WKU News

Here is a list of March 2017 news items from the WKU Libraries Blog:

• A Woman with Pull:  Early in the 1900s, the crack of shotguns could be heard around the Bowling Green home of George and Anna Hobson.  Used for storing Confederate munitions during the Civil War, the property (now known as Riverview at Hobson Grove) was home to a trapshooting operation, and its star was the Hobsons’ young daughter, George Anna.
• Kentucky Live! presents Fenton Johnson and “The Man Who Loved Birds: A Novel”: Fenton Johnson will be the featured speaker in the next Kentucky Live Series at 7 p.m. April 20 at Barnes & Noble (1680 Campbell Lane).  He’ll be talking about his newest novel The Man Who Loved Birds which is set in Nelson County, Kentucky.
• Far Away Places presents Ronald Fritze and "Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession, and Fantasy": Historian Ron Fritze will be the featured speaker in the Far Away Places series at 7 p.m. April 13 at Barnes & Noble (1680 Campbell Lane). Fritze, the Dean of Arts & Sciences at Athens State University, will be talking about his newest book, Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy.
• Shaker Collections in Manuscripts & Folklife Archives: The Manuscripts & Folklife Archives of WKU’s Department of Library Special Collections is the premier destination for anyone interested in the history of the South Union Shakers. Researchers can browse a list of our principal Shaker collections, which focus on South Union but include materials relating to other Shaker colonies.  
• McGuffey Readers on Exhibit: The Kentucky Library Research Collections has a display featuring early children’s readers.  William Holmes McGuffey (1800-1873) was a U.S. educator who is best remembered for his series of elementary school reading books called McGuffey Readers. Experts estimate that at least 120 million McGuffey Readers were sold between the years of 1836 and 1960. 
• New Collection Documents Hopkinsville Asylum: The Department of Library Special Collections recently purchased a rare collection (Small Collection 3093) of documents related to the operation of the Western Lunatic Asylum (now Western State Hospital) in the mid- to late-19th century. The 65 items in the grouping includes contracts for food, coal and linens, as well as contracts for building projects, inventories, and several fascinating documents related to a devastating 1860 fire.
• In Our Time: The inaugural issue of Time on March 3, 1923, introduced Americans to a weekly tradition of news-reading that continues to this day. At home on State Street in Bowling Green, Martha Potter warmed to the magazine’s format and content. “I am taking a new periodical ‘Time,’ she wrote her children in 1925, “which comes every week and which I like because it gives the news in short paragraphs, and is a very thin little volume which I can read in a short time.” She even suspected she could “get some valuable pointers from it” for her letters, which often ran to excessive length. In 1939, however, Martha was not so enthused when she wrote to Time complaining about some “cuss words” in letters to its editor.
• Far Away Places presents "The Dominican Republic: The Land Columbus Loved, or the Land that Loathes Columbus": Bellarmine historian Eric Roorda was the featured speaker March 23 in WKU Libraries’ Far Away Places series on the topic The Dominican Republic: The Land Columbus Loved, or the Land that Loathes Columbus.

Contact: WKU Libraries, (270) 745-6125