History Commons^™

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

MSS 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.

Kirby Family Papers (Mss 749), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 749. Papers of the Kirby family of Warren County, Kentucky, especially Sarah Jane “Jennie” Kirby, her son Percy Warren Kirby, and his grandson Joseph W. Harris. Includes some genealogical data collected by Jennie.

Tichenor Collection (Mss 678), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS 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.

Witherspoon, Alexander Maclaren, 1894-1964 (Sc 3235), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3235. Letter, 14 August 1931, written by Alex Witherspoon to Carl D. Herdman, Bowling Green, Kentucky, regarding Witherspoon’s gift to Herdman of The Martyrdom of Man by Winwood Reade, found in an Edinburgh, Scotland bookshop, and recommendations for other reading. Includes photocopies of the book’s title page, Witherspoon’s inscription, and comments pasted into the book, presumably by Herdman. Also includes data about Witherspoon, a graduate of Bowling Green’s Ogden College and Yale University.

Allen, Donna Jean, B. 1946 (Sc 3193), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3193. Correspondence, diploma, records, photographs and other ephemera related to Allen’s nursing education at the Louisville General Hospital School of Nursing in the 1960s.

Fox, Arthur Smith, 1920-1997 (Mss 624), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 624. Letters, clippings, photographs, programs and other records relating to the life of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky native and Hopkins County, Kentucky teacher Arthur S. Fox, especially his service in World War II. Includes genealogical data.

Green River Female College - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3147), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3147. Graduation diploma from Green River Female College, Bowling Green, Kentucky, issued to Julia Woodburn Adams on 14 June 1866. Includes the signatures of Thomas H. Storts, president of the college, teachers Mrs. A. R. Storts and Caron Donalson, and trustees John Burnam and W. D. Helm.

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.

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.

Helm, Harold Holmes, 1900-1985 (Mss 554), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 554. Personal and professional correspondence of Auburn, Kentucky native and New York banker Harold H. Helm. Includes biographical materials, speeches, miscellaneous papers and photographs.

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

MSS 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.

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.

Duncan, Kate Northcott (Clagett), 1892-1983 (Mss 520), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 520. Correspondence, diaries, genealogical research, and Browning Club programs of Bowling Green, Kentucky native Kate (Clagett) Duncan. Includes her writings on the history of Bowling Green’s Presbyterian Church and some correspondence and papers of her husband, Carroll Allen Duncan.

Clagett, Marjorie Elizabeth, 1900-2000 (Mss 513), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 513. Correspondence and papers of Marjorie E. Clagett, a WKU faculty member who taught French from 1928-1964. Includes field notes and slides relating to her studies of flora in south central Kentucky, Great Britain and other habitats in the United States, and research materials relating to the history of the French in Kentucky. Includes correspondence, photographs and genealogical data of the Clagett, Northcott, Strange and associated families. Also includes notes (Click on "Additional Files" below) of a Northcott ancestor's encounter with Lost River Cave in Warren County during the Civil War.

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

MSS 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.

Cartwright, Frederick Dean, Sr., 1876-1929 (Sc 2833), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2833. Diploma for attendance and good deportment issued to Fred D. Cartwright by the public schools of Bowling Green, Kentucky, 11 June 1891. The diploma is signed by teacher Alice Barre.

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.

Cleaver, Oscar Payne, 1905-1996 (Mss 106), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 106. Miscellaneous papers related to the military and civilian careers of Hart County, Kentucky, native Oscar Payne Cleaver, who was a lighting expert and was instrumental in the development of night vision equipment. Includes a brief reminiscence about his lighting work on the film “Gone With the Wind.”

Wilson, Alexander Gordon, 1888-1970 (Mss 445), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 445. Correspondence, published and unpublished writing, and research of Alexander Gordon Wilson, faculty member in the English department of Western Kentucky University from 1915-1959. Includes genealogical and autobiographical material as well as extensive research data and writing on the ornithology of Bowling Green and Warren County, Kentucky, on folklore and linguistics, and on the ornithology and folkways of the Mammoth Cave region of Edmonson County, Kentucky.

Pack, Larry J., 1932-2023 (Sc 2670), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2670. Biographical data relating to Larry J. Pack, a native of Allen County, Kentucky. Includes birth and military certificates, diplomas, an oral history interview about Pack’s military service, and photos of Pack while in the Army and in his dental office. Also includes genealogical data, primarily in .ftw files on a USB flash drive.

Robinson, Mollie B., B. 1860 (Sc 656), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan of diploma (click on "Additional Files") for Manuscripts Small Collection 656. Mistress of Science diploma conferred upon Mollie B. Robinson by Cedar Bluff Female College, Woodburn, Kentucky. Mollie was the niece of the college's president, William F. Whitesides.

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.

Ua94/6/1 Student / Alumni Personal Papers Western Kentucky University Small Collections, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Small collections of personal papers and oral histories relating to the Western Kentucky University.

Edens, William Jeptha, 1898-1969 (Mss 232), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 232. This collection contains Edens' unpublished theses related to agriculture pedagogy (1930) and the development of the national farm loan associations in Warren County, Kentucky (1937), as well as a paper on the development and amenities of Bowling Green, Kentucky (1937). The collection also contains scrapbooks about Edens' work as an agricultural advisor in Saudi Arabia (1952), Indonesia (1956), and South Africa (1958). Also included are Edens' master's and doctorate diplomas from Cornell University.

Hall Family Papers (Mss 140), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 140. Collection includes report cards, diplomas, autograph albums and scrapbooks of sisters Ilyne and Lila Dean Hall, Sebree, (Webster County) Kentucky. The sisters, with friend Vera Mae Rideout, drowned in Green River near Eastwood Ferry on August 29, 1929. The collection also includes sympathy letters, memorial cards, photos and a eulogy.