New Appalachian Collections Available

We’re pleased to announce the first of the University of Kentucky Libraries’ NEH Coal, Camps, and Railroads collections have been digitized and ingested to ExploreUK. More information about the grant can be found at the end of this post.

Sherrill Martin papers, 1937-1954, undated

The Sherrill Martin papers (1937-1954, undated; .63 cubic feet, 2 boxes) primarily comprises Carrs Fork Coal Company newsletters (1940-1945) containing line-drawing illustrations by Martin that accompanied articles and letter-format lectures on mine safety by general superintent P.A. Grady. The newsletter was either attached to, or on the reverse of, a pay stub. Martin’s illustrations reminded the miners receiving the pay stub/newsletter that mine safety was their responsibility and also their patriotic duty as part of the World War II war effort. The articles, lectures, and illustrations in the newsletters warned miners that if safety was not a priority in their daily work, they were aiding and abetting the enemy.

The collection also includes a series of pay stubs issued to Martin’s uncle, C.A. Dupree, from the Carrs Fork Coal Company and the Stoker Coal Company, 1937-1953. Other items include union and mine safety booklets and manuals, including a Coal Miner’s Safety Manual (1942), By-Laws of Carrs Fork Coal Co. Employees Burial Fund (undated), and a contract agreement between Hazard, KY Coal Operator’s Association and the UMWA, District 30 (1937-1939).

In most cases, the newsletters are photocopies of the originals. In addition, photographs of some of the line drawings are included.

Note: Some of the financial records for this collection were not slated for digitization.

Tacony Oil Company collection, 1860-1896

These materials (0.5 cubic feet;  1 box) relate to the Tacony Oil Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and its exploration for oil in Lawrence County, Kentucky and Burning Springs, West Virginia. The materials were previously arranged together as a scrapbook, but have been disassembled with the papers left in their original order. The collection is mostly comprised of correspondence, much of which has been transcribed, but there are also some legal, financial, and business papers. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded UK Libraries a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant to digitize 132 cubic feet (264,000 pages) of portions of the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection held in UK Special Collections, focusing on 189 years of economic development in the Eastern Kentucky coalfield from 1788 to 1976. The ten individual collections document the search for, extraction of, and distribution of coal, oil, and natural gas resources in Breathitt, Boyd, Clark, Floyd, Harlan, Lawrence, Letcher, Perry, and Powell counties; the creation of railroads to bring these raw materials to industrial manufacturers and electrical power generators across the United States; and the company towns, their services, and the individual lives that grew up to sustain and make possible this economic development. 

Marshall A. Webb papers online

We are pleased to announce that the Marshall A. Webb papers have been digitized and are now available on ExploreUK.

Marshall Webb (1922-2004) was a World War II veteran and lifetime resident of Campbellsville, Taylor County, Ky. He served in the 5th Army, 85th Infantry Division, 339th Infantry Company E. from 1942-1945, earning a purple heart medal and a bronze star.

Webb’s papers comprise primarily photographs, poetry notebooks (digitized copies only), a diary/address book/photograph album, and a memorial scrapbook of copied and original items, all documenting Webb’s U.S. military service during World War II, 1942-1945. He served mainly in Italy. Military photographs include photographs of prison camp Dachau; Adolf Hitler; and two panoramic group images of the 5th Army, 85th Infantry Division, 339th Infantry Company E in 1942 when Webb was mustered in. Webb included handwritten notes about his military service on the cardboard backing of the panoramic photographs.

The collection also includes other poetry he wrote while in service; military orders and other records; two V-mail cards (1944-1945); his wife, Opal Keen’s, ration book (Grant Park, Ill.); personal and family photographs (1890s-2000s). There are also items related to Webb’s oral history interview, including an address book/diary in which he records the name of the prison camp he could not remember during the interview with interviewer Colonel Arthur Kelly; and his 50th wedding anniversary citation from the Kentucky State Senate on a motion from Col. Kelly’s son, Senator Dan Kelly (1997).

 

The full finding aid can be viewed here. The UK Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History recorded an interview with Marshall Webb in 1986, which can be heard here.

Eugene Doren photograph collection on the Winchester, Kentucky Post Office now online

TheEugene Doren photograph collection on the Winchester, Kentucky Post Office,1912-1935, contains 49 items showing the construction of the post office in 1912 and photographs of the post office's rooftop addition in 1935.

The full finding aid can be viewed here.

Above: "Post office rooftop addition. U.S. Post Office // Winchester, Kentucky // February 26, 1935 // South Elevation showing Structural Steel // for 2nd floor typed on verso"

The National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey: Kentucky Photographic Collection now online

The National Park Service,Historic American Buildings Survey: Kentucky Photographic Collection,1935-1936, is now available on the Kentucky Digital Library. 

The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) was begun by the National Park Service, a division of the United States’ Department of the Interior. HABS attempts to catalog American buildings of historical, cultural, and architectural interest. Multiple formats are used to catalog the selected buildings: measured drawings, written histories, large-format photographs, etc.

This collection consists of 372 black and white silver gelatin prints taken as part of HABS. The collection is mostly comprised of private residences of historic importance, but public buildings and structures are also represented. 

The full finding aid can be seen here. 

Above: Bodley House, stairway; designed orconstructed by Samuel Long

Above: Loudoun House; designed or constructed in1850 by John McMurtry

Above: "Farmington” (Old John Speed Residence),spring house; designed or constructed in 1810

Above: Hike’s Place, corner detail of log outbuilding

Above: Captain Samuel Taylor House, stone fence;designed or constructed in 1790

Central Kentucky Photograph Albums Now on ExploreUK

We are pleased to announce that the Central Kentucky photograph albums, 1905-1920 (2013av004), have been digitized are are now available on ExploreUK.

The collection (0.2 cubic feet; 145 items) consist of two albums of photographs depicting scenes in Boyle, Mercer, Jessamine, and McCreary counties. The majority of the photographs feature landscapes in these counties, such as creeks, rivers, waterfalls, fields, and roads. Places shown include Dick’s (Dix) River, Wilson’s Run, the Knobs, Cumberland Falls, Camp Nelson, Hickman Valley, and Salt River. Notable subjects include covered bridges, mills, residences, hemp farming, and quarries. The photographs show High Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge as well as other unidentified bridges, several of them are covered bridges. Additionally, the albums contain several photographs featuring people, such as two depicting Jim Clay and Anne Clay at Mrs. Darbishire’s house (items 43a and 57) and one which shows a small crowd of people at a river baptism (item 72).

View the full finding aid here.

Above: "Two women on path to log cabins" 

Above: "Birdseye view of Cumberland Falls"

Above: "At Mrs. Darbishire's- Jim and Anne Clay and Dinah, 1920"