Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Young, Kathleen Louise "Kay" (Fa 1327), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 1327. Student folk studies project titled “Ginseng: A Treasured Kentucky Herb That Goes to China” about the business of buying and selling ginseng in Grayson County, Kentucky and the growing and harvesting of ginseng in Simpson County, Kentucky. Photos include the growing stages of the ginseng plant, the harvesting process, and the informants.

Steenbergen, Joel (Fa 1325), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 1325. Student folk studies project titled “Ginseng: The Wonder of the World,” about the history and folklore of ginseng in the United States, its uses, the harvesting process and tools.

Francis, Jim (Fa 1316), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives project 1316. [“Supernatural Legends from Hopkins County, Kentucky”] collected by Jim Francis for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Titles include: "My Grandfather was a Fire-Drawer," "Haunted House of Carbondale," and "Raven Hill Cemetery.”

Gray, Timothy L. (Fa 1280), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1280. Student paper titled “Superstition or Belief on Coach and Athlete” in which Timothy Gray examines the relationships between sports players and their coaches through a folkloric lens. In his paper, Gray describes a brief history of how belief has impacted the ways in which sports are played and the effects, whether positive or negative, of enacting certain superstitious practices before games. The paper also includes a small collection of superstitions and beliefs gathered from close friends and professional coaches.

Craig, Patricia (Fa 1183), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1183. Student paper titled “Folk Remedies” in which Patricia Craig gathers together traditional herbal remedies and folkloric practices as they relate to health and healing. Craig collected information from close relatives, friends, and other residents of Muhlenberg County.

Smith, Jerry W. (Fa 1162), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1162. Student folk studies project titled “Home Remedies of Butler County” which includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of folk remedies in Butler County, Kentucky. Sheets may include a remedy, brief description, informant’s name,

address and text classification.

Marcum, Joe (Fa 1161), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1161. Student folk studies project titled “Folklore Collection Project: [Old Recipes and Remedies]” which includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of recipes or remedies in Logan County and Warren County, Kentucky. Sheets may include a recipe, remedy, brief description, informant’s name, address and text classification.

Laude, Jan (Fa 1140), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1140. Cassette recordings of the "Attunement for Healing" and "Exploring Your Dreams and ESP" conferences sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Association for Research and Enlightenment held in Virginia Beach, Virginia from 12 July 1981 to 24 July 1981. The recordings, collected by WKU folk studies graduate student Jan Laude, were used as source material for Laude’s Master’s thesis titled “A Contemporary Female Psychic: A Folkloristic Study of a Traditional Occupation,” which was published in 1982. Because the Department does not have consent forms or own copyright to these tapes, they may be used …

Gillan, Robert Lee, 1916-2009 (Sc 3183), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3183. Letter, 7 August 2006, of Robert Lee Gillan, Thorntown, Indiana, to Martha Harrison. He refers to his interest in genealogy and relates anecdotes about “Aunt Nancy,” an African American woman and caregiver to local families in Barren County, Kentucky. He includes particulars of some of her household advice, folk medicinal treatments and beliefs. He notes that she is buried in Lyons (Lyon) Cemetery.

Dawson, Jim (Fa 1102), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1102. Paper titled “Ed Diddle Stories” in which Jim Dawson collects tales relating to former WKU Hilltopper basketball coach Edgar Allen Diddle. Paper is based on interviews with members of WKU faculty, all of whom played basketball under Coach Diddle.

Beliefs And Practices Related To Community Water Sources: "The Specialness Of Springs", Anita Kay Westhues

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The practice of gathering water from community springs in Kentucky constitutes a rich and complex research setting for the study of folklore beliefs and practices. Local knowledge construction, nostalgia as an evaluative process, contested views about purity and impurity, the protection and retention of a “public commons,” and the crisis which ensues when infrastructure maintenance and the delivery of safe drinking water are no longer guaranteed to communities, are all relevant to this vernacular practice. My thesis explores these topics, informed by fieldwork I conducted in nine Kentucky counties, which included formal and informal interviews with individuals who have used …

Boyd, Douglas A., B. 1970 (Fa 1002), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1002. Group interview with several Tyler family members who were physicians in Owensboro and Daviess County, Kentucky, as well as friends and family of the doctors. People share folkways related to medical practice and stories by and about the Tyler family. The copyright for this interview is retained by the interviewer; this copy is for research purposes only.

Spears, Sandra (Fa 999), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 999. Project titled: “Folk Medicine in Allen County.” Includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of folk remedies and beliefs in Allen County, Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, informant’s name, and the motif index number.

Castillo, Jesse (Fa 983), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 983. Project titled: “Folklore Collection.” Includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of folk remedies, sayings, and ghost stories from Warren County, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Deweese, Wanda (Fa 923), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 923. Paper titled: “Folk Medicine.” Project includes paper with introduction of folk medicine beliefs, remedies, and superstitions in Barren County and Metcalfe County, Kentucky.

Jenkins, David (Fa 918), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 918. Project titled: “Folk Medicine Beliefs.” Includes paper with introduction of folk medicine beliefs and superstitions in Warren County, Kentucky.

Wheeley, Suzanne (Fa 912), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 912. Project titled: “Folk Beliefs Collection.” Project includes note cards with brief descriptions of songs, beliefs, sayings, tales, and occurrences from Hancock County and Warren County, Kentucky. Note cards include a brief description, informant’s name, and some have the motif index number.

Eakles, Elaine (Fa 902), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 902. Project titled: “Folk Remedies and Cures From Plants.” Project includes note cards of folk medicine beliefs from the Penny Royal Region in Kentucky. Note cards include a brief description, informant’s name, and the motif index number.

Caswell, Galena (Fa 900), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 900. Project titled: “[Folk remedies]” Project includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of folk remedies of the Penny Royal region in Kentucky. Note cards include a brief description, informant’s name, and motif reference.

Foster, Gary (Fa 885), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 885. Paper titled: “Folk Cures of Barren County.” Project includes index cards with brief descriptions of folk cures along with a map of the collection area in Barren County, Kentucky. Cards include a brief description of the cure and informant’s name.

The Folklore Of Herbs, Lisa Karen Miller

DLPS Faculty Publications

Take a walk through the herb gardens of history and find out what our ancestors knew (and thought they knew) about herbs and their uses for medicine, beauty, and even love. The presentation compares ancient beliefs to current scientific evidence and reveals the places where they intersect.

Jackson, Hope Celeste, B. 1972 (Fa 786), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text paper (click Additional Files below) for Folklife Archives Project 786. This collection features a term paper and DVD relating to the pagan folklife in the United States. The project was completed by Western Kentucky University student Hope Celeste Jackson for credit in an “Introduction to Folk Studies” class.

Parsley, Rachel, B. 1991 (Fa 593), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper and two transcripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project FA 593. Paper titled “Folk Medicine in the Mammoth Cave Area” written by Rachel Parsley for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Parsley details folk remedies and folk medicine of the communities in the Mammoth Cave Region of south central Kentucky. Parsley’s research centers around interviews with her father, Andrew G. Parsley, Jr., and an Edmonson County resident, Bertha Skaggs, a well-known local practitioner of folk remedies. In addition to her interviews, Parsley relies on information collected by a …

Hanratty, Suzanne (Funk) (Fa 588), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archvies Project 588. Maydelle (Johnson) Funk, registered nurse, and her husband, physician Jesse Trusdale Funk, detail their genealogy and personal history in interviews conducted by their daughter, Suzanne (Funk) Hanratty. The Funks lived and worked in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Includes transcription and news clippings about a Girl Scout troop in Bowling Green led by Mrs. Funk.

Funk, Jesse Trusdale, 1912-2001 (Fa 587), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 587. Doctor Jesse Trusdale Funk outlines his genealogy and recalls family history and his personal history from childhood through retirement. Funk also details his experiences as a medical student at Vanderbilt University Medical School and his fifty-five years of medical practice in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Includes transcription.

Laude, Jan (Fa 68), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 68. Thesis: “A Contemporary Female Psychic: A Folkloristic Study of A Traditional Occupation” by Jan Laude in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts, Department of Folk and Intercultural Studies at Western Kentucky University.

Beeckler, Diane M. (Fa 65), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 65. [Folk medicine] Collection contains correspondence, magazine entries, and a book concerning traditional cures and preventions for the common cold, flu and other illnesses. There are several responses from Kentuckians from across the state. These cures were collected by Diane Beeckler for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Mason-Jones, Lisa (Fa 38), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 38. [Midwifery] Oral history project by Lisa Mason-Jones with Jean Pence concerning Mrs. Pence’s role as a midwife at the Medical Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Project was completed for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes index, tape summary, and transcription.

Tyrie, Betsy (Fa 22), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 22. "The Life of Dr. C. C. Howard," an oral history project conducted by Betsy Tyrie about Dr. Carl Clifford Howard, the outstanding Glasgow, Kentucky, physician who was instrumental in the fight against tuberculosis and in founding hospitals in Glasgow. Project contains interviews with Dr. Howard's family, friends, and colleagues as well as archived autobiographical information about Howard.

Threlkeld, Matthew Kohl, B. 1985 (Fa 538), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 538. Matthew Kohl Threlkeld records an urban legend told by Daniel Houghton about running a marijuana operation from a fast food restaurant. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.