WKU News

The Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University will receive a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the Preservation Assistance Grants program. One of 238 humanities projects from across the country to receive funding, the Kentucky Museum is one of three successful applications from Kentucky program-wide to receive an NEH grant.

“These challenging times underscore how important the humanities are to making American culture and world history relatable across generations,” stated NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede on July 29. “NEH is proud to award hundreds of grants to keep our nation’s scholars, students, teachers, and citizens moving forward in pursuit of new knowledge and understanding.”

This grant will be used to purchase a cabinet and preservation supplies to rehouse 19 articles of clothing designed and made by Mrs. A. H. Taylor, owner of a Bowling Green, Kentucky, clothing factory that made garments from 1880 to 1917, primarily for the American South and Southwest. In addition, historic textiles conservator Harold Mailand will prepare a report on the historic textiles collection with recommendations for future improvements in its care and housing. The collection documents female entrepreneurship at the turn of the twentieth century. The project is part of an ongoing research, conservation, and exhibition project conducted in partnership with Dr. Carrie Cox, Assistant Professor of Fashion Merchandising at WKU. The project seeks to conduct a conservation assessment of the garments, undertake conservation work to preserve the clothing, and result in a 2021 exhibition on Mrs. A. H. Taylor and her significance to Bowling Green, fashion, and entrepreneurial history. 

Kentucky Museum Registrar/Collections Curator Sandy Staebell noted, “The historic clothing collection is of particular interest to fashionistas young and old.  This NEH grant-funded project is one more step in a series of steps to improve the general care and housing of our collections.  It will allow us to preserve the nationally significant Mrs. A. H. Taylor Collection for study and enjoyment by future generations.”   

Due to COVID-19, the Kentucky Museum remains closed to the general public until further notice.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.