Arts and Humanities Commons^™

James Parks Wilson Family Collection (Mss 755), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscript Collection 755. Primarily genealogical research on the descendants of James Parks Wilson of Hart County, Kentucky. Includes biographical data and papers regarding the military service of his grandson, James Admiral Wilson.

Elmwood Cemetery - Owensboro, Kentucky (Sc 3683), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below for Manuscripts Small Collection 3683. Listing of graves in Elmwood Cemetery, Owensboro, Kentucky. Data consists of name, dates, and in some cases a brief description of the grave monument and/or its maker.

Gerard Undertakers, Bowling Green, Kentucky - Burial Records Book, 1890-1896 (Mss 577), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Scan of Box 9, Folder 1, Manuscripts Collection 577. This is a record book of F. C. Gerard and Brother, Undertakers, Bowling Green, Kentucky, recording burials from December 1890 through February 1896. Entries show the deceased’s name, age, race, residence, date of death and burial, place of burial, and cause of death.

Gerard Undertakers, Bowling Green, Kentucky - Burial Records Book, 1887-1917 (Mss 577), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Scan of Box 9, Folder 2, Manuscripts Collection 577. This is a record book of F. C. Gerard, Undertaker (later Gerard & Gerard), Bowling Green, Kentucky, recording burials from January 1887-September 1917. Entries show the deceased’s name, age, race, residence, date of death and burial, place of burial, and cause of death.

Coleman, Jo Ann - Compiler (Sc 3532), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3532. Index of gravestones at Smiths Grove Cemetery, Smiths Grove, Kentucky, compiled by Jo Ann Coleman as of April 2009. Where available, data includes name of deceased, birth and death dates, inscription, and other information on the gravestone.

Tichenor Collection (Mss 678), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 678. Correspondence, papers and photographs of the Tichenor family of McLean County, Kentucky, and related families, especially Cherry, Short, and Hutchison. Much relates to the home front during World War II during the Navy service of high school teacher Thomas Cherry Tichenor.

Cemeteries - Horse Cave, Kentucky (Sc 3467), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3467. Deed, 15 July 1911, from the Trustees of the Town of Horse Cave, Kentucky to Mrs. Minnie Hendrick of Lot No. 168 in the “public white cemetery” of Horse Cave. Includes an endorsement giving two grave sites on the lot to the grantee’s sister and brother-in-law.

Pioneer Cemetery - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3407), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3407. Alphabetical list, with birth and death years where available, of persons buried in Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Pioneer Cemetery. Prepared by Nellie Hoofnel as part of an initiative by the Chamber of Commerce to protect the graves, the list includes “all the names that are legible,” and a preface asks relatives who recognize names to contact the Chamber.

Rice, Bertha Eleanor (Adams), 1875-1948 (Mss 661), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 661. Genealogical research and correspondence files of Bertha (Adams) Rice, Russellville, Kentucky, mainly regarding the ancestry of Logan County, Kentucky families. Includes a large amount of data copied from deed, marriage, will, and court records of Logan and other Kentucky counties, and from published works.

Buckberry, Ray B., Jr., B. 1934 (Sc 3227), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3227. “Warren County War Dead: World War I,” by Ray Buckberry, Jr., a compilation containing data on Warren County, Kentucky soldiers who died in World War I. Includes data on overseas cemeteries and visits by Gold Star mothers and wives of the dead.

Morgan, Nyla Margaret (Hammers) Moore, 1918-2017 (Mss 639), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans of selected items (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 639. Information collected by Morgan about Butler County, Kentucky history and historical organizations. Genealogical records related to Morgan, Moore, and Johnson families (particularly the children of Christopher Columbus “Lum” Johnson, 1847-1921), as well as allied families. Includes two boxes of material related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia, particularly its women’s Relief Society.

Farley, Seth Thomas, Jr., 1917-1999 (Mss 617), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 617. Correspondence, documents, news clippings and ephemera from Seth Thomas Farley, Jr., a life-long educator. This collection includes a good deal of information about Farley’s teaching career prior to his work as a professor at WKU, his involvement in organizations that fought alcoholism and gambling (particularly the lottery in Kentucky), his church work, and his service on a committee to choose a federal magistrate for the western district of Kentucky. The collection includes an entire box of assessment related material related to Fort Knox Dependent Schools in the mid-1960s.

Joiner-Rogers Collection (Mss 590), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scans of selected items (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 590. Personal and professional papers of Christian County, Kentucky teacher and administrator Erleen (Joiner) Rogers, and novels, poems, skits, epigrams and witticisms written by her father, Robert Tinnon Joiner. Includes a collection of Joiner’s writings titled Nonsense and Wisdom From Flat Lick, Rogers’ family history titled Seven Generations in and From Flat Lick, other family data, and photographs.

Gerard Family Papers (Mss 577), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 577. Funeral records, correspondence, account books and other financial papers related to various undertaking establishments run by the Gerard and Bradley families, including Gerard and Gerard Funeral Home, Eugene Gerard Company Mortuary and the Gerard and Bradley Funeral Chapel in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also includes financial records related to an earlier furniture making business operated by John C. Gerard, a French immigrant.

Ground's Graveyard Burial Association - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 3022), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3022. Constitution of the Ground’s Graveyard Burial Association, Warren County, Kentucky, and related documents regarding condemnation proceedings to obtain a right-of-way to the Ground Cemetery. Includes two obituaries and a list of graves.

Helm, Margie May, 1894-1991 (Mss 552), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 552. Personal and professional correspondence and papers of Margie Helm, Auburn, Kentucky native and longtime Western Kentucky University head librarian. Includes ancestral and family correspondence and papers, photographs, and genealogical research on the Helm, Carson, Porter, Blakey and related families.

Outdoor Art League Of Louisville - Louisville, Kentucky (Sc 2914), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2914. Form letter soliciting funds for the Zachary Taylor Memorial Lane Committee of the Outdoor Art League of Louisville. The letter, from committee chairman Mrs. Charles D. Greer, laments the neglect of the tomb of President Zachary Taylor near Louisville, Kentucky, and outlines the Committee’s intent to construct an entrance to a “Memorial Lane” leading from Brownsboro Road to the monument at the cemetery in which Taylor is interred.

Includes a rendering of the proposed entrance.

Rasdall Family Papers (Mss 542), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 542. Correspondence and papers of the Rasdall and Smith families of Smiths Grove, Kentucky, principally the two generations following Urias Rasdall (1812-1892), credited with platting the town of Smiths Grove. Includes research collected into a family history by Barbara Schan.

Kirby, Carlisle Wilkins, 1890-1968 (Mss 530), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 530. Note cards, memoranda, and grave registration forms compiled by Carlisle W. Kirby and others for the Veterans’ Graves Registration Project in Warren County, Kentucky, a project created by the Works Progress Administration to identify the graves of war veterans from the American Revolution through World War I. Included are names, service data, and the name of the cemetery, where known. Also includes clippings from the (Bowling Green, Kentucky) Park City Daily News about local soldiers serving in the Korean War.

Chelf, Frank Leslie, 1907-1982 (Mss 492), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 492. Correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, audiotapes, film and miscellaneous material relating primarily to the political career of Democrat Frank L. Chelf, who represented Kentucky’s Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1944-1966. Includes Chelf’s voting record and bills, research and speeches related to his legislative interests.

Jones, Drucilla Montgomery (Stovall), 1907-2007 (Mss 493), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 493. Correspondence, chiefly from the Fort and Flowers families of Logan County, Kentucky, which includes prisoners of war correspondence from the Civil War. Also includes cemetery, church, and funeral home records, as well as news clippings about historic sites, people and events in Logan County.

Lanier Collection (Mss 488), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text of post-World War II pen pal letters and selected images from ciphering book of Collins Lanier from Manuscripts Collection 488. Collection consists chiefly of letters written to Deanna June (Linville) Lanier by friends and her family, particularly her mother Lena (Harris) Linville. Includes some interesting pen pal letters with a German child, 1948 to 1950. Includes genealogical material about the Lanier and Linville families. Also includes early Warren County, Kentucky material from brothers, Byrd Lanier and Collins Lanier, including a little correspondence, bills and notes, receipts, and property records.

Oak Forest Union Church Cemetery - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 1205), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1205. Trust agreement between Naomi Davenport Willis, Bowling Green, Kentucky, “others interested in the preservation and upkeep of the Oak Forest Union Church Cemetery,” in Warren County, Kentucky, and the church trustees.

Fairview Cemetery - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 2771), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2771. Cash book of Fairview Cemetery, Bowling Green, Kentucky, recording payments for labor and other operating expenses.

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

Manuscript Collection 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.

Watt-Flora Cemetery - Warren County, Kentucky (Sc 2737), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2737. Data sheets for grave marker survey of Watt-Flora Cemetery, located in the Sand Hill area of Warren County, Kentucky. The sheets include text and other particulars about the markers, and photographs. Includes information on likely burials that were not marked or poorly marked. The survey resulted in a book about the cemetery, a copy of which is held in the WKU Special Collections Library.

Armitage Family Papers (Sc 668), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 668. Letters of Valerius Armitage, 1853, Delphi, Indiana, written to his sister Mary during and after his emigration to the west; poems, 1857, copied by Valerius with comments; cemetery lot deed of Julia A. Hess, Bowling Green, Kentucky, 1866; recipe book of Camilla Herdman, Bowling Green, 1877; letters to Mary Armitage, Bowling Green, 1910-1935, and Sunday School administration certificate, 1933; family obituaries; and funeral invitations, 1859-1888.

King, Stephen Lynn, B. 1954 - Collector (Sc 769), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 769. Letters, 1981-1984 (10 items); research data, mostly photocopies, 1898-1982 (14); photocopies of Civil War records of John L. Beard, Edward A. Cook, Benjamin Herald, and R. S. Weir, 1861-1864 (4); tombstone rubbings (4); and photographs, 1979-1984 (92), which Stephen L. King amassed as documentation for the project of upgrading the Confederate section of Fairview Cemetery, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Ragland, Florence, 1861-1949 (Sc 827), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 827. Fairview Cemetery, Bowling Green, Kentucky, lot certificate of A. J. Ragland estate, 6 April 1906. Also included is a typescript copy of Florence Ragland’s obituary, 1949.

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

Manuscript Collection 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."