastern Kentucky. The family rewarded their supporters with jobs and other economic benefits in exchange for continued political support. Ervine Turner served as a state senator during the Great Depression and was later appointed circuit judge over a three-county district, his wife Marie served 38 years as superintendent of Breathitt County schools, and their children later emerged as …

Forging A Bluegrass Commonwealth: The Kentucky Statehood Movement And The Politics Of The Trans-Appalachian West, 1783–1792, Christopher L. Leadingham

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner first presented his frontier thesis to a group of historians at the World’s Columbian Exposition, a fair honoring the four-hundredth anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ expedition, in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, scholars have long debated the role that the frontier played in shaping the development of the United States. The Kentucky statehood movement emerged at a critical juncture in the early republic’s history, and, when viewed in a transatlantic context, becomes much more important to the development of the United States and larger Atlantic world than what has generally been recognized. Kentuckians found themselves at …

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

Warren County, Kentucky Court Records - Civil War Indictments (Mss 412), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 412. Criminal and Equity Court, and Circuit Court records of Warren County, Kentucky relating to the prosecution of Confederate soldiers and sympathizers for conspiracy, treason, theft and property destruction in Bowling Green, Kentucky during the Civil War.

Griffith, Josh T., 1861-1939 (Sc 2557), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2557. Form letter, 24 March 1903, from Josh T. Griffith, Clerk of the Daviess County (Kentucky) Court, setting out his credentials and seeking support for the Democratic nomination for State Treasurer.

Ferguson, Nora (Young), 1882-1969 (Mss 379), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 379. Personal and family correspondence, papers, and genealogical research materials of Nora (Young) Ferguson, a native of Richardsville, Warren County, Kentucky. Includes original land, estate and guardianship records, and other early county records which Mrs. Ferguson was permitted to remove from the Warren County Courthouse for microfilming prior to its renovation in 1957. Click on "Additional Files" below to see receipts from the Warren County "Poor House."

Rodes, Robert, 1824-1913 (Sc 504), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 504. Autograph album of Constitutional Convention of Kentucky, 1890-1891, of delegate Robert Rodes of Warren County. Also includes a typescript of the album’s contents.

Neal, Mary Julia, 1905-1995 - Collector (Sc 502), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 502. Autographs and biographical sketches of the members of the Constitutional Revision Assembly of Kentucky, 1964-1965 solicited by Mary Julia Neal.

Shelby, Isaac, 1750-1826 (Sc 381), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 381. Photostats of a Kentucky Legislature Resolution, 1812, signed by Governor Isaac Shelby; letters to President James Madison, 1814 (2) supporting the war with Great Britain; letters to General Andrew Jackson and others regarding Kentucky Volunteers for the war, 1814, 1815 (4); and papers concerning a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians, 1818 (2), accompanied by a copy of the joint report of Shelby and Jackson regarding the treaty, 1818.

Slaughter Family Papers (Sc 402), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 402. Will, 1798; slavery bill of sale, 1810; militia commission, 1820; letters concerning Slaughter estate settlement, 1835-1843 (9); Mexican War claim, 1849; letters of recommendations for judicial appointments, 1853-1879 (7); Civil War notes and letters, 1861-1864 (4); and miscellaneous items. Selected items have been typescripted.

Camden, Johnson Newlon, Jr., 1855-1942 (Sc 2520), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2520. Letter from Johnson N. Camden, U.S. Senator (Democrat) from Kentucky, in Washington, D.C. to Ciceroe Coleman, Lexington, Kentucky, asking for support in the upcoming election. Camden filled a vacancy caused by the death of William O. Bradley

James, Addison Davis, 1849-1910 (Mss 400), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Mansucripts Collection 400. Photocopy of a letter press book kept by Addison Davis James during the time he was U.S. Marshal for Western Kentucky. James was a physician and a prominent Republican from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

Whig Party (Sc 320), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 320. Typescript of an open letter from sixteen citizens to the voters of Warren County concerning the issues in the 1844 presidential election and the Whig party platform.

“Tentative Relations: Secession And War In The Central Ohio River Valley, 1859-1862”, Timothy Max Jenness

Doctoral Dissertations

In the fall of 1859, John Brown launched a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and in so doing arguably fired the first salvo of the Civil War. That his raid occurred in the border area between North and South should come as no surprise because it was in that area where Americans were the most divided. Citizens across the border state region–that area that comprised the lower North and upper South–soon found themselves caught between two hostile sections. Based on an analysis of letters, journals, newspapers, and public documents, this dissertation is a study of one …

De Roode, Eugenia (Sc 1909), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1909. Letter, 6 June 1862, from Eugenia De Roode, Nashville, Tennessee to James Overstreet, Hanly (Jessamine County) Kentucky. Formerly a music teacher at "Misses Jacksons' Seminary" in Lexington, Kentucky, De Roode writes of her negative views of Confederates, particularly those from Kentucky and Tennessee. She also makes cogent remarks about the work of Andrew Johnson, Tennessee's military governor.

Hunter, Whiteside Godfrey, 1841-1917 (Sc 1765), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1765. Letters from Whiteside Godfrey Hunter, former state legislator and U.S. Congressman, to E. Scott Brown, attorney, Scottsville, Allen County, Kentucky, requesting his support for Republican candidates. He also indicates he has requested Sidney P. Hardcastle be appointed postmaster at Settle, Allen County, Kentucky.

The Greens Of Falls Of Rough: A Kentucky Family Biography 1795-1965, Hugh Ridenour

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of writing about the Greens of Falls of Rough is to record the extraordinary lives of three generations of a prominent, but somewhat neglected, Kentucky family that contributed greatly to the history of the Commonwealth. This family’s activities parallel that history in social, economic and political aspects from the state’s inception to the 1960s.

In addition, this thesis should alleviate a pervasive misunderstanding regarding the identity of Willis Green, founder of the Greens of Falls of Rough. Mr. Green, a prominent Kentuckian in his own right, has been confused with another Kentuckian, a Willis Green of Danville. The …

Ua3/4/8/3 Dero Downing Interview, Dero Downing

WKU Archives Records

Dero Downing interviewed regarding Wilson Wyatt.

Kentucky's New Dealers: An Interview With James A. Farley, William Cooper Jr.

The Kentucky Review

No abstract provided.

The Elite Speak: Political Oral History At The University Of Kentucky Library, Terry L. Birdwhistell

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua68/8/2 John Rodes Oral History, Wku Oral History Committee

WKU Archives Records

Oral history interview of John Rodes by unidentified interviewer. Rodes discusses Bowling Green, Kentucky history from its founding, the Civil War and his political career.

Luke Pryor Blackburn: The Good Samaritan, Nancy Baird

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Luke Pryor Blackburn, Kentucky’s only physician governor, is one of the forgotten public health figures of the 19^th century. As health officer of Natchez in the 1850s he instituted the first effective quarantine used in the Mississippi Valley and became a strong advocate of its use as a preventive measure in the control of yellow fever. During his lifetime Blackburn also became well known for his unselfish aid to communities stricken with the disease.

In March 1878 announced his candidacy for governor of his native state. Local politicians scoffed at his chances for election, but his actions during the …

The Constitutional Union Party In Kentucky, John Lawrence Kelly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

During the period immediately preceding the Civil War, there arose a new political party, the Constitutional Union party. While nearly every other phase of the era around the Civil War has been covered exhaustively, comparatively, very little has been written about the Union movement and its attempt to prevent the war. What has been written about the Union party deals primarily with the movement at the national level. It is the goal of this author to present a history of the Union movement in Kentucky and the part played in the national party by Kentuckians.

Ua37/37 The Year 1861 In Brief Review Of American Civil War With Emphasis On Kentucky, Arndt Stickles

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Article regarding Civil War events occurring in Kentucky during 1861.

Ua37/23 Whas Broadcast No. 14, Whas, Western Kentucky University, Earl Moore

WKU Archives Records

Script for weekly WKU broadcast on WHAS radio. This show included Earl Moore, B.S. Rutherford, J. Lewie Harmon, Garentte Stout, Bowling Green Women's Music Club, John Rodes,

Matthew Lyon In Kentucky, Lyda Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“Men at some time are masters of their fate:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Thus Shakespeare has the wily Cassius speak, and thus Matthew Lyon must have believed; else he had not contended so fiercely, so incessantly, and so interminably against such adverse circumstances as the average individual would have submitted to sooner or later. Many may have thought so; the facts often indicated so; yet never in a true sense was Matthew Lyon an underling. His fierce spirit was supreme over material things. Even while an indentured servant …

Ua3/1/7/2 Edward Mcdermott Campaign Letter, Edward Mcdermott

WKU Archives Records

Form letter created by the Edward McDermott gubernatorial campaign. This document is found in the Henry Cherry Political Papers.