American Studies Commons^™

Ogilvie, Frances, 1902-1942 - Relating To (Sc 3351), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3351. Information about the life and writings of Frances Ogilvie, a Princeton, Kentucky native and author of the novel Green Bondage. The information is contained in a clipping, a letter from a Princeton librarian, and a letter from Ogilvie’s husband, Earle M. Nichols, who recalls the Kentucky “tobacco wars” that provided the inspiration for the novel. Includes a poem of Ogilvie’s titled “Spring Day.”

Davison, Peter Hubert, 1928-2004 (Sc 3346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3346. Letter written by poet Peter Davison, undated, to Robert Penn Warren in which he thanks Warren for the day which inspired the enclosed poem, “Swimming, 1935,” which he dedicated to Warren on 10 March 1981. It also includes a touching poem by Davison about the death of his mother Natalie (Weiner) Davison. The printed poem was sent to Warren and his wife Eleanor “with regards, Peter Davison, 11/15/[19]61.” The originals of these documents are located in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Ayars, Rebecca Caudill, 1899-1985 (Sc 3348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3348. Letter, 5 March 1958, of author Rebecca Caudill Ayars, Urbana, Illinois, to WKU faculty member Frances Richards. Owing to a previous engagement, she declines an invitation to WKU’s Leiper English Club dinner.

Creason, Joe, 1918-1974 (Sc 3347), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3347. “Kentuckians: How and Why We’re Different,” a speech delivered by Joe Creason, columnist for the Louisville, Kentucky Courier-Journal, to a joint meeting of the Simpson County (Kentucky) Historical Society and the Franklin (Kentucky) Chamber of Commerce, September 1967. The speech reviews Kentucky’s history, geography, settlement, culture, and notable citizens. Includes a “Kentucky mountain version” of the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914 - Relating To (Sc 3341), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3341. Letter, 7 May 1969, to Frances Richards, Franklin, Kentucky, enclosing photocopy of a handwritten poem by Madison Cawein dated 7 April 1887. The letter writer explains that the poem, titled “Rondeau to You,” was written for and presented to the aunt of a coworker.

Musical Legacy Projects (Fa 1386), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1386. Interviews conducted by WKU students with musicians in southcentral and western Kentucky, a folklore fieldwork class contribution to the Kentucky Folklife Program’s Southcentral Kentucky Musical Legacy Project.

Blotner, Joseph Leo, 1923-2012 (Mss 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 200. Research material collected by Joseph Leo Blotner for his literary biography of Robert Penn Warren. Includes Warren’s correspondence (photocopies from various repositories), interview transcripts, notes, news clippings, critical essays, and other documentation about Warren. Also includes drafts, galley proofs, and permissions related to the biography.

Chambliss, Landon Baird "Hank," 1921-1994 (Sc 3295), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3295. Poems by Baird “Hank” Chambliss, Cave City, Kentucky, collected under the title “Yesterday’s” [sic]. Chiefly based on aspects of the lives of Chambliss, his family and of young people he knew, the poems also feature romantic, genealogical and nostalgic themes. Includes an alphabetical list of titles. This collection is in digital format only in TopSCHOLAR.

Heritage, Tradition, And Craft In Quiltmaking (Fa 1131), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1131. Collection contains Interviews, photographs, and informant data sheets relating to Sandy Staebell's project with quiltmakers in Allen County and Monroe County, Kentucky and Macon County, Tennessee for the 2017-2018 Osby Lee Hire and Lillian K. Garrison Hire Memorial Lecture Series.

Kentucky - Poetry (Sc 3271), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3271. "We 'Haint So Bad," a humorous poem by an unknown author that makes use of stereotypes about being a Kentuckian.

Cultural And Narrative Shifts Of Nineteenth Century Children's Literature In Hawthorne's Wonder Book For Girls And Boys, Kristen Clark Brandt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Both folklorists and literary critics have been drawn to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s body of work because of his distinctive style and incorporation of folk motifs. Such motif-spotting presents no challenge in Hawthorne’s juvenile literature like his retellings from Greek mythology in Wonder Book for Girls and Boys; however, contemporary folklore redirects the focus of this scholarship to “how particular literary uses of folklore fit into a larger, more fundamental concept of what folklore is and how and what folklore communicates” (de Caro & Jordan 2015:15). Hawthorne’s work interacts with other forms of cultural expression in the nineteenth century such as dominant …

Foodways (Fa 1202), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1202. Collection of papers written by students in Professor Barry Kaufkins’ Foodways class (FLK/ANTH 388) at Western Kentucky University. While a majority of the papers focus on Easter traditions, other topics of note include immigrant foodways traditions, fundraising efforts, community organizations, tailgating, and sorority life. Papers also include photographs taken by students.

Clarke, Mary Louise (Washington), 1913-1999 (Mss 634), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 634. Research, correspondence and photographs relating to the scholarly study of Kentucky author Jesse Stuart by WKU English and folklore professor Mary (Washington) Clarke. Includes correspondence with Stuart, editors and other scholars in connection with her book Jesse Stuart’s Kentucky and other publications. Also includes research and correspondence relating to Clarke’s book Kentucky Quilts and Their Makers.

Tinker, Robert Rush (Fa 1149), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1149. Student folk studies project titled “Playground Language: [Newburg, Kentucky]” which includes survey sheets with a brief description of playground rhymes in Newburg, Jefferson County, Kentucky. Sheets may include rope skipping rhyme, group game, informant’s name, and text classification.

Warren, Kaye (Fa 1150), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1150. Student folk studies project titled “From Slavery to Freedom for the Negro Race in Logan County [Kentucky]” which includes survey sheets with a brief description of African American life in Logan County, Kentucky. Sheets may include interviews, written records, photographs, informant’s name, age, and address.

Clarke, Kenneth Wendell, 1917-2012 (Mss 635), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 635. Manuscripts, notes, publisher’s correspondence, and photographs relating to the scholarly work of WKU English and folklore professor Kenneth W. Clarke, principally "Bud Long: The Birth of a Kentucky Folk Legend" and "The Harvest and the Reapers." Also includes reel-to-reel tape discussing home burial and casket - coffins, African American discussing race relations, singing in Barren County, Kentucky. See also digitized reel-to-reel tape T (T) -7-71-16 discussing cockfighting.

On Being Trans: Narrative, Identity, Performance, And Community, Chloe Jo Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis focuses on various topics related to transgender identity and culture. Through a combination of ethnographic and secondary research, I studied transgender coming out narratives, trans media representation, transgender performance and identity, and conceptualizations of group and chosen family in a community of trans students, the WKU Transgender and Non-Binary Student Group.

The three chapters of my thesis address some of the traditional milestones of a trans person’s acculturation: coming out, constructing one’s newly discovered trans identity, and finding community. Chapter 1 explores coming out as transgender, and the way in in which coming out is valued and discussed …

Archbold, Annie And Barbara Dubczak (Fa 379), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 379. A reel-to-reel audiotape recording of a program titled “Documents in Sound: A Sample in Folk Arts,” which was sponsored by the Barren River Regional Arts Council with funds from the Kentucky Folklife Foundation. According to the tape summary, the program includes five separate features, which can be played as individual vignettes or as a full 29-minute program. Features include traditional artists and cover topics such as woodworking, broom making, basket making, weaving, and drawn work.

"Tell Nobody But God": Reading Mothers, Sisters, And "The Father" In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Cheryl Hopson

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

In my reading of The Color Purple, I make several interconnected arguments, the first being that “The Father,” that is any male, sanctioned by patriarchy, and in the context of a patriarchal, sexist male order, disrupts what would otherwise be a powerful and sustaining relationship, that of the mother-daughter relationship. I continue that sisterhood that is multifaceted and intergenerational serves as a corrective to the disrupted maternal and filial relationship. It is sisters in the novel and not mothers who step in to “mother,” that is nurture, protect, support, as well as challenge one another, even in the most harrowing …

Cederquist, Nancy (Fa 378), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

FFinding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 378. Multiple interviews with Mrs. James Hall conducted by Nancy Cederquist on 22 February 1985, 1 April 1985, and 22 April 1985. Hall, a resident of Bowling Green, discusses her passion for quilting, her preferred patterns, fabric care, and her experiences with a local quilting group.

Conaster, Victoria (Fa 377), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 377. Interview with Joe H. Page conducted by Victoria Conaster on 3 April 1993. Page, a resident of Lewisburg, discusses his childhood memories of growing up on a tenant farm. Topics covered include tobacco harvests and sales, pest control, traditional farm lore, home remedies and religious life.

Allen, David (Fa 368), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 368. Interview with Annie Duvall conducted by David Allen on 16 April 1998. Duvall discusses her personal experiences growing up in Muhlenberg County. Topics covered include dating, marriage, gardening, family vacations, religion, women’s rights, and changes in modern technologies.

Ua1c6/8 Exhibit Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images of exhibits at Western Kentucky University.

Jaggers, Ben (Fa 1116), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project FA 1116. Folk studies student project titled: “The Art of Basket Making,” which includes a description of the traditional process of making baskets in Wax, Grayson County, Kentucky. Project includes a description of two types of baskets, traditional practices, tools, photos, and informant’s name. Photographs by David Sutherland.

Collins, Gary & Tammy Pickering (Fa 346), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 346. Paper titled "Hog Killing in Western Kentucky" in which Gary Collins and Tammie Pickering discuss the cultural significance of farm-raising hogs and the foodways traditions that result from the slaughtering process. Using slides and interviews, Collins and Pickering document a hog killing that took place in January 1986 on a farm in Trigg County, Kentucky.

Pickering, Tammie & Gary Collins (Fa 348), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 348. Student paper titled “Trees in Folk Crafts” in which Tammie Pickering and Gary Collins explore the connection between trees and traditional folkways. Paper details the medicinal properties of sassafras tea, which is made from tree roots, the production of maple syrup, and the expressive crafts of wood-carving and carpentry. Data collected from three working-class residents of Caldwell County. Paper also includes field journals, recorded interviews, and transcripts.

Hensley, Jennifer Lynn (Fa 351), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 351. Paper titled "The Music Barn" in which Lynn Hensley discusses the founding of The Music Barn, a local music venue in Warren County, Kentucky. Hensley's main informant is Joe Marshall, a country music artist, community organizer, and owner of The Music Barn.

Fox, Randy (Fa 350), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

FFinding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 350. Paper titled "Fiddle About: Ed Carnes-Contest Fiddler" in which Randy Fox charts the history of fiddle playing and the rise of "contest fiddling" during the traditional music revival in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fox's main informant is Ed Carnes, an old-time fiddler who won the Kentucky State Fiddle Championship in 1981. Carnes details his beginnings as a fiddler, the recording of his fiddle-tunes album, and his travels across the country to different fiddling contests.

Forggett, Essie (Fa 1104), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1104. Student paper titled “Slavery in Green County” in which Essie Forggett details the history of the settlement of Green County and its eventual dependence upon slave labor. Forggett also includes stories of slave auctions, punishments, attempted escapes, and religious practices of slaves throughout the region. Paper is based on information collected by Forggett from county clerk records and in-person interviews with slave descendants.

Parker, Dickey (Wilkinson), 1905-1998 (Sc 3146), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3146. Letter, 12 February 1985, of Dickey Parker, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to “Miss Ruby,” enclosing a poem by Callie Beals titled “A Day in My Garden.” Mrs. Parker notes that Callie Beals was her Sunday School teacher in her early teen years and praises the impact she had on her life.