American Studies Commons^™

America In Verse: The Laureate Project, Leah Kind, Dan Gleason, Erin Micklo, Margaret T. Cain

Understanding Poetry

The purpose of this project is to allow students to use their (developing) skills of poetic explication and close reading, combined with research and analysis, to discover and establish a solid case for a poet they will nominate as the next American Poet Laureate. Working in groups of 3-4, students will identify a published, living American poet who has not yet been designated a laureate. The project demands a wide array of skills as the students research bibliographic information on the poet: read and analyze the poet’s body of work and select one central poem to represent that poet; amass …

Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914 (Sc 531), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 531. Letter from poet Madison Julius Cawein, Louisville, Kentucky, to Fred H. Day, Boston, Massachusetts, a publisher, relative to several of Cawein’s books of poetry and to a book by novelist and poet Alice Brown.

My Mark Twain: Old Man River, Amelia Tatum Grabowski

Student Publications

Flowing across his pages, the Mississippi River inextricably winds itself through Mark Twain’s canon. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that my image of Clemens, my Mark Twain, is as a personification of his beloved river. Twain draws his readers to the water’s edge, seduces readers to stare into his depths, and reflects the achievements and failings of humanity. Furthermore, like the Mississippi River, Twain embeds himself in the American psyche.

Banks, Nancy (Huston), 1850-1934 (Sc 516), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 516. Letter, 8 June 1902, from Nancy Banks, Morganfield, Kentucky, to Mr. Parker, inquiring as to whether he had received a copy of her book "Oldfield" which she sent him because of his assistance to her in the writing of it.

Rice, Cale Young, 1872-1943 (Sc 459), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 459. Letter from Cale Young Rice, Louisville, Kentucky, to Stuart McKenzie, of Florida, in which Rice discusses some of his own writings. Also printed book reviews (3).

Philips, Emanie (Nahm) Sachs Arling, 1893-1981 - Relating To (Sc 2533), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2533. Typewritten remarks, author unknown, about Emanie Nahm’s 1924 novel, Talk. The reviewer speculates on the people and places in Nahm’s home town of Bowling Green, Kentucky on which the novel may have been based, and refers to a reported visit to Nahm in Bowling Green by the author Rebecca West.

Anxiety And The Newly Returned Adult Student, Michelle Navarre Cleary

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty Publications

Based on interviews with students who had recently returned to school, this essay demonstrates the need for, challenges of, and ways to respond to the writing anxiety many adults bring with them back to school.

Bolton, Joseph Edward, 1961-1990 (Mss 404), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scans of selected folders (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 404. Collected loose poems of Joseph E. Bolton, a native of Cadiz, Kentucky and a Western Kentucky University graduate. Bolton published two books of poetry in his lifetime. A posthumous collection, The Last Nostalgia, was edited by Don Justice and published in 1999. The bulk of the collection relates to Justice’s research notes and correspondence regarding publication of The Last Nostalgia.

Undergraduate Research Programs And The Academic Library, Nancy Cunningham, Richard Pollenz Ph.D., Drew Smith, Mark I. Greenberg Ph.D.

Western Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Undergraduate research (UR) programs attract highly motivated students who often continue on to graduate/professional schools but may lack necessary information literacy skills. Collaboration with UR programs provides librarians new opportunities to help students develop these skills and work with specialized collections in the context of a research experience. In this webinar, librarians and UR administrators share their experiences in forging collaborations based on UR and library training resources, explain how information literacy skills programming has been embedded into UR, and demonstrate how this partnership has led to greater visibility of library services, collections and UR among all undergraduates.

Warren, Robert Penn Oral History Collection, 1977-1982 (Mss 383), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 383. Transcripts, notes, and cassette tapes for interviews conducted by Dr. Wilford Fridy with individuals who knew or knew about John Wesley Venable, Jr., the person on whom Robert Penn Warren based the character Bolton Lovehart in his novella "Circus in the Attic." Interviews mention other people and places that Warren knew in Todd County, Kentucky. Also includes tapes of Robert Penn Warren giving a speech, reading some of his work, and an interview with Warren.

From Bad Boy To Good Ol' Boy: Literary Origins Of The South's Notorious Figure, Jennifer Burkett Pittman

Articles

Mark Twain is credited with creating the term "bad boy" in boys' literature from 1865 (Murray 75). His Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) subsequently ignited the "bad boy boom" (Kidd 75). Though Tom Sawyer was not a best-seller until the twentieth century, the novel has come to represent the quintessential boys' book of the American nineteenth century (Parille 2-6). Although it has been 135 years since Tom Sawyer was published, I argue that the concept of the bad boy continues in contemporary literature, specifically Willie Morris' Good Old Boy (1971), although the bad boy has morphed into the concept of …

“As Wide As The World”: Examining And Overcoming American Neo-Imperialism In Three Novels, Lindsey A. Becker

Antonian Scholars Honors Program

This paper demonstrates the connection between multi-cultural literature and international relations through the analysis of three late twenty-first century novels and their interaction with global politics, specifically following World War II. Within the context of the Cold War, the United States pursued control over foreign nations in order to contain communism, a desire that pushed the US to become a global superpower and a neo-imperialist state. I assert that Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony (1977), Paul Theroux’s The Mosquito Coast (1981), and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible (1998) discuss and critique American neo-imperialism. Kingsolver’s key contribution to our understanding of neo-imperialism …

Pilgrim’S Progress Progress: How A Novel Can Affect An Entire Culture’S Communication, Bruce Kuiper

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In this discussion of The Pilgrim’s Progress, three main areas will be explored as ways to show why this book is so worthy of communication study and why it has endured for so long. The first area will be a deeper exploration of the book’s historical background and contemporary role at the end of the 17th century. For the second point, the cultural, social, literary, and communication effects will be examined, reinforcing the concept that the book’s impact was especially substantial in American history. Finally is an argument listing the reasons why a communication scholar should study The Pilgrim’s …

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 261), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 261. Handwritten, pencil manuscript of “The Reformation of Sam Amos” by Lida Calvert Obenchain (Eliza Calvert Hall). This was one of nine stores published by Little Brown & Co. in The Land of Long Ago, 1909.

Ladies Literary Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 393), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 393. Minutes, correspondence, programs, historical sketches, and miscellaneous material of the Ladies Literary Club of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Baker, J. M. (Mrs.) (Sc 363), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 363. Biographical sketch of Cale Young Rice, writer originally from Webster County, Kentucky, written by Mrs. Baker for the Gen Samuel Hopkins Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Included are photographs of historical marker and Rice’s birthplace.

Vance, Marion, 1922-1979 (Sc 361), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 361. A short story titled “Little Noah” written by Marion Vance, a lawyer of Glasgow, Kentucky.

Trimble, Anne Ridings, 1909-1971 (Mss 391), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 391. Correspondence and published stories of Logan County, Kentucky, romance story writer Anne Ridings Trimble. The correspondence is between Trimble and Kentucky Library librarians Mary Leiper Moore and Elizabeth Coombs. Click on "Additional Files" below for a list of Trimble stories mentioned in the collection.

Philips, Emanie Louise (Nahm) Sachs Arling, 1893-1981 (Sc 251), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 251. Correspondence of Mrs. Sachs, writer, and native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, chiefly with Mary T. Moore, librarian, Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, related to a book on the history of Kentucky that Sachs was researching.

Campbell, Marie, 1907-2003 (Sc 252), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 252. Correspondence of Marie Campbell, author and teacher, with Elizabeth Coombs, librarian, Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, concerning Miss Campbell’s writing and publishing efforts.

Evans, Mollie F. (Sc 244), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 244. Letters written by Evan, 5 January 1870 and 17 May 1870, from Russellville and Adairville, Logan County, Kentucky, to Mr. J. P. Morton, Louisville, related to the possible publication of her manuscript.

Hays Family Papers (Sc 343), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 343. Photocopy of letter of Mrs. William Shakespeare Hays, 1928; pages from book of poetry of W. S. Hays with holographic notes by Mrs. Hays; Neel family genealogy; article and newspaper clippings about W. S., E. W., and Hugh Hays, 1927-1933 (6); and photos of various members of the Hays family (4).

Giles, Janice (Holt), 1905-1979 (Sc 342), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscritps Small Collection 342. Letters (25) written by Mrs. Giles, an author of Knifley, Adair County, Kentucky, to her friends, Joe Covington and Mitchell Leichhardt, Bowling Green, Kentucky, relating much about her writings.

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 284), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 284. Typed manuscript of "A Wind Harp,' a compilation of published and unpublished poems by Eliza Calvert Hall [pseudonym of Lida Calvert Obenchain].

Gilbert, Mary C. (Sc 339), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 339. Letter written by Mary Gilbert, Binghamton, New York, to fellow poet, Lima Canon, Bowling Green, Kentucky, complimenting her writings and informing her of a new poetry group organization.

The Golems Take New York: The Resurgence Of The Golem In The Work Of Cynthia Ozick And Thane Rosenbaum, Peter Schulman

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

The late twentieth and early twenty first centuries have seen a resurgence of the golem in several major American novels. What factors might lead to such a re-imagining of the golem in American fiction? Cynthia Ozick's The Puttermesser Papers (1997) and Thane Rosenbaum's The Golems of Gotham (2002) re-invent golems no longer anchored in vengeance but in healing, as vehicles for the kabbalistic notion of Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world"). Ozick creates the first female golem to help the lonely protagonist become a reformist mayor; in The Golems of Gotham, the golem is transformed into a team of literary …

A Letter And A Dream: The Literary Friendship Of Ellen Glasglow And Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ashley Quaye Andrews Lear

Humanities & Communication - Daytona Beach

No abstract provided.

"Thrown On Their Own Resources": Collaboration As Survival In Imitation Of Life, Kristi Branham

Faculty Publications

The article presents an analysis of the film adaptation of "Imitation of Life," a 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst. It states that the repetition of the story across the first half of the twentieth century shows its resonance for U.S. audiences. It mentions that the woman question and the race question are brought together in the passing story in both the 1934 and 1959 film versions of the novel.

Faulkner's Literary Historiography: Color, Photography, And The Accessible Past, Peter Lurie

English Faculty Publications

This paper looks at changes in visual representation in the 1930s as a means of understanding Faulkner's newly historiographic methods in this decade. The advent of Kodachrome® in 1935 as the first widely used color film stock presaged the turn toward the black-and-white documentary mode so important to the nation's efforts to "countenance," or see, the economic crises of the period. Faulkner's descriptive and representational practices in the period 1929-36 also shifted from a more pervasive use of coloration to a style like the silver halide photos prevalent in the middle nineteenth century--the period of the past-tense events in Absalom, …

William Faulkner, William James, And The American Pragmatic Tradition (Review), Peter Lurie

English Faculty Publications

In his book's final sentence, David Evans is concerned that we "assure a future for Faulkner, and a Faulkner for the future" (236). Taken at a glance, this concern might imply a need to safeguard Faulkner's continuing relevance: pointing to the future and Faulkner together suggests that their mutuality is not, in fact, certain. And in light of shifting critical approaches to this canonical writer, not to mention the diminishing importance of author studies as well as scholarly genres like the monograph, Evans's caution makes a certain critical sense.

Yet the statement's fuller meaning within the context of this new …