History Commons^™

Preston, John Bowker, 1851-1925 (Sc 3657), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3657. Reward of Merit for correctness in spelling, awarded to John B. Preston by his teacher. The reverse is inscribed June 14, 1864.

Holland, James Henry, B. 1931 - Collector (Sc 3503), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3503. Miscellaneous historical documents, mostly legal in nature, collected by James H. Holland of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Includes a justice of the peace appointment signed by U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster, a true copy of the Fayette County Court order qualifying executors under the will of Henry Clay, a pardon issued for illegal gaming (“dealing Chuck a Luck”), and an 1867 account for “water closet paper.”

Bate Family Papers (Mss 673), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 673. Correspondence, business, and legal papers of various members of the Bate family of Sumner County, Tennessee. Some of the children are located in San Augustine, Texas. Most of the correspondence centers around the mother, Ann Franklin (Weatherred) Bate and her children, particularly Eugenia Patience (Bate) Bass Bertinatti and Humphrey Howell Bate, and to a lesser degree their siblings. Includes extensive documentation about the financial and legal condition of Bertinatti after the Civil War. The originals are in the Tennessee State Library & Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.

Tames, George, 1919-1994 (Sc 3450), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3450. Correspondence, certificates, news and magazine clippings, scattered issues of The White House News Photographer, and magazine covers featuring photographs of New York Times White House photographer George Tames.

Guthrie, Charles Snow, 1922-2000 (Mss 668), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 668. Research, correspondence and manuscripts of WKU English faculty member Charles Snow Guthrie regarding the history of Freemasonry in Kentucky. Includes some business records relating to Guthrie’s farm in Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Richards, Frances, 1893-1991 - Letters To (Sc 3406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collections 3406. Letters of recommendation for Simpson County, Kentucky teacher Frances Richards (later a WKU faculty member), and associated letters regarding teaching positions. Includes teachers certificates and certificate examination grades for Frances’s sister Mary Ellen Richards. One correspondent, A. H. Hill, writes with familiarity to his “cousins” Frances and Mary Ellen.

Benevolent And Protective Order Of Elks (Sc 3383), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3383. Correspondence, news clippings, documents, photos, certificates, and other ephemera related to the Kentucky state Elks and the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lodge (#320). Much of this revolves around leadership roles played by William P. Stamps, Jr. of Bowling Green. Also includes constitution and by-laws as well as minutes of the Bowling Green auxiliary, 1986-1987.

Lincoln County, Kentucky - Wolf Scalps (Sc 3344), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3344. Certificates issued to four individuals in Lincoln County, Kentucky for wolf scalps and heads.

Halbert, William Clarence, 1856-1931 (Sc 3310), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3310. Certificate, 22 March 1900, of the appointment on 5 December 1899 of William C. Halbert as 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, Kentucky State Guard. Signed by Governor William S. Taylor, who requested that a militia company be raised in anticipation of violence following the contested gubernatorial election of 1899.

Weir Family Collection (Mss 651), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 651. Letters and papers of the Weir family of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and related members of the Rumsey and Miller families. Well-to-do merchants and farmers, the Weirs were leading supporters of the Union during the Civil War, providing advocacy, financial support, and military service. Includes full-text scans of a letter from the brother of steamboat pioneer James Rumsey defending his legacy as an innovator; James Weir's journal; James Weir's will; the annotated recollections of Edward Weir, Sr.; and two letters from former Weir slaves recolonized in Liberia (Click on "Additional files" below).

Hobson, William Edward, 1844-1909 - Relating To (Sc 3283), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3283. Certificate of Honorable Discharge, 23 January 1899, issued to William E. Hobson, Bowling Green, Kentucky, by Post No. 55, Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Kentucky. The certificate includes data about Hobson’s service and the date he joined the Post.

Helm Family Papers (Mss 633), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscript Collection 633. Correspondence, business papers, deeds, and miscellaneous records of the Helm family of Butler County, Kentucky, and related families.

Vance, Edward Richard, 1833-1902 (Mss 612), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 612. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and family papers of Richard Vance, a Warren County, Kentucky native and U.S. Army officer. After his Civil War service, Vance spent his career at several posts in the South and on the frontier until his retirement in 1892.

Davis, Russell Leon, 1933-2004 (Mss 604), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 604. Correspondence, photographs, literature, and travel keepsakes related to the 1954 five-month stay in Ireland of Leon Davis of Edmonson County, Kentucky, as a delegate of the International Farm Youth Exchange Program.

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.

Lincoln Farm Association (Sc 3084), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3084. Certificates documenting membership for H.H. Seldomridge and Louis Hall Comstock in the Lincoln Farm Association. Certificates include an image of Lincoln’s bust, his birth place cabin, and the White House.

Lightfoot, Robert Karl, 1923-2002 - Collector (Sc 3061), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3061. Correspondence, accounts, receipts, contracts and papers of the Gladish family of Warren County, Kentucky and the Pendley family of Butler County, Kentucky. Includes letters from Gladish family members in Missouri, discharge of J. I. Gladish from Confederate Civil War service, and letters from Pendley family members in Texas.

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

MSS 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.

Louisville Bridge Company - Louisville, Kentucky (Sc 3057), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3057. Certificate no. 1653 dated 21 August 1890 for ten shares of stock in the Louisville Bridge Company, issued to J. S. Bell. The certificate is endorsed by Bell and bears a cancellation stamp of 4 April 1896. Includes an engraving of the bridge spanning the Ohio River and the canal at Louisville, Kentucky.

Yancey, Clara Louise (Robertson) Keech), 1908-2004 (Mss 579), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 579. Correspondence, photographs, interviews and papers of Louisville, Kentucky native Clara Louise (Robertson) Keech Yancey. Includes papers and correspondence of her parents, Eugene and Clara Mae Robertson, brother James Thomas Robertson, husband William J. Keech, son William Robertson Keech, and family data.

Helm, Alban Foster, 1861-1936 (Sc 3012), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3012. Diploma, 18 June 1884, of Alban F. Helm for completion of Teachers Course of Study, Seminary and Normal School, Morgantown, Kentucky; Teacher’s Certificate, 4 August 1888, of Alban F. Helm for common schools of Butler County, Kentucky.

Leichhardt, Maxwell Mitchell, 1923-2015 (Mss 570), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of photos (Click on "Additional Files" below for Manuscripts Collection 570. Correspondence, military records, photographs and scrapbooks of Bowling Green, Kentucky, landscape architect Mitchell Leichhardt. Also includes information about his work hybridizing daylilies, breeding and showing of boxer dogs, and genealogical information about the Leichhardt, Perkins, and Sublett families.

Edwards, Jerome Cyrus, 1854-1931 (Sc 2986), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2986. Certificate, 26 October 1880, issued to Jerome C. Edwards, qualifying him to teach in the common schools of Barren, County, Kentucky; letter, 23 December 1921, to Jerome C. Edwards from his cousin Cyrus Edwards, Horse Cave, Kentucky, asking for data to complete a family history.

Garvin, David Berry, 1943-2014 (Mss 547), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 547. Limited correspondence, calendars, photos, news clippings, and reports that document the life of Warren County, Kentucky, businessman David Berry Garvin. Includes information about Beech Bench Park, Camping World, Sugar Maple Square and an unrealized land development project near Franklin, Kentucky. Includes several memorial books from Garvin’s funeral

as well as a large number of sympathy cards.

Kentucky Mothers Association (Mss 546), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 546. Records of the Kentucky Mothers Association, including board meeting minutes, correspondence, financial information, membership lists, reports, newsletters, publicity material, and information about programming and events. Also includes training material from the American Mothers, Inc. A PowerPoint presentation documenting the results of a strategic planning process for American Mothers Inc. can be accessed by clicking on "Additional Files."

Humble, John S., 1886-1945 (Sc 2932), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding Aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2932. Teacher’s certificates and diplomas of John S. Humble of Simpson County, Kentucky; yearbook excerpts relating to Humble’s teaching in Tennessee and Texas; and local color stories written by Humble.

Carpenter, Sidney Crider, 1914-2014 (Sc 2884), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2884. Digital images of photographs, passports, Kentucky Senate resolution related to 100th birthday, certificate from the Cumberland Trace Chapter of the Military Officers Association, four pieces of currency—Japanese (3) and Russian (1); military identification, from Sidney Crider Carpenter of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Most of the material relates to Carpenter's military career and his role as a coach for several national and international marksmanship teams. Also digital copies of a Korean War photograph album and a 1929 Boy Scout diary kept by Carpenter.

Anderson, Catherine (Simmons), D. 2008 - Collector (Mss 517), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 517. Chiefly letters written to James Preston Cherry while he was sick and in a Louisville hospital (1913), in school at the University of Kentucky (1915-1917), and while in military service during World War I (1917-1918). Also includes family information related to the Cherry, Phelps, Simmons and Anderson families.

Capitol Arts Center - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 538), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scans of some folders (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection MSS 538. Administrative papers, correspondence, financial records, fundraising material, minutes and membership lists for the Capitol Arts Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also includes information about performing and visual arts programming at the Center.

Denhardt, Henry Herman, 1876-1937 (Mss 533), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 533. Correspondence, military orders, and instructional materials relating to Henry Herman Denhardt’s World War I service as a field artillery officer and postwar training as an officer in the Kentucky National Guard. Includes a few personal and political items relating to Denhardt’s campaign for Governor of Kentucky.