Social History Commons^™

Covington-Reynolds Family Papers (Mss 677), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 677. Chiefly courtship letters written by Edward Daniel Covington while teaching high school industrial arts classes at St. Petersburg High School in Florida to his girlfriend and future wife, Evelyn Reynolds, Cave City, Kentucky. The 1933 letters mention the financial effects of the Great Depression and the difficulty of paying teachers.

Hines, Clara Ursula (Wright) Nahm, 1904-1983 (Mss 561), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 561. Personal diaries of Clara (Wright) Hines, Bowling Green, Kentucky, kept during her marriage to food critic Duncan Hines and after his death. Includes some correspondence, travel itineraries, and miscellaneous papers.

Interview With Reverend Bill Maloney, Edward Seitz

Chicago 1968

Length: 122 minutes

Interview with Reverend Bill Maloney by Edward Seitz

Rev. Maloney begins by explaining how, by virtue of their location alone, his church was at the center of the Conspiracy Seven [aka Chicago Seven] trial, when protesters, press and police would meet inside their building. He then talks about his childhood in East Liverpool, Ohio, growing up a very observant Lutheran family, participating in his high school newspaper and theater, and later, his college radio station. He recalls his time at Youngstown State University studying philosophy and sociology, his experiences in seminary school at Hammond Divinity School, and …

Interview With Reverend H. Kris Ronnow, Sarah Moore

Chicago 1968

Length: 74 minutes

Interview with Rev. H. Kris Ronnow by Sarah Moore

Rev. Ronnow describes his childhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota, raised in a working-class Presbyterian family, attending a desegregated high school and later, Macalester College. He explains his move to Chicago, earning a master in social work and attending seminary simultaneously, while also marrying and starting a family. He tells of how he decided to become a priest and what led to his involvement in community organizing, including the Interreligious Counsel of Urban Affairs. He recounts his activism work and marching with Martin Luther King, Jr. He recalls the …

Interview With Reverend Dr. Stan Davis, Dawn Butler

Chicago 1968

Length: 116 minutes

Interview with Reverend Stan Davis by Dawn Butler

Rev. Davis begins by sharing details about himself, his family, and his early years in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and his religious community, the Church of the Brethren. He talks about growing up during World War II and how he first became aware of prejudice, witnessing the internment of the Japanese-American community. He recalls his studies at Juniata College and his decision to attend Bethany Theological. He describes moving to North Lawndale, a diverse immigrant community that underwent drastic demographic changes as a result of unscrupulous lending practices designed to move …

Interview With Reverend Dr. Larry Greenfield, Lauren Kostiuk

Chicago 1968

Length: 76 minutes

Interview with Larry Greenfield by Lauren Kostiuk

Rev. Greenfield begins by describing organizations he’s been involved with, devoted to religious ethics and social justice, protecting the rights of women, gender and sexual minorities, economic justice, and other related causes. He recounts his early years in Sioux Falls with his parents and how his religious involvement prompted questions about equality and social justice. He then recounts his time at the University of Chicago, where he began his involvement in political activism and civil rights. He recalls in detail his experiences at the Democratic National Convention, serving as a …

Interview With Jack Wuest, Grace Fanning

Chicago 1968

Length: 63 minutes

Interview with Jack Wuest by Grace Fanning

Mr. Wuest begins by outlining the details of his childhood, family, and early education. He describes his role in the draft resistance during the Vietnam War, and describes the process the young men were subjected to as part of the draft. He recalls his time working with the Juvenile Protective Association which is what first brought him into contact with the Democratic National Convention protests. He recalls witnessing the police violence perpetrated against protesters. He remembers his reactions to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. He …

Interview With James A. "Jim" Aull, Jeremiah Morales

Chicago 1968

Length: 120 minutes

Interview with James A. "Jim" Aull by Jeremiah Morales

Mr. Aull begins by describing his childhood in a rural community outside of Philadelphia, living with his parents, sister, and paternal grandmother. He describes his experiences in school, including the required church attendance and his first social service activities through the boarding school programs serving poor communities. While at Princeton, he says he became involved with the YCMA and Christian student organizations, leading to his involvement in civil rights. He recalls his travels through the Soviet Union and Turkey. He recalls his time at the Chicago Theological Seminary …

Interview With Father Dominic Grassi, Paul Brennan

Chicago 1968

Length: 105 minutes

Interview with Father Dominic Grassi by Paul Brennan

Fr. Dominic Grassi begins his interview by detailing his childhood, growing up the youngest of five to Italian immigrant parents on the North side of Chicago, He credits his high school work with the children at Cabrini Greens for introducing him to the community service aspect of religious life and recalls the significant role the priests played in his early years. He describes daily life at the college seminary and the formation of his religious vocation amidst “almost a tsunami” of worlds events: the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights …

Interview With Reverend Dr. B. Herbert Martin Sr., Matthew Kevin Robinson

Chicago 1968

Length: 84 minutes

Interview with Reverend B. Herbert Martin, Sr. by Matthew Kevin Robinson

Rev. Martin begins by describing his childhood in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, the oldest all-Black community in America, with his parents, grandparents, and nine siblings. He describes his strong religious upbringing and how he was called to ministry at the age of nine. He recounts being attacked and severely beaten by a group of “vigilante” white men for trying to register Black people to vote. He talks of his time at Philander Smith College, working for a wealthy retired counsel general, and the first churches he pastored …

Interview With William "Bill" Southwick, Nancy Salto

Chicago 1968

Length: 50 minutes

Interview with William Southwick by Nancy Salto

Rev. Southwick begins by recalling the start of his activism work, running Northside Cooperative Ministry coffeehouse while serving as a minister. He explains how he first became involved in the anti-war protests through acquaintances in the Japanese-American community. He recalls the impact that both the DNC and Dr. King’s assassination had on Chicago and the effect it had on the more militant elements in the movement, like the Weather Underground. He compares the student protests in Chicago to other demonstrations and anti-war movements around the country. He describes the kind …

Interview With Reverend Dr. Michael Pfleger, Jesse Betend

Chicago 1968

Length: 76 minutes

Interview with Reverend Michael Pfleger by Jesse Betend.

In his interview with Jesse Betend, Reverend Michael Pfleger discusses his life leading up to his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement in 1968. He recalls how his childhood and early experiences affected his later work, his religious yet very progressively outspoken family and attending a highly diverse high school (Quigley Preparatory Seminary South). He recalls his first exposures to racism and segregation through family friends, classmates, and work with Native American and Black communities. He describes the violence perpetrated by his own community during a speech by Dr. …

America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions Of Power And Community, Robert Tsai

Robert L Tsai

The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: "We the People." Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion--the defiant groups that refused to accept the Constitution's definition of who "the people" are and how their authority should be exercised. America's Forgotten Constitutions is the story of America as told by dissenters: squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took the extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines …

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.

Weed, Hugh M. (Sc 395), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 395. Printed invitation to a Christmas ball at Hugh M. Weed's house, Shawneetown, Illinois, sent to Mr. Adrian Davenport and lady.

Morgan, Joseph Underwood, 1835-1892 (Sc 145), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 145. Correspondence of Joseph Underwood Morgan, Logan County, Kentucky. He writes to Maria D. Noel (whom he would marry in 1866) of their families, mutual friends, and his social activities. While serving in the Confederate Army, he writes of military life, including the derailment of his troop train, and of the restrictions placed on him while aprisoner at Rock Island, Illinois. A final letter discusses their intentions to marry.

No Place To Stand: The Incoherent Legal World Of J. K. Rowling, Kenneth Schneyer

Humanities Department Faculty Publications & Research

It is astonishing, when one thinks of it, that a series of children's books is so crammed with law. Not one of the seven Harry Potter novels fails to explore difficult issues law, interpretation and especially the relationship of the state to the individual. From practically the first page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (SS) we ponder issues of child custody, fosterage and adoption;1 before Harry even gets to Hogwarts we have heard about crime and punishment,2 legal control over the use of magic,3 monetary policy,4 and Wizarding government.5 Before the series is complete we have witnessed five …

Harris Family Papers (Mss 100), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 100. Correspondence of the Harris family of Simpson County, Kentucky. Consists chiefly of World War I letters sent from two brothers, George DeWitt Harris and Downey L. Harris, to their parents, George Calvin Harris and Amanda J. Harris, of Franklin, Kentucky. George DeWitt Harris was injured in World War I and died at Epionville, France on 7 October 1918.

"Spokes Of The Wheel:" Mormon Settlement Patterns In Illinois Between 1838 And 1846, R Philip Reynolds

Librarian and Staff Publications

Mormon settlement outside of Nauvoo, Illinois is one of the most neglected topics in Mormon history. Almost all discussion concerning Mormons between 1839 and 1846 is limited to Nauvoo although, as one researcher put it: "Mormon contact in Illinois was infinitely larger." Nauvoo's population of about 15,000 in 1845 was only half of the estimated 30,000 Mormons who made their home in Western Illinois. Still when searching for information about Mormons living outside the city, researchers are lucky to find a handful of brief articles and a few asides in discussions of Nauvoo. Upon further investigation these settlements emerge as …

The Rest Of The Kingdom On The Mississippi: Mormon Settlement Patterns In Illinois 1838-1846, R Philip Reynolds

Librarian and Staff Presentations

Mormon settlement outside of Nauvoo, Illinois is one of the most neglected topics in Mormon history. Most discussion concerning Mormons between 1839 and 1846 is limited to Nauvoo although, as one researcher put it: "Mormon contact in Illinois was infinitely larger."1 After further investigation these settlements emerge as being far more important to Mormon history and the city of Nauvoo than this neglect suggests.