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Full-Text Articles in American Literature

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1881-1941 - Relating To (Sc 3425), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives May 2019

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1881-1941 - Relating To (Sc 3425), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3425. Notes by an unidentified individual of an interview of author Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Apparently sent to WKU student Paul Wharton from Roberts’ home city of Springfield, Kentucky, the notes recount her comments on her novels The Time of Man and He Sent Forth a Raven, and on the title of her most recent book, Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair.


Kentucky Council Of Teachers Of English (Sc 3409), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2019

Kentucky Council Of Teachers Of English (Sc 3409), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3409. “Literary Landmarks of Kentucky,” a guidebook prepared by the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English. Organized alphabetically by county and thereafter by place name, the guide provides short entries about the literary personalities or literary works associated with that location.


Guthrie, Alfred Bertram, Jr., 1901-1991 (Sc 3395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2019

Guthrie, Alfred Bertram, Jr., 1901-1991 (Sc 3395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3395. Three autobiographical sketches by author A. B. Guthrie, Jr., written in response to requests. Also includes Guthrie’s article on the historical novel, written for the Montana Magazine of History, and a review of his book of collected stories The Big It, with his comments, published in the Saturday Review.


Guthrie, Alfred Bertram, Jr., 1901-1991 (Sc 3395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2019

Guthrie, Alfred Bertram, Jr., 1901-1991 (Sc 3395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3395. Three autobiographical sketches by author A. B. Guthrie, Jr., written in response to requests. Also includes Guthrie’s article on the historical novel, written for the Montana Magazine of History, and a review of his book of collected stories The Big It, with his comments, published in the Saturday Review.


Spottswood, Henry Mercer, Iii,B. 1940 (Mss 665), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2019

Spottswood, Henry Mercer, Iii,B. 1940 (Mss 665), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 665. Correspondence with poet and author Jim Wayne Miller, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chiefly letters to Spottswood which contain numerous attachments about Miller’s writing and speaking engagements. Also includes a small amount of correspondence from Miller’s wife, Mary Ellen Miller, and an unpublished book of poems by WKU students.


Summers, Hollis Spurgeon, 1916-1987 (Sc 3376), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2019

Summers, Hollis Spurgeon, 1916-1987 (Sc 3376), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3376. Vita documenting education, teaching experience, family and publications of Hollis Summers, current to 1957; biographical narrative, written shortly after Summers joined the faculty of the English department at the University of Kentucky in 1949.


Crabb, Alfred Leland, 1884-1979 (Sc 3366), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Crabb, Alfred Leland, 1884-1979 (Sc 3366), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3366. Correspondence, consisting mainly of publication announcements for books by Alfred Leland Crabb, a faculty member at WKU and George Peabody College and an author of essays and historical fiction. Includes miscellaneous writing of Crabb’s as well as reviews, clippings and obituaries.


Giles, Janice Meredith (Holt), 1905-1979 (Sc 3363), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Giles, Janice Meredith (Holt), 1905-1979 (Sc 3363), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3363. Letters, 1951 and 1955, from author Janice Holt Giles, Knifley, Kentucky, containing biographical information about her and husband Henry Giles. Includes a 1956 letter declining WKU faculty member Frances Richards’ invitation to speak at WKU’s Leiper English Club due to her dental problems, and a few clippings about the Giles and their work.


Davis, Anne Pence, 1901-1983 (Sc 3357), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Davis, Anne Pence, 1901-1983 (Sc 3357), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3357. Letters and cards to WKU faculty member Frances Richards from author and alumna Anne Pence Davis, Wichita Falls, Texas. She writes of her enjoyment of a 1962 visit to WKU, and in 1976 recounts recent activities and asks Richards’ help in preparing a program on Kentucky poets for the Kentucky Club of Dallas. After the program, she writes to thank Richards, encloses the club invitation, and relates news about her inclusion in volume 3 of the anthology Kentucky in American Letters by Dorothy E. Townsend, and about her gardening.


Grise, George Calvin, 1918-1961 (Sc 3359), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Grise, George Calvin, 1918-1961 (Sc 3359), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3359. Letters and cards to WKU faculty member Frances Richards and her parents, and writings of George C. Grise. The WKU graduate, English professor at Austin Peay University, and author thanks the Richards for gifts, including a loom, and describes his life in the country near Lewisburg, Kentucky. He sends Frances Richards notices regarding the publication of his 1956 book Life With Hezzie and a 1960 writer’s workshop at Austin Peay. Includes an essay about editing WKU’s College Heights Herald newspaper, and a published article about school discipline stories. Also includes clippings about …


Clarke, Mary (Washington), 1913-1999 (Sc 3358), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Clarke, Mary (Washington), 1913-1999 (Sc 3358), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3358. Letters and cards to retired WKU faculty member Frances Richards from Mary (Washington) Clarke, also a WKU faculty member. She writes of publishing her book Jesse Stuart’s Kentucky, of her work with husband Kenneth Clarke as editor of the Kentucky Folklore Record, and of other scholarly projects. Christmas letters provide details of the Clarkes’ farm near Bowling Green, Kentucky, including a sketch map of its location.


Reed, Bettie Louise (Curlin), 1900-1999 (Sc 3354), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Reed, Bettie Louise (Curlin), 1900-1999 (Sc 3354), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3354. Letter, postmarked 11 January 1950, of Bettie Louise Reed, Fulton, Kentucky to former classmate Anita Walker, Drakesboro, Kentucky. Reed, who published short stories in popular magazines under the pen name Curlin Reed, reports on her recent struggles with writing but reviews her career, inspirations, and use of an agent. She also gives news of her children.


Campbell, Marie Alice, 1903-1980 (Sc 3356), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Campbell, Marie Alice, 1903-1980 (Sc 3356), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3356. Letter, 20 May 1956, to WKU faculty member Frances Richards from Marie Campbell, Bloomington, Indiana. She refers to a recent visit with Richards and friends at Bowling Green, Kentucky and invites her to visit Bloomington. Includes clippings about Campbell’s 1958 book, Tales from the Cloud Walking Country.


Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 3352), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 3352), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3352. Handwritten narrative of Lida (Calvert) Obenchain (pen name Eliza Calvert Hall) about the writing and publication of her short story “Sally Ann’s Experience” and her books Aunt Jane of Kentucky, The Land of Long Ago, To Love and to Cherish, Clover and Blue Grass, and A Book of Hand-Woven Coverlets. Also includes a typescript of her poem “Macmonnies’ Bacchante” and a hand-bound volume of other typescripted poems written by her.


Ogilvie, Frances, 1902-1942 - Relating To (Sc 3351), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Ogilvie, Frances, 1902-1942 - Relating To (Sc 3351), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3351. Information about the life and writings of Frances Ogilvie, a Princeton, Kentucky native and author of the novel Green Bondage. The information is contained in a clipping, a letter from a Princeton librarian, and a letter from Ogilvie’s husband, Earle M. Nichols, who recalls the Kentucky “tobacco wars” that provided the inspiration for the novel. Includes a poem of Ogilvie’s titled “Spring Day.”


Ayars, Rebecca Caudill, 1899-1985 (Sc 3348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Mar 2019

Ayars, Rebecca Caudill, 1899-1985 (Sc 3348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3348. Letter, 5 March 1958, of author Rebecca Caudill Ayars, Urbana, Illinois, to WKU faculty member Frances Richards. Owing to a previous engagement, she declines an invitation to WKU’s Leiper English Club dinner.


Clarke, Mary Louise (Washington), 1913-1999 (Mss 634), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2018

Clarke, Mary Louise (Washington), 1913-1999 (Mss 634), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 634. Research, correspondence and photographs relating to the scholarly study of Kentucky author Jesse Stuart by WKU English and folklore professor Mary (Washington) Clarke. Includes correspondence with Stuart, editors and other scholars in connection with her book Jesse Stuart’s Kentucky and other publications. Also includes research and correspondence relating to Clarke’s book Kentucky Quilts and Their Makers.


Clarke, Kenneth Wendell, B. 1917 (Mss 635), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2018

Clarke, Kenneth Wendell, B. 1917 (Mss 635), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 635. Manuscripts, notes, publisher’s correspondence, and photographs relating to the scholarly work of WKU English and folklore professor Kenneth W. Clarke, principally "Bud Long: The Birth of a Kentucky Folk Legend" and "The Harvest and the Reapers."


Exorcising Power, John Jarzemsky Oct 2017

Exorcising Power, John Jarzemsky

Theses and Dissertations

This paper theorizes that authors, in an act I have termed “literary exorcism,” project and expunge parts of their identities that are in conflict with the overriding political agenda of their texts, into the figure of the villain. Drawing upon theories of power put forth by Judith Butler, I argue that this sort of projection arises in reaction to dominant ideas and institutions, but that authors find ways to manipulate this process over time. By examining a broad cross-section of English-language literature over several centuries, this phenomenon and its evolution can be observed, as well as the means by which …


Rice, Laban Lacy, 1870-1973 (Mss 605), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Apr 2017

Rice, Laban Lacy, 1870-1973 (Mss 605), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 605. Correspondence, writings, photographs, clippings, and papers of Laban Lacy Rice, a Webster, County, Kentucky native, educator, author, lecturer, poet, and president of Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee. Includes his scientific writing, principally on astronomy, relativity and cosmology, as well as fiction, poetry, and autobiographical writing. Also includes some correspondence and papers relating to his brother, poet and dramatist Cale Young Rice, and sister-in-law, author Alice Hegan Rice.


Joiner-Rogers Collection (Mss 590), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Nov 2016

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

MSS 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.


Boone, Joy (Field) Bale, 1912-2002 (Mss 588), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Sep 2016

Boone, Joy (Field) Bale, 1912-2002 (Mss 588), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 588. Papers of poet, editor and activist Joy Bale Boone, Elkton, Kentucky, relating primarily to her service as chair of the Committee for the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies at Western Kentucky University. Includes correspondence, Committee records, collected data on Robert Penn Warren, and photographs. Also includes audio and video interviews of Boone and colleagues.


Arnow, Harriette Louisa (Simpson), 1908-1986 (Sc 2936), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Aug 2015

Arnow, Harriette Louisa (Simpson), 1908-1986 (Sc 2936), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding Aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2936. Letter, 6 March 1964, of Harriette Simpson Arnow, Ann Arbor, Michigan, to “Mrs. Holland,” in response to a compliment for her novel Hunter’s Horn. Arnow briefly recalls her publications since The Dollmaker and notes “unenthusiastic” reviews in Kentucky of her most recent work. She also mentions an article about her in the previous fall’s Louisville Courier-Journal Magazine.


Summers, Hollis Spurgeon, 1916-1987 (Sc 2935), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Aug 2015

Summers, Hollis Spurgeon, 1916-1987 (Sc 2935), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding Aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2935. Letter, 8 April 1953, of Hollis Summers, Lexington, Kentucky, to Frances Richards, a member of the WKU English faculty, expressing good wishes to her and her students after his recent visit to Bowling Green, Kentucky.


Murton, Jessie Wilmore (Jones), 1886-1973 (Mss 439), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jul 2015

Murton, Jessie Wilmore (Jones), 1886-1973 (Mss 439), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 439. Correspondence, writings, scrapbooks, and financial records of Kentucky native and poet Jessie Wilmore Murton. Although born and raised in Kentucky, she spent most of her adult life in Battle Creek, Michigan. Her poetry and prose was published in several solo books and anthologies and appeared extensively in religious publications of the mid-twentieth century. The contents of Box 9 Folder 7 related to the League for Sanity in Poetry has been scanned and can be accessed by clicking on "Additional Files" below.


Hochstrasser, Maud Adelaide, 1900-1994 (Mss 555), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2015

Hochstrasser, Maud Adelaide, 1900-1994 (Mss 555), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 555. Correspondence, clippings, photographs and other papers of WKU English instructor “Addie” Hochstrasser, relating almost exclusively to her friendship with and interest in author Jesse Stuart. Includes letters, cards and a holographic poem by Stuart, as well as photographs of Stuart and his home in Greenup, Kentucky.


Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 2911), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2015

Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 2911), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2911. Correspondence of author Jesse Stuart and David Helm, manager of Books & Records, Inc., Bowling Green, Kentucky. They discuss a book signing event and supplies of books for sale at the store.


Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 2910), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2015

Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 2910), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2910. Correspondence of author Jesse Stuart and Western Kentucky University administrators and librarians, mostly regarding speaking engagements on campus and the acquisition of his books for the University’s collection. Includes some Stuart family Christmas cards, data regarding foreign language reprints of his books, and Stuart’s letter to WKU President Paul Garrett describing his farm work in the wake of the World War II manpower shortage.


Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian Novels As An Early Paradigm Of Racial Toleration, Ronnie W. Faulkner Jan 2015

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian Novels As An Early Paradigm Of Racial Toleration, Ronnie W. Faulkner

Ronnie W. Faulkner

The Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB) provide an early paradigm of racial toleration by displacing the heterogeneous race conflicts of the U. S. to an interplanetary location. There, the protagonist John Carter, representing Burroughs himself, introduces a level of racial acceptance and integration almost unheard of on the Earth of that era (the early twentieth century).


Read, Opie Percival, 1852-1939 (Sc 2844), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2014

Read, Opie Percival, 1852-1939 (Sc 2844), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2844. Letter, 16 May 1884, of journalist and humorist Opie P. Read, written from Little Rock, Arkansas, to an unnamed addressee. Read accepts an offer to exchange magazines (probably his Arkansas Traveler) for a publication called the Voice, congratulates the addressee on a story published in Chicago’s The Current, and acknowledges knowing his name although they have never met.