Coal, Camps, and Railroads Digitization Project

The University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) successfully completed work on its National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) digitization grant, resulting in online access to 140 cubic feet of materials from the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection. The materials from the Coal, Camps, and Railroads project are available to the public through the digital library ExploreUK.

 The newly digitized materials at UK focus on 189 years of economic development in the Eastern Kentucky coalfield from 1788 to 1976. The 10 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 individuals who grew up and made possible this economic development.

 These collections include the Benham Coal Company records, Wheelwright collection, Sherrill Martin papers, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and Lexington and Eastern Railway Company records, and the Kentucky Union Land Company records. Additional details on the collections can be found at http://uknow.uky.edu/content/coal-camps-and-railroads-digitizing-primary-sources-appalachian-economic-development.

Above: From the Means family papers

UK SCRC was originally awarded the NEH’s Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (HCRC) grant for the Coal, Camps, and Railroads project in 2013. The HCRC program supports projects that provide an essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Thousands of libraries, archives, museums and historical organizations across the country maintain important collections of books and manuscripts; photographs, sound recordings and moving images; archaeological and ethnographic artifacts; art and material culture; and digital objects. Funding from this NEH program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology.

 UK Special Collections Research Center is home to UK Libraries’ collection of rare books, Kentuckiana, the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Combs Appalachian collection and ExploreUK. The mission of the center is to locate and preserve materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

 Below: From the Kentucky Union Land Company records

Seaton family papers

The Seaton family papers have been digitized and are now available on ExploreUK.
This collection primarily relates to the Means family of Ashland, Kentucky, who played a dominant role in the development of the iron industry in the Hanging Fork region of southern Ohio and in eastern Kentucky. They also played a prominent part in the development of both river and rail transportation in the area and in the formation of Ashland, Kentucky as an industrial city. These papers include both personal and business-related correspondence, financial records, legal documents, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, journals, scrapbooks, and photographs.    

This collection was digitized as part of the Coal, Camps, and Railroads project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Calvert McCann photographs

The wonderful collection of Calvert McCann photographs has been digitized and are now available on ExploreUK.

Above: Dunbar High School student, Deloris McDowel, at a lunch counter sit-in at the Lexington F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter

The Calvert McCann photographs (dated 1961-1964; 3.7 cubic feet; 7 boxes) consist of 20 black and white photographic prints depicting the Civil Rights Movement in Lexington and Frankfort, Kentucky. The photographs show sit-ins at lunch counters, demonstrations in downtown lexington, Louis Armstrong refusing to cross a picket line at the Phoenix Hotel, and the March on Frankfort led by Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralphy Abernathy, Wyatt Tee Walker, and Jackie Robinson.

Above: March on Frankfort led by (from left) Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ralph Abernathy; Wyatt Tee Walker; and Jackie Robinson
 
Calvert McCann (1942-2014) was a teenager when he began participating in marches and demonstrations as part of the civil rights movement in Lexington in the 1960s. While a part time employee at Michael’s Photography Store in downtown Lexington, McCann began to document these experiences on a Pentax 35mm camera that he carried everywhere. He photographed demonstrations in downtown Lexington, sit-ins at lunch counters, protests at the Phoenix Hotel, and the March on Frankfort led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Much of the footage he took remained undeveloped until the early 2000s when McCann gave the film to Gerald Smith. Smith used the images in his book Black America Series: Lexington, Kentucky.

Above: Henry Jones and his younger brother leading a demonstration on Lexington’s Main Street, circa 1960s

Means family papers digitized

The Means family papers have been digitized and are available on ExploreUK! A prominent iron and river and rail transportation family, the Means played an important role in the formation of Ashland, Kentucky as an industrial city.

This collection was digitized as part of the Coal, Camps, and Railroads project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Wheelwright collection digitized

The Wheelwright collection has been digitized and is now available on ExploreUK. This is one of several Appalachian collections digitized by UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities funded Coal, Camps, and Railroads project.
Wheelwright, located in eastern Kentucky’s Floyd County, is a town developed by Elk Horn Coal Corporation in 1911. Purchased by Inland Steel in 1920, the coal town was expanded to include services as a hotel, library, hospital, golf course, movie theater, bowling alley and department store. Because of its success, Wheelwright is often referred to as a model “company town”. By the mid 60s, however, conditions were deteriorating and the town was sold to Island Creek Coal and later Mountain Investment Company. By the early l970s Island Creek shut down its mining operations, leaving Wheelwright with a severe employment crisis.
 

Above: Blueprint detailing a three room miner’s house (Wheelwright collection)
Below: Slide depicting the same three room house plan (Karl Raitz Kentucky slides)

This collection contains records from three of the companies that owned Wheelwright: Inland Steel, Island Creek, and Mountain Investment. The Inland Steel section contains little about the mining operations but is rich in details about the town itself. House and building improvements and maintenance records, monthly and annual reports on the properties and general office files covering topics from “Air conditioners” to “Woman’s Club”, create a vivid picture of company town life–from the company’s perspective. Unfortunately, these records are incomplete, covering primarily the l950s and early l960s. The Island Creek records are primarily those of the coal operations, containing daily time reports, records of employee earnings, mine reports, and office files. The Mountain Investment Company section thoroughly records that company’s ownership of Wheelwright from l966 until l979 when it sold the town to the Kentucky Housing Corporation, a state agency. The documentation includes utility files–from meter readings to financial records; accounts payable; an extensive house and building file containing everything from maintenance to payment records; and office files.

This collection was digitized as part of the Coal, Camps, and Railroads project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

 

Above: Blackout regulations for Wheelwright (Wheelwright collection)
Below: Hand drawn plans for a tower operator (Wheelwright collection)

New Collection Guides on ExploreUK

University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center is pleased to announce the following resources have been digitized and are now available on ExploreUK.

Archive of American Folk Song, Alan and Elizabeth Lomax Kentucky collection (2015av004)
The Archive of American Folk Song, Alan and Elizabeth Lomax Kentucky collection (dated 1937 September-October; 60.5 gigabytes; 228 sound discs with 847 songs) consists of field recordings made on Presto discs by folklorist Alan Lomax and his wife Elizabeth Lomax in eastern Kentucky in September and October 1937 for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress.

Appalachian Leadership and Communiy Outreach (ALCOR), Inc. records (1997ms357)
The Appalachian Leadership and Community Outreach, Inc. (ALCOR) records (dated 1967–1982, undated; 49 cubic feet; 49 boxes and 1 flat box) contains documents and some audio/graphic materials related to the educational and recreational programs sponsored by the organization in Eastern Kentucky. The collection has administrative office files, partnered college files, development fundraising files, Coordinated Consumer Health Education Project Files. File topics also include those on board members, contracts, equipment, program planning and policy, campus directors, college programs, and program training. Photographs document the programming organization by ALCOR.

University of Kentucky Athletic Association records (0000ua247)
The University of Kentucky Athletic Association records (5.6 cubic feet, 15 document boxes, 1 slim document box, 1 folder; dated 1899-1976, bulk dates 1914-1952) primarily comprise correspondence, Southern Conference eligibility certificates, and financial records documenting athletic programs and their administration at the University of Kentucky from 1914 to 1931 and 1942-1947.

University of Kentucky Amateur Radio Club records (1984ua017)
The University of Kentucky Amateur Radio Club records (dated 1927-1938; 1.35 cubic feet, 5 boxes) consists of club information, correspondence between the University and the club, awards that the club received, logs from the radio station, and photographs of club members.

Ron D. Eller papers (2013ua007)
The Ronald D Eller papers (dated 1852-2013, undated; 38.2 cubic feet; 36 record storage cartons, 1 half record storage carton, 3 flat boxes, 1 wrapped item) comprise administrative files, research files, and correspondence that primarily document Eller’s academic and administrative career in Appalachian studies with the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center and his professional projects with national and regional organizations to improve Appalachian economic development.

University of Kentucky. Appalachian Center records (1984ua029)
The Appalachian Center records (dated 1978-1981, undated; 0.35 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise correspondence, administrative and financial records, and grant proposal materials that document the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center in its early years under the leadership of John B. Stephenson.

Thomas H. Chilton correspondence (2013ms0628)
The Thomas H. Chilton correspondence (dated 1860-1898; 0.01 cubic feet; 8 items) comprises correspondence between Chilton and his wife, Blanche M. Chilton, and his two college friends, James Bellamy and Joseph Thompson. The letters document college and domestic life, Chilton’s experiences as a traveling salesman, and local news during the 19th century.

Henry Clay account book (70m39)
The Henry Clay account book (dated 1797-1847; 0.23 cubic feet; 1 box) consists of a bound volume of contracts and transactions maintained by Henry Clay and various Kentuckians.

Betty Congleton papers (2010ms038)
The Betty Congleton papers (dated 1756-2006; 16 cubic feet; 37 boxes) consist of research files, correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, diplomas, and memorabilia pertaining to Betty Congleton’s career as a historian.

Southern Appalachian Poetry records (2012ms077)
The Southern Appalachian Poetry records (dated 1989-2010; 2 cubic feet; 4 legal document boxes and 1 slim document box) consists of correspondence with and submissions by poets; drafts of the manuscript; and grant, publication, and publicity materials for Southern Appalachian Poetry: An Anthology of Works by 37 Poets (McFarland, 2008), edited by Marita Garin.

Dr. A.L. Crabb, Supper at the Maxwell House manuscript (60m114)
The Alfred Leland Crabb Supper at the Maxwell House manuscript (dated circa 1943; 0.25 cubic feet; 1 box) consists of a manuscript of Crabb’s second novel.

Craig-Brooking family papers (2010ms007)
The Craig/Brooking family papers (dated 1807-1905, bulk 1857-1869; 1.31 cubic feet; 3 boxes) consist of photocopied papers from the children, siblings, and other relations of A.G. and Virginia Craig.

Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, Tevis, and Potter papers (1997ms142)
The Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers (dated 1678-1981, undated; 1.18 cubic feet, 8 boxes) comprise incoming and outgoing correspondence, real estate and financial documents, genealogies, business documents, letters, newspaper clippings and newsletters, photographs, and ephemera documenting the personal lives and business activities of members of these families.

Jim Newberry Collection on the Governor’s Task Force on Health Care Reform (2015ms090)
The Jim Newberry Collection on the Governor’s Task Force on Health Care Reform (dated 1986-1994; 1.05 cubic feet; 3 boxes) consists of material collected by Jim Newberry during his service as chair of the task force appointed by Governor Brereton C. Jones.

James Holsinger collection on military documents (2015ms088)
The James Holsinger collection on military documents (dated 1905-1990, undated; 4 cubic feet; 4 boxes) comprises U.S. Army manuals, handbooks, and intelligence reports primarily regarding Soviet tactics.

Joe Creason papers (1997ms123)
The Joe Creason papers (dated 1889-1992, bulk 1940-1974; 28 cubic feet; 78 boxes) comprises journalist Joe Creason’s articles, biographical materials, photographs, memorabilia, correspondence, speeches, subject files, and publications.

Wid Page collection on the Marlowe Coal and Tire Company (2003av061)
The Wid Page collection on the Marlowe Coal Company (dated 1918-1998, undated; 0.33 cubic feet; 1 box) consists of seventy-three photographic prints, correspondence, records, photocopies, receipts, and newspaper clippings concerning the Marlowe Coal Company.

Red Scare in the Presbyterian Church Collection (2016ms025)
The Red Scare in the Presbyterian Church Collection (dated 1944-1962, undated; 0.68 cubic feet; 2 boxes) consists of printed materials, pamphlets, publications, newspaper clippings, and correspondence documenting the Red Scare in Maysville, Kentucky, and in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.