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Gentry, Martha Beck "Mattie" (Spangler), 1862-1940 (Mss 733), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 733. Journal, 1878-1880, of Mattie (Spangler) Gentry, Covington, Kentucky, chronicling her attendance at Lexington’s Hamilton Female College and at boarding school in Orléans, France; also her journal, 1889-1898, recording her life as a music teacher and her courtship and marriage. Includes photographs and a letter to Mattie in France from the president of Hamilton College (Click on "Additional Files" for typescript).

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.

Perry Collection (Mss 676), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 676. Letters, papers, photographs and scrapbooks of the Perry family, principally Gideon Babcock Perry, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, Hopkinsville, Kentucky and his children, Reverend Henry G. Perry, Chicago, Illinois, and Emily B. Perry, Hopkinsville.

Scott Family - Letters To (Sc 3318), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3318. Letters to the Scott family of Ashland, Kentucky, chiefly to Sarah Asenath Scott from Fred Osborne, written from Clinchco, Virginia prior to their marriage. Fred refers to his work and health, their marriage plans, and a pending legal case. Other letters to Sarah are from childhood friends and classmates and friends of her mother. Includes a family letter to Sarah’s mother, and letters to her father from his sister and her children in Knoxville, Tennessee, which refer to farming operations and hopes for an improved economy under the new president, Franklin Roosevelt.

Ligon, Lucy Ann (Parker) Robbins, 1833-1891 - Letters To (Sc 3278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3278. Letters to Lucy Ann Robbins Ligon, the daughter of Fulton County, Kentucky judge Josiah Parker and his wife Lucy A. Parker, written while she lived in Crittenden County, Arkansas with her late husband’s brother, and in Hickman, Kentucky after her remarriage. Lucy’s parents relay news of her siblings and of pre-Civil War Hickman, and at the outbreak of war dramatically describe the division of loyalties, the townspeople’s fear and uncertainty as invasion threatens from the North, the enlistment of local men, two destructive fires, economic conditions, …

Baxter, Ruth Vivian, B. 1908? (Sc 3269), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3269. My Him Book, an illustrated memory album designed by Elisa E. Edwards (published in 1924) and given to Ruth Vivian Baxter, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in 1930. Ruth names and records comments about her life "loves," including childhood friends, school crushes, movie stars, musicians, and her husband; notes on their wedding include a list of gifts.

Bath County, Kentucky - Letters (Sc 2958), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2958. Correspondence of two related Bath County, Kentucky families. A lonesome Sarah L. Boyd writes to her mother, Elizabeth A. “Lizzie” Rogers, from boarding school in Fleming County, Kentucky in 1865, where she discusses having her photograph taken, “hateful” schoolmates, and provisions from her family of clothing, whiskey and bitters. In the 1880s, Ida Lee Bell receives letters from cousins, friends and suitors with family news and local gossip. One of her letters voices disapproval of young men who drink when calling on ladies. The letters mention many family members by first name.

Jackson, Mary Nancy "Nannie" (Taylor), 1893-1974 - Letters To (Sc 2923), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2923. Courtship letters, 1911-1919, to Nannie Taylor, Logan County, Kentucky, from “Shine” in Woodburn, Kentucky, including a letter expressing his intention to leave the state now that another has “won your love from me.” Also includes a 1919 letter from Nannie’s future husband Sam F. Jackson, and a 1945 letter from her uncle in Magnolia, Arkansas.

Dallas, William Robert, Sr., 1910-1997 (Mss 472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 472. Correspondence, almost exclusively between William Robert Dallas, Sr., and his girlfriend, fiancé, and later wife Virginia “Ginny” Eileen Lindsay. Dallas was in the Army Air Corps and stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, while Ginny was living in her hometown of Ventnor, New Jersey, right outside Atlantic City. The letters are courtship related and are filled with plans for their wedding on 15 September 1945.

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.

Porter, Roger Charles, 1887-1963 (Sc 1003), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1003. Courtship letters (29) written by Roger Charles Porter of Warren County, Kentucky to his future wife, Nan Cole, during a summer she spent at Massey Springs, a Warren County resort operated by her parents. The Porters married 16 March 1911.

Jones, Virginia, 1861-1937 - Letters To (Sc 890), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 890. Letters, 1885-1889 (13), written to Virginia “Jennie” Jones, New York City, from suitor lawyer Robert Scott Bevier, Owensboro, Kentucky, discussing their relationship, family, political aspirations, and timely topics. Also, letter, 1901, from future husband Peter Chapman Ritchie and letters, 1992-1993 (2) containing data about the letters.

Burgess, Sarah Edward, 1876-1924 - Letters To (Sc 2667), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2667. Letters to Sarah “Sally” Burgess, addressed to her in Davis (Scott County), Kentucky, Georgetown, Kentucky, and Newton, Illinois. Young men extend invitations, a niece writes of her social activities, and her sister Ella invites her to a “cantata” in Georgetownand describes her clothing needs. Another friend writes of social activities, including attendance at “negro minstrel”

shows, for which she was “ashamed.”

Robinson, Helen E., 1905-1986 And Ruth Robinson, 1897-1991 (Mss 437), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 437. Correspondence of Ruth and Helen E. Robinson, chiefly with cousins and other family members. Most of the letters are incoming Christmas cards filled with family information.

Cook, Elizabeth Charlotte (Mss 403), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 403. Letters written by various male friends, many in military service during World War II, to Elizabeth Charlotte Cook while she was in school at Campbellsville College, Campbellsville, Kentucky and Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Some of the letters are of a courtship nature.

Hassman, Drusilla (Hand), 1875-1971 (Mss 413), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 413. Chiefly courtship letters addressed to Drusilla (Hand) Hassman, Evansville, Indiana from various male admirers. Also correspondence with her husband, Fred Hassman, and letters sent to them as a married couple from friends and family.

Selby, Cornelia Frances, 1916-2005 (Sc 2530), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2530. Letters from Cornelia Frances “Fran” Selby to her sister, Mary Agnes Selby in Utica, Ohio, written during Cornelia’s service in the Women’s Army Corps at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. She writes of her activities, her anticipated furlough and their male acquaintances.

Mcintire, Tandie Lewis, 1865-1947 (Mss 396), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscript Collection 396. Correspondence to family, friends, and acquaintances of Tandie Lewis McIntire, Edmonson County, Kentucky. Collection contains educational material related to McIntire's career as a teacher in Edmonson County. Also includes tracts and pamphlets related to McIntire's involvement in religious organizations, particularly Baptist entities.

Davis, Virginia Wood, 1919-1990 (Mss 375), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 375. Correspondence, photographs, diaries, and personal and professional writing of Virginia Wood Davis, a Smiths Grove, Kentucky native and a reporter and editor, 1943-1985, for newspapers in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and McCreary County, Kentucky. Includes genealogical data as well as correspondence and miscellaneous papers of her family, especially her mother, Virginia Wood (Cox) Davis.

Stephenson, Bertha C., 1885-1977 (Sc 2159), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 2159. Letters (some incomplete) to Bertha C. Stephenson, of Milton, Trimble County, Kentucky, from friends, relatives and sweethearts in Kentucky, California and Florida. They write of gifts and photographs exchanged, mutual friends, travel, romances, and Stephenson's upcoming wedding. Includes a handwritten notice from the Board of Health requiring Stephenson and her pupils to be vaccinated in order to conduct school (click on "Additional Files" below for scan).

Underwood, Johanna Louisa, 1840-1923 (Sc 1722), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1722. Diary kept 10 December 1860 to 8 September 1862 by Johanna "Josie" Louisa Underwood, eldest daughter of a prominent pro-Union family in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She vividly records her thoughts and activities about Bowling Green's occupation by Confederate troops, the harassment of her family, strained friendships, and the destruction of her home.

Gossom, Lelia Emmaline, 1865-1937 (Sc 1700), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1700. Photocopy of a daily diary kept by Lelia Emmaline Gossom, Bowling Green, Kentucky. She discusses shopping excursions downtown, courtship, fashion, and general community events. The handwriting is quite difficult to read.

Bryan, Fannie Morton, 1870-1965 (Mss 83), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 83. Diaries, 1889-1895, correspondence, 1885-1955, photographs, and related items of Fannie Morton Bryan, a Russellville debutante and school teacher. Includes Logan Female College records, 1860-1869, and Russellville Methodist Episcopal Church records, 1863-1889.