United States History Commons^™

Civil War Conclusions: What Pbs' Freedom Riders Can Teach Us, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

We often have a deep problem in the Historical community. We that have gone through training and courses in "real" history, who have been trained in the academy don't know how to react when we get into the "public" history world. We step out on battlefields (or killingfields) and decide we can't trust our audiences to understand our evidence. So, we hit them over the head with a two-by-four of rhetoric. We have this deep impulse to tell people what to think about what they see on our landscapes.

Spiller, Mary Jane (Singletary), 1841-1939 (Sc 2448), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan for Manuscripts Small Collection 2448. Typescripted memoir by Mary Jane Singletary of her Civil War experiences in Louisiana. She provides data about her family's military service, their efforts to evade Union blockades of Baton Rouge, and of protecting their possessions from Union troops. Also includes a reminiscence of Elise Talmage Lieb which mentions Spiller and a photograph of Spiller.

Authors Correspondence (Mss 358), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 358.  Correspondence between authors or poets and staff of the Kentucky Library & Museum, primarily regarding donations of their works and available library holdings.  Correspondents also write about their activities and work in progress.

Dickey, Robert W., B. 1933 (Sc 2449), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2449.  Letter, dated 30 January 1963, from attorney Marshall Funk to Robert W. Dickey related to an school integration lawsuit in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Also includes the political platform and biographical information for Raymond McClard's 1973 state Senate race.

Shakers - South Union, Kentucky - Hymns (Sc 177), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 177. Manuscript hymn book and instructional manual used by the Shakers at South Union, Kentucky. Includes copied portions of Isaac N. Youngs' "Rules of Music."

Brown, William, Jr. (Sc 179), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 179. Letters (3) written by William Brown, Jr. to his mother in Ohio, describing stagecoach travel from Louisville to Bowling Green, Kentucky, the local people and conditions, and his surveying of the Barren and Green Rivers for possible steamboat navigation.

How To Sap The Romance: America's National Killingfield Parks, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

"Maybe they should call them Killingfields instead of Battlefields..." [excerpt]

The Spring Floods Of 1936: Picher And The Red Cross Unite, Allison Williford

Theory and Practice: HIST430

In the early 1900s, the Great Depression, great droughts, a huge tornado, and great floods roared through the United States, hitting the East Coast, the West Coast, and the Midwest. These troubling periods and incidents left many families without homes or incomes. Therefore, these families had no choice but to reach out to others for help, the main source being toward the Red Cross and places in America where trouble was much less than the disaster's home front. Without the help of the Red Cross, the disaster stricken flood areas would not have survived.

Mercer, Fannie (Guy), 1855-1940 - Collector (Sc 176), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) Manuscripts Small Collection 176. Printed invitation, 15 June 1932, to Miss Sarah Leat for a July 4th ball at B. Vance's Hotel, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and newspaper clipping, 1929, concerning the invitation. Also holographic copy of lyrics of "Old Folks at Home."

Depression And Decline In The Tri-States, Joey Zdeb

Theory and Practice: HIST430

There were once unsettled and wild lands in the Indian territory of northwest Oklahoma, in the lowland valleys of southeastern Kansas, and even the vast hills of the southwestern Ozrks of Missouri. But this once clean and tranquil land is no more due to the mining and encampment of the Tri-State area of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, there was a large movement of people into the Tri-State area. This was a result of new found minerals able to be mined, and with that came jobs, land, and new opportunity for the …

Workmen's Compensation: Mining Injuries In The Tri-State Mining District, 1930-1946, Ariel Yager

Theory and Practice: HIST430

Workmen's compensation is an evolved form of disability. It started in the 1920s and is still changing today. J.E. Halterman found this out when he went to work one day for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in 1930 in Coffeyville, Kansas. He left work missing the first three fingers on his right hand from working with a buzz saw. He sued the company for compensation of the loss of his fingers. During the trial it came out that the shield on the buzz saw was so defective and worn that it could not perform its job to protect the worker. …

World War Ii From The Mining Shaft, Lucian Myers

Theory and Practice: HIST430

One of America's most powerful weapons in World War II was its labor force. It was one of the contributing factors to the Allied victory in the war. Not only could the U.S. field better armies than its opponent, but it could supply them for a longer period of time over a longer distance. The labor force and communities of those laborers in America were transformed during the war. People who had not previously worked outside of their homes now worked in the labor force. Also there were people in the labor force who left it to go enlist in …

Government Involvement In The Mining Industry, Jake Storey

Theory and Practice: HIST430

Mining was one of the most prominent industries in the Tri-State District from the 1880s through the 1950s. This time period was very instrumental to the development of the Tri-State region of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Mining offered employment to many in the area, and mining camps would seemingly spring up overnight in some case. There is a very good case made that work in the mines was extremely hazardous to one's health. Falling rocks, working with explosives, and working in a dusty, damp area were all a part of a miner's day. Prior to government legislation, men could have …

Davis, William P., B. 1840? (Sc 175), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 175. Confederate Civil War diary kept by William P. Davis, of the Enterprise Guards, Company B, 14th Mississippi Infantry, from April-December 1861. The diary covers his company’s tour of duty from Corinth, Mississippi through Tennessee to Kentucky. A major portion concerns Bowling Green, Kentucky and vicinity. Includes a muster roll and guard lists for Company B. Also includes a typescript of the narrative portions of the diary.

Shirley, Mrs. W. E. - Collector (Sc 174), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 174. Research materials collected by Mrs. W. E. Shirley for her master’s thesis (Western Kentucky State Teachers College, 1934) on Isaac Shelby (1750-1826). Includes typescripts of Shelby’s gubernatorial correspondence (1793-1794); his 1826 will (Click on "Additional Files" below for scan); his autobiography; a pamphlet (1828) by Shelby’s son relating to the Chickasaw Treaty of 1818; and a letter to Mrs. Shirley from the Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky, regarding the source of the typescripted autobiography.

Shaker Death Records (Sc 173), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 173. Record of deaths in the Shaker society at Hancock, Massachusetts. Also inlcudes some records of deaths in the society at New Lebanon, New York.

Barry, William Taylor, 1785-1835 (Sc 229), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 229.  Photocopies of two letters by Barry while serving as Postmaster General under President Andrew Jackson.  Letter 27 November 1832 to James K. Polk relates to mail service in Tennessee.  Letter 7 February 1833 to Martin Van Buren concerns national politics. The bulk of the collection is research material, including other correspondence, that was typed or hand copied by J.F. Kany for the master’s thesis he wrote on Barry in 1934.

Rotary Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 350), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 350. Items related to the Rotary Club of Bowling Green, Kentucky, as well as Rotary International. The minutes, correspondence, newsletters, resolutions, reports, clippings, and photographs highlight the organization's many years of service projects and civic involvement.

Phelps, Frank M. (Sc 2447), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text letter (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2447. Letter of Frank M. Phelps, serving with a Wisconsin regiment at Camp Abercrombie, Shepherdsville, Kentucky, to his aunt Lydia C. Tibbits in Appleton, Wisconsin. He describes the Shepherdsville area and its connection to Daniel Boone, and discusses investing his soldier's pay.

‘Unkle Sommerset's’ Freedom: Liberty In England For Black Sailors, Charles R. Foy

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

With his 1772 decree in Somerset v. Steuart that slavery was ‘so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it [in England] but positive law’, Lord Mansfield altered the legal landscape regarding black rights in England. While earlier judicial decisions had implied that slaves who came to England were free, prior to the Somerset decision there was no judicial consensus on the issue. The Somerset decision did not decree that slavery was illegal in England. Yet many blacks believed it ‘emancipated’ any slave who reached the shores of England. This understanding, combined with the British military welcoming runaways into …

Gossom, Cora Eliza, 1866-1926 (Sc 2446), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2447.  Pages from scrapbook kept by Cora Eliza Gossom, Bowling Green, Kentucky, containing clippings and programs relating primarily to local parties, dances, and weddings.

The John H. Crawford Papers: Letters From The Civil War., Holly Young

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of my thesis research was to transcribe a collection of letters to John H. Crawford about the formation and actions of the Sixtieth Tennessee Infantry (Confederate) in Jonesboro during the Civil War, annotate them, and provide an introduction that details the events and people described in the letters. These letters are important because they describe first-hand the process of formation of this Confederate infantry unit in an area of East Tennessee that predominately supported the Union. The letters themselves can be found in the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University’s Charles C. Sherrod Library.

The Crucible Of Texas Politics: An Analysis Of The United States Senatorial Primaries Of 1941 And 1948., Ginger Mcgoldrick Spradlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lyndon Johnson's opponents used the outcome of his 1948 senatorial bid to demonstrate his dishonesty. This win by eighty-seven disputed votes gave him the derogatory title, "Landslide Lyndon." Johnson's initial senate campaigns in 1941 and 1948 are examined for Texas Politics as usual.

Upon Senator Sheppard's death in 1937, a special election precipitated with Martin Dies, Gerald Mann, Lyndon Johnson, and W. Lee O'Daniel as the candidates. Although this election has not received the notoriety of 1948, it exemplifies Texas Politics as usual where thousands of manipulated votes resulted in O'Daniel's late victory.

Johnson's next race for the senate came …

Wired For Business: The Roebling Story., Kelley Marie Hatch-Draper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

John Augustus Roebling, a classically educated civil engineer and young Hegelian, immigrated to America in 1831 in search of freedom from a repressive political system that afforded him no opportunity for advancement. Arriving in the midst of the American market revolution, his dream of establishing an agrarian farming colony changed in response to societal transformations resulting from mechanization and the rise of industry. Within forty years, Roebling achieved fame as a canal engineer and bridge designer while establishing the American wire rope industry. Without Roebling's innovation in wire-rope, modern suspension bridges, high-rise elevators, construction cranes, and cable cars would not …

Thwing, Frederick F., 1858-1931 (Sc 225), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 225. Diary, 1912, of Thwing, professor of mathematics and member of the Athletic Board of Manual Training High School, Louisville, and later at Male High School, Louisville. He comments about the weather and his activities at home, church, and school, as well as about the night class he is teaching at the Y.M.C.A. Includes a copy of his obituary and other biographical information.

Jones, John Rutherford, 1837-1907 (Sc 171), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 171. Civil War discharge papers of John Rutherford Jones, Butler County, Kentucky, from Kentucky regiments of the Union Army, 1862, 1865. Includes promissory note, 1869, assigned to Jones.

Harreld, Temple D., 1839-1915 (Sc 227), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 227. Pension notification, 17 October 1870, from the Department of the Interior, Pension Office, to Temple D. Harreld, Morgantown, Butler County, Kentucky.

Young, Berenice, 1866-1946 (Sc 172), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 172. Letters, 1889-1893, of Berenice Young to Jennie McKenney, Maquon, Illinois. She writes of her activities and their mutual friends, including former classmates at Glasgow Normal School, Glasgow, Kentucky. She also writes of her visit to a clairvoyant and teaching in Texas and Mississippi. Includes 1966 letters of McKenney's niece with biographical information.

Dowden, Darnell, 1824-1891 (Sc 226), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 226. Three leather bound notebooks of sermon notes, some copied from sermons published by J. M. Pendleton in “The Baptist.” Goshen, Walnut Grove, and Brandenburg are mentioned as places where the sermons were preached. Also includes Dowden biographical information.

Patterson, James Kennedy, 1833-1922 - Relating To (Sc 224), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 224.  Copies of business and personal letters, telegrams, and receipts, chiefly addressed to James Kennedy Patterson, prior to and during his presidency of the University of Kentucky.  The letters, from his wife, relatives, and acquaintances, relate to family and professional affairs.