History Burgoo

Pass the Word Challenge – Week 2!

Lions, Tigers and Chimpanzees in KY!

Oral histories are diverse and you never quite know what you are going to hear.  The opportunity to listen to a variety of people tell their stories in their own words and the randomness of the conversations are some of the reasons why oral histories are so appealing and fascinating.  

The KY Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) Retirees Oral History Project is one collection with a lot of unique stories.  It seems like a fitting collection to highlight as summer begins and we want to spend more time outdoors.  Perhaps the title may not immediately capture the attention of someone who isn’t interested in gaming or wildlife.  However, listening to the stories of these retirees of the KDFWR provides the opportunity to learn about some of their great and unusual work experiences including dealing with all kinds of strange pets and unexpected wildlife.

Take this example of KDFWR retiree James Durell’s story about a lion in Frankfort: 

 Download Lion Story - James Durell - 2005OH03.6b

This is just one of the many stories that can be heard by listening to the interviews of the KDFWR Retirees Oral History Project.  In addition to stories about lions, pet deer and other animals, the retirees also discuss the establishment of conservation and wildlife education initiatives including the Salato Wildlife Education Center in Frankfort, Camp Earl Wallace on Lake Cumberland and Camp Robert Webb on Grayson Lake.  Interviewee Don Isom also tells some stories about the pranks staff members played on each other including one about hiding a dead fish in someone’s car.  Listen to more of Durell’s stories and interviews with other KDFWR Retirees to learn more about their experiences while working to preserve, restore and protect Kentucky's natural resources on Pass the Word.

Here’s another audio clip related to animals from the Veterinary Medicine in Western Kentucky Oral History Project that I hope you’ll enjoy:

Tiger and Chimpanzee Story - Paul Bailey - 2008OH06.6

Whether you are looking for animals, natural resources or another topic, Kentucky’s oral history collections deal with a wide variety of topics that can be searched through Pass the Word, Kentucky’s new, online, oral history discovery tool. 

Are you ready for your 2^nd Pass the Word challenge?  Relating to this week's theme about animals and natural resources, the challenge this week is to find which national park in Kentucky that celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2009.  Find an interview with someone who was directly involved with or affected by this park’s creation on http://passtheword.ky.gov and include the person's name as part of your answer.  

Submit your answer through the About section on Pass the Word.  Here’s where to find the About section on the Pass the Word homepage:

Your name will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a professional quality digital recorder when you respond to a challenge with a correct answer.  Make sure to include “Pass the Word Challenge” in the subject line and submit your answers by 8am EST on Friday morning.  Only correct answers submitted via this method will be eligible to be entered into the drawing.  Correct answers for the weekly challenge will be posted to the site’s homepage on Friday afternoon.  The results of the drawing will be announced at the end of August. 

 

 

Transforming students’ lives through the power of history!

On April 26 and 27, roughly 1,000 students from across the Commonwealth will meet at the University of Louisville for the 51st annual Kentucky Junior Historical Society Conference and Kentucky History Day. 

During their time in the Kentucky Junior Historical Society, KJHS students conduct research individually and in groups, cultivating skills of communication, collaboration and creativity and critical thinking.

Students presenting a project to judges during the 2012 conference.

 

Working in-depth on a personally-chosen project, participants collect oral histories, restore local landmarks, create dramatic interpretations of historical events and develop websites, competing to be one of the top students who will take their project to the University of Maryland in a bid for national honors.

The culmination of a year of work may lead up to just one day, but the impact can transform a student's life.

Take Emma, for example. "This has made a huge impact on Emma’s life," writes her mother, Rebecca. As a young child, Emma had a pronounced speech impediment affecting her confidence speaking in a public setting. Through years of speech therapy and small class settings she was able to present to her classmates, but it was her involvement with Kentucky History Day that changed everything.

"Kentucky History Day gave Emma an opportunity to become an expert in her topic of choice, which in turn, made her feel like she could speak with academic authority. The issue wasn’t about public speaking anymore; it was about sharing her expertise."

To ensure that any qualifying student has the opportunity to compete on the national level, the Kentucky Historical Society subsidizes the cost of each student's trip to Washington D.C. and the University of Maryland.

Donors are the people who make this dream a reality – state funding isn't available to send one single student to National History day.

Join Rebecca, Emma and other supporters of history education on April 24^th as the KHS Foundation, in partnership with the Kentucky Nonprofit Network, participates in Kentucky Gives Day, a special 24-hour day of giving.

During this one-day event you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Kentucky Historical Society Foundation, instantly making Kentucky History Day a reality for more students like Emma!

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KJHS is administered by the Kentucky Historical Society, which is an agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. KHS is committed to helping people understand, cherish and share Kentucky's history by providing connections to the past, perspective on the present and inspiration for the future. For more about the Kentucky Historical Society and its programs, visit www.history.ky.gov.

KHS Collections Corner: The Rude Osolnik Collection

 

Last Wednesday I pulled out many of the pieces from the Rude Osolnik collection for a researcher from the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. Since I had the pieces out, I thought I’d photograph and share some of them with you. The collection is made up of pieces made by wood artist Rude Osolnik and some of the tools that he used to make the pieces. 

 

Here is a little more background:

Mr. Osolnik began working at Berea College in the Industrial Arts Department in 1937. He taught wood turning there for 40 years. He also served on the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, helped found the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen and also started the Berea Crafts Festival in 1982. 

Mr. Osolnik was well known for his artwork throughout the United States and his work has been exhibited at museums such as Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta's High Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, The Yale Museum, The Speed Museum and the Kentucky Historical Society. One of his pieces was even given to the Queen of England by the U.S. Government. For more information about the artist visit his website at rudeosolnik.com or the KHS Objects Catalog. For more photos of this collection, visit the KHS Facebook page!

 

Candlestick, 1999.69.52

The Rude Osolnik Collection at KHS includes:
15 candlesticks
1 candlestick and book set
2 bowls
1 bowl with lid
8 cups and saucers
8 dinner plates
8 salad plates
9 bread plates
1 small plate with floral carving
1 twig pot
1 table
2 wood lathes
1 workbench
2 chisels
1 gouge

 

--Deb Rose Van Horn, Registrar

Creepy or Cool?

This suit of clothing was found at a Madison County burial site unearthed near Barnes Mill Road in Madison County in 2006. The Kentucky Archaeological Survey (KAS) was called out when a construction crew ran into an iron coffin with a bulldozer. The coffin and skeletal remains were later reburied by KAS. 

This piece was dated based on the style of the clothing and the style of the coffin. Iron coffins of this type were first used around 1845 and were seen up until the Civil War. During the war, the coffins were not produced because the iron was being used to make equipment. Some coffins of this style were made post-war as well. 

The burial was in an unmarked grave and the identity of the individual is not known at this time. However, research done by Madison Southern High School students indicates that the individual may be Samuel Stone, whose will was probated in 1854. The students found that the property off Barnes Mill Road was purchased in 1833 by John Stone, the father of Samuel and Alfred.  Samuel Stone's will is found in the collections of Eastern Kentucky University. The will describes the burial on the family property and calls for both a head and foot stone. He was a bachelor and left his estate to his father and brother.

Learn more about this artifact in the KHS Objects Catalog and in articles from The Richmond Register adn Coffin Talk.

Adventures in Paintsville!

This past weekend marked the 11the annual Eastern Kentucky Genealogy and History Conference in Paintsville Kentucky! Back in 2002, a group of researchers began what was then called the "Johnson County Reunion" to swap research notes and family stories in an attempt to re-connect with cousins and other local historians. This popular event soon grew out of its Johnson County confines and became the Eastern Kentucky Genealogy Conference. Each year this event, held on the third weekend in September, has grown bigger and better. With one of its largest attendances yet, a couple of KHS staffers had the opportunity to check things out and had loads of fun in the process!

 Here are a few snapshots from our trip!

Our very own Sarah Milligan speaking about Oral History and the best methods to use when interviewing family members.

My lovely audience after speaking to them about technology and genealogy - they were such a sweet bunch! At least they were still smiling AFTER my talk!

Cousin connection: My own cousins (L-R:Jodi Wright and Carolyn Mason Wright) from Scioto County Ohio Genealogical Society came down to represent those ancestors who had left the Eastern Kentucky area to find opportunities in the north. We found a new cousin connection that day with Mr. Edward R. Hazelett - a mutual descendant of Captain Henry Connelly - Revolutionary Soldier who is the ancestral patriarch of many Eastern Kentucky cousins! 

Our travels took us past the signs to Butcher Holler several times on our way to Jenny Wiley State Park where we stayed each night.

The host facility each year welcomes attendees and dresses to the nines for the Saturday evening dinner!

Special thanks to the coordinators this year - everyone was so welcoming and receptive to our sessions. For anyone with Eastern Kentucky roots, be sure to put this event on your calendar for next year as attendees come from all over, representing several counties and states to return "Home" to Eastern Kentucky!

--Cheri Daniels, KHS Senior Librarian/Reference Specialist

Fun finds from the Folklife Archive

        Greeting from the Folklife Archive!  I am over half-way done processing the Kentucky Folklife Program Collection and along the way I have found several cool projects Folklorist, Bob Gates, and his crew have worked on.  Two media projects that I found super cool are Live From the Old State Capitol Stage CD and More than Music: A Heritage Driving Tour of Kentucky’s Route 23.  

        Since 1997, the Kentucky Folklife Festival has celebrated Kentucky’s rich cultural heritage.  From 1997-2007 hundreds of folk artists from all over the Commonwealth have shared their diverse traditions with festival visitors.  In 2001, Live from the Old Capitol Stage: Selections from the Kentucky Folklife Festival, Volume 1 CD was produced by Doug Boyd and Brent Bjorkman.  The musical selections in this sampler come from festival performances recorded between 1998 and 2000 on the Old Capitol Stage and showcase the depth and extent of musical talent in the great state of Kentucky.    Recently Folklorist Mark Brown gave me several additional copies of the CD, but these were special, they were all autographed! 

Signatures on the CDs include the famous instrument maker and bluegrass artist Homer Ledford; the originator of Newgrass, Sam Bush; Zoe Speaks (Carla Gover and Mitch Barrett); Jean Ritchie; and several from the great Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Singers: Luther Scruggs, Eric Riley and Greg Page.  Other artists featured on the CD include: Rob McNurlin and the Beatnik Cowboys; The Rigsby Boys; Eddie Pennington; Dale Ann Bradley and Coon Creek; Cari Norris, Roger Cooper and the Might Gospel Harmonizers to name a few.

 

Live from the Old State Capitol Stage: Selections from the Kentucky Folklife Festival Volume 1

        The second media project that really impressed me is the More than music: A Heritage Driving Tour of Kentucky’s Route 23. Country music owes a great deal of its heritage to the stretch of US Route 23 in Eastern Kentucky.  Officially-named “Country Music Highway,” travels through the hometown of more country music stars than any other road! Dwight Yoakam, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs and many more legends trace their roots to Route 23.  After the designation of Route 23 as the "Country Music Highway" in 1997, the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Folklife Program selected the Route 23 Corridor for a pilot project.  Eight Kentucky counties participated in the project which explored the potential for cultural/heritage tourism development from a regional perspective.  During the summer of 1998, four folklorists were assigned to the region to conduct cultural resource surveys and to learn more about the culture behind the Country Music Highway. The eight counties that were studied included Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, Letcher, and Pike. 

More than a Music: A Heritage Driving Tour of Kentucky's Route 23

        The tour is based on more than 60 interviews conduected by Judy Sizemore and Casey Billings as well as information gained through the research of the folklife surveys.  Interviewees who appear on the CD include Loretta Lynn, Ralph Stanley, Patty Loveless, and Crystal Gayle.  In addition to the well-known country music artists, the listener will hear stories from local residents and artists including Minnie Adkins and members of David Appalachian Craft.  There are interviews with regional authors like Ken Slone and Linda Scott DeRosier, as well as workers of traditional jobs such as coal mining and railroad working.  The goal of the project was to help the visitor experience the rich culture of the area by not only providing them with this entertaining and educational information, but encouraging them to spend time in the region exploring many of the historic and cultural sites. 

The packaged project includes 3 audio CDs of the actual tour, narrated by Ricky Skaggs, one audio compilation of musicians referenced from the driving tour, and one guide book, complete with photos, maps, and additional contextual information. The Tour was released at the 2005 Kentucky Folklife Festival.  Artists featured on the driving tour: Dwight Yoakum, Lee Sexton, Zoe Speaks, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley, Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle, Roger Cooper, Rob McNurlin, Gary Stewart, Stanley Brothers, The Judds, Indian Bottom Old Regular Baptists and Carla Gover. 
        The project was note-worthy because it came out of a visionary meeting including a wide representation of local residents. The resulting survey was considered innovative at the time because of the strong input of the Highway 23 Cultural network. The network went on to become incorporated and 8 new arts councils were developed.  So if you are looking for an adventure and want a see Eastern Kentucky from a different perspective I encourage you to buy a copy of More than Music: A Heritage Driving Tour of Kentucky’s Route 23. Written by Judy Sizemore and Narrated by Ricky Sckaggs for $24.99, contact Mark Brown at mark.brown@ky.gov for more information. 

Buy your copy today for $24.99!!

        While these are only two out of over a hundred projects I have discovered in the Kentucky Folklife Program Collection, I have learned so much about the Commonwealth while processing. The collection has shaped my experience of living in Kentucky and has allowed me to learn about things I may have never known about.  While the Kentucky Folklife Program Collection is still in its first stage of processing, there are some amazing resources within this collection!

~Project Archivist Heather Stone

Exploring Kentucky’s Craft Industry

In 2009 and 2011, the Kentucky Oral History Commission, administered by the Kentucky Historical Society awarded funding to support oral history documentation of specific aspects of the craft industry in eastern Kentucky. Amanda Fickey, the project's director highlights below this project and her Ph.D research. The interviews for this collection are housed at the University of Kentucky Nunn Center for Oral History and will abe available to the public in 2015.  - SM

 

Since the mid-twentieth century, Central Appalachia’s regional economy has suffered due to decreases in extractive industries. As jobs have been lost, many individuals have turned to alternative economic practices, such as small-scale agriculture and craft production, to make ends. Such practices however, are not new. Woodland agricultural methods prevalent among Native American tribes and early European  settlers were comprised of numerous economic activities. Though such activities may have lessened with the rise of industrialization and wage-labor throughout the region, small-scale craft and agricultural production continues to be important economic practices that allow people to make a living and remain in their homeplace.

My dissertation research, titled “Redefining development: Exploring alternative economic practices in Appalachia,” seeks to better understand the economic decisions that craft producers make in their everyday lives and the diverse practices that exist within the context of Eastern Kentucky’s craft industry. For example, some craft producers strive to own an individual studio, while others explore cooperative production and distribution methods. Craft organizations are diverse as well, relying on wage-labor, barter, and volunteerism.

Exploring both capitalist and non-capitalist practices allows us to broaden the sorts of economic activities might be recognized as development worthy. This project also seeks to better understand the work biographies of both craft producers and arts-related organizational leaders through oral history. With funding provided by the Kentucky Oral History Commission (Phase I Grant, 2009; Phase II Grant, 2011) I have conducted interviews with craft producers, arts-related organizational leaders, and state representatives associated with the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program. The study includes interviews from throughout the region of Eastern Kentucky as well as materials gathered from individuals at regionally and state-based arts organizations. Interviews are triangulated with archival and historical research.

This project is part of my much larger research agenda which seeks to find a new path forward for the Appalachian region. Having grown up the daughter of a coal miner in Letcher County, I have experienced, first hand, the difficulties of growing up in the mountains. My work, teaching, and service are dedicated to reimagining what is possible for the future of the region and redefining the ‘good life’. This requires exploring new development possibilities (including capitalist and non-capitalist practices) and reevaluating old growth-based economic development strategies.

I am personally interested in the use of language by policy makers and development practitioners to render economic development practices technical and devoid of contextual specificity. In 2011, my paper: “Rendering Regional Development Technical: An Examination of ‘Appalachia: A Report by the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission, 1964,’” received the Carl A. Ross Paper Award from the Appalachian Studies Association. Throughout this paper, I argue that policy documents produced by the Appalachian Regional Commission have often limited economic imaginings through the perpetuation of regional stereotypes and short-term, decontextualized strategies. In all of my research pertaining to development and anti-development, I seek to counter such approaches and aid in the creation of long-term strategies that address broader structural issues.

Furthermore, I think that to offer new economic strategies in the region we have to take into consideration political economy and ecology. For example, despite state and regional-based efforts to provide financial support for craft production, arts and development organizations must also take into account ecological concerns. Raw materials that crafters use (such as hardwoods) often face ecological threats which are rarely if ever recognized by arts-related organizations. In an effort to explore both economic and ecological concerns, I partnered with Dr. Lynne Rieske-Kinney, Department of Entomology at the University of Kentucky, to create an on-line database – specifically for craft producers – with images and information pertaining to ecological threats facing the Central Appalachian region.

Much work remains to be done. Further analysis of the craft industry must take place and new economic development practices, beyond resource extraction, are yet to be fully explored. In a region plagued with a history of resource extraction, which has resulted in diseases such as Black Lung and a significant increase in the number of infants born with birth defects near mountaintop removal sites(1), the search for new development strategies is both critical and urgent.

--- Amanda Fickey

 Author Amanda Fickey is a PhD Candidate in the department of geography at the University of Kentucky. Amanda has authored papers in the Journal of Appalachian Studies, PRISM: A Journal of Regional Development, Geography Compass, and disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. She is also the author of a new foreword in the paperback edition of The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990, available now from the University of Tennessee Press. To learn more about Amanda and her work, please visit her website: http://amandafickey.wordpress.com.

References

1. Ahern, M., M. Hendryx, J. Conley, E. Fedorko, A. Ducatman, and K. Zulling. 2011. “The association between mountaintop removal mining and birth defects among live births in central Appalachia, 1996-2006.” Environmental Research 111(6): 838-846.

Images

1. Photographer: Amanda Fickey. Event: Kentucky Craft Market, 2012, Lexington, Kentucky. Artist/Organization: Bountiful Baskets by Jan.

2. Photographer: Amanda Fickey. Event: Kentucky Craft Market, 2012, Lexington, Kentucky. Artist/Organization: The Weavery

3. Photographer: Amanda Fickey. Event: Kentucky Craft Market, 2012, Lexington, Kentucky. Artist/Organization: http://www.jamisonbrumm.com/home.

 

 

Arab and Jewish Women in KY

A new addition to the University Press of Kentucky Oral History Series, Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accomodation and Audacity reflects the not-so-hiddent diversity in the state, and also illustrates the power of oral history to document the human story. This project was proudly supported in part through a Kentucky Oral History Commission project grant. Author Rosie Moosnick shares this blog post as an enticement for her recent publication:

 

Arabs, Jews. Kentucky? Strong images surface when thinking about Arabs, Jews, and their religions and lands. Kentucky is not normally a state that comes to mind when talking about Arabs and Jews. It’s not New York or Michigan. The book, Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity, seeks to challenge misconceptions and to overcome neglect of Arabs and Jews in out of the way places in America by imparting the stories of ten Arab and Jewish women in Kentucky. The intention is to confound simplistic notions of Kentucky that offend and belittle and to reveal likenesses between Arabs and Jews.

Arabs and Jews have been largely discounted as residents of the region even though, as business owners, they have provided goods for residents across the State. Their stories are ones of immigrants who supply daily lives and have done so for several generations, the people who provide(d) movie entertainment, clothes, meats, fine furnishings, shoes, and cell phones among other items. Vibrant communities exist(ed) in Kentucky. According to the Arab American Institute, for instance, Kentucky’s Arab population “is among the fastest growing Arab populations in the country.”

Placing KY Arab and Jewish women side by side, moreover, shows intricate lives. Lives like those of the Myer sisters, who never married or had children in Hopkinsville, Kentucky from the 1930s to the 1980s but were movers and shakers in the community and in their elegant women’s dress shop, Arnold’s. These unlikely Jewish Kentuckians also longed for New York. “Don’t bury me in Hopkinsville, don’t bury me in Hopkinsville” was a refrain they repeated to their only nephew.

Or take the life of Teresa Isaac. She is a contemporary Arab American politician who was mayor of Lexington, the second largest city in Kentucky, from 2002-2006. In some ways she is like any other politician today, raising funds and shaking countless people’s hands. Unlike other politicians, however, she claims an Arab American identity, and unlike other Arab American Christians with long roots in this country, she does not shun  Muslim Arabs, but instead reaches out to them publicly. She also owns her roots in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. “I identify very much with the mountains, very much with the mountains, and always when I meet somebody else from the mountains, it’s like there is an automatic connection.

Somebody tells me they’re from a county in Harlan, around Harlan, it will feel like an immediate connection even if I may not have ever met them before. I feel like an immediate bond, same way as I would feel if somebody came up and said that they were Lebanese, it’s the same feeling if they told me they were from the mountains.”

In a political environment where tensions are high between Arabs and Jews, even in America, women’s stories have the potential to bring the two groups together and to promote a deeper understanding of Arabs and Jews who have settled outside of the Middle East and urban locations in this country.

--Rosie Moosnick 

(Author Nora Rose Moosnick is a visiting scholar in the department of sociology at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of Adopting Maternity: White Women Who Adopt Transracially or Transnationally and lives in Lexington, Kentucky.)

(Images: Top, book cover. Middle, Arnolds Store in Hopkinsville, KY. Bottom, Teresa Isaac while visiting Pakistan - courtesy R. Moosnick)

Behind the scenes at the opening of "The Makings of a Master: Kentucky Folk Art Apprenticeships"

        I’ve had some interesting assignments in the two and a half years I’ve been a volunteer at the Kentucky Historical Society. One of the most enjoyable was spending an evening with Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press.

        Since I’m a bluegrass music fan it wasn’t a hard decision when the call came for volunteers to help with the September 15th opening of ”The Makings of a Master: Kentucky Folk Art Apprenticeships” exhibition and the concert to mark the Bill Monroe centennial.

     Bob Gates, director of the Kentucky Folklife Program, surprised me with the assignment of looking after the musicians -- showing them where the food and soft drinks were and making sure they could get in and out of the locked doors to their tour bus.

     What a nice group of guys!

     When I informed Bobby Osborne about the cold sweet tea in the “green room” (the education rooms off the main lobby), he told me how he had gone off tea while fighting as a Marine in Korea. He said he had gotten too many cups of lukewarm tea when what he really wanted was something cold. 

     Bobby passed on the food and tea, but other members of the band dug into the fried chicken box suppers.

     While waiting with the band members until time to go onstage, I spotted a small electronic device clipped to the neck of Joe Miller’s guitar. Miller explained that the digital readout allowed him to tune his guitar, even when the rest of the band was playing. Bobby Osborne Jr. also had one on his five-string bass.

     It was a great concert! One of the highlights was the appearance with Osborne and the X-Press by Cory May, a young musician from Kentucky.

     I had a chance to talk to Cory early in the evening. It’s easy to tell he’s very passionate about his music. His talent and long hours of practice were evident when he played both guitar and mandolin and sang with Osborne and his band.

     "The Makings of a Master: Kentucky Folk Art Apprenticeships" will be open at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History through December 10 and will then tour the state through 2014.

     The next concert in the Folklife series will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, and feature the Reel World String Band, Carla Gover and Jeri Katherine Howell. The exhibition and concert are free with admission to the Kentucky Historical Society.

     I’m looking forward to it!

-Jim Gill, KHS volunteer since 2009. Jim also blogs at Searchin' for Kinfolk.

All photos by the Kentucky Folklife Program.

"Signs" of the Time

 

When you think of the Civil War what comes to mind? If it's slavery, Abe Lincoln, and the colors blue and grey, you’re in the ballpark.  If you can name a few states that pledge allegiance to either the Confederacy or the Union, recognize the name “Gettysburg”, or understand the term “Emancipation Proclamation”, you’ve done your homework.  If you can finish the sentence “Fourscore and seven years ago”, pick Stonewall Jackson out of a line up, and name the constitutional amendments that resulted from that four-year tussle, well consider yourself a pro.  I was hovering somewhere around pro status when I learned my pet project during my time here would consist of the Civil War.  Ah, but the caveat: My pet project during my time here would consist of the Civil War in Kentucky…

…And all my professional knowledge about the Civil War came to a screeching halt.

Not that I mind—I love learning history—but seriously: we’re talking about Kentucky.  Other than ironically being the birthplace of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, what history could there be?  So I did what curious minds do best when they have a question: research. But instead of hitting the books, I found a plethora of knowledge in the unusual place of historical markers scattered around Kentucky (you know, those bronze signs you see in random places of the state as you drive by).  Fortunately, I got to save my gas, because KHS did me a great service by cataloging all of the markers and making them available on their website: http://migration.kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=All. (Thank you!)

My three word summary of that process:  So. Much. History.  (Does that make me a super pro, now?)

I couldn’t begin to sit here and tell you all I’ve learned from just reading those signs—but I can riddle you this--find the answers to these questions by clicking on the links and finding the markers:

• What does Kentucky’s Civil War story have to do with Carson City, Nevada? (They're Historic Markers 79 and 1335 in the Marker Number Search engine)
• When you Google ‘Famous American Family Feuds’, why does a Kentucky clan pop up? (Type "McCoy-Hatfield" in the Keyword Search engine)
• Why does Campbellsville make such a big deal out of the Fourth of July? (Marker 605)
• He was doing what with that chain? (Marker 528)
• Who was Kentucky’s Confederate governor(s)? (Marker 610)
• What often neglected battle was of the most importance in the Civil War campaign? (Marker 553)
• So who, exactly, is “Sue”? (Keyword search "Sue Mundy")
• To what lengths did the CSA (and USA!) go to in order to discourage their opponents? (Keyword search "Civil War, Courthouses")
• Where did the legislative go? (Marker 522)
• And lastly: Was Kentucky to be the new (West) Virginia? (Marker 74)

There’s an incredible story about Kentucky’s involvement in the Civil War (and other Kentuckian topics!) just waiting for you to explore. Just waiting for you on that sign you go past while walking your dog.  So the next time you’re on the go in Kentucky, and you have a few minutes to spare, take one and pull over to read a historical marker sign—you’ll be surprised (as I was) with what you find!

 

--Kortnie Allen, Super pro

 Images:

Battle of Mill Spring, Ky., January 19, 1862.  Total routof the Rebel Army, by the gallant soldiers of the West under Generals Thomasand Schoepff. Martin F. Schmidt Collection of Kentucky Views, 2004.41.  2004.41.202