History Burgoo

Archiving the Kentucky Folklife Program Archive

What is Folklife???

                     

            If you have been to the Kentucky Folklife Festival held here in Frankfort, every  September for the last decade you may know a thing or two about the Kentucky Folklife Program.  The mission of the program is to identify, document, present and conserve the Commonwealth’s diverse cultural traditions, generally referred to as folklife.   The Kentucky Folklife Program acts to facilitate lifelong cultural education and maximize learning and research opportunities for Kentuckians through workshops, grants and traveling exhibits.  Over the last two decades, a team of Folklorists here at KHS have documented the traditions, culture and heritage of the great state of Kentucky.  I was recently hired under a National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant as the Project Archivist to process the Kentucky Folklife Program Collection.  My job is to help organize the programs records and documentation that they have produced.

                    My first task when I took on this project was to inventory the collection, to see what types of materials and how many materials I would be processing.  Since I began the project this past November I have gone through over 200 cubic feet of materials.  Roughly 3 months of inventorying this extensive collection.  The collection is made up of a wide array of materials including but not limiting: paper records, electronic records, photographs, floppy disks, mini DVs, cassette tapes, VHS, CDs and more!  These materials are the documentation that has been produced since the Kentucky Folklife Program began in 1989 in Berea, KY.  Everything from administrative records such as grant applications for the Apprenticeship program and Community Scholars program to actual field notes which can comprise of notes, photographs, slides, negatives, sound recordings and video (with decades of changing formats).  Although this is a challenging project, I am very excited to learn more about the Bluegrass state and some of the culture and traditions that are treasured here. 

                Many people may think of  bluegrass music and tobacco farming when it comes to the Folklife of Kentucky; however, the Kentucky Folklife Program has researched and surveyed a wide spectrum of folks and cultural ways that can describe Kentucky.  Within the collection I have found records on bluegrass and tobacco farming, but I have also found documentation on BBQ, Burgoo, Kentucky Derby Hats, Mammoth Cave, Basket making, and Story telling.  Even documentation of immigrant communities that have settled here in Kentucky over the years including: German, Chinese, Latino, Indian and Bosnian.  The Folklorists have traveled to close to 50 counties (still counting) across the state of Kentucky to document how Kentuckians live.  Even some big names such as Eddie Pennington, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, and Folklorist Mike Seeger, have appeared throughout the collection.

            Now that I have a better grasp of the quantity of materials that makes up the collection the next step is to begin piecing the puzzle together.  My job is to gather and organize all of the materials based on projects and if you can believe it I have discovered close to 200 projects so far. It has been estimated that there could be close to 400 total projects that the Kentucky Folklife Program has actually been a part of.  As I begin to piece together the large number of projects the Folklife Department has produced/participated in, my other goal is to evaluate the archival materials.  Part of my job is to create an Assessment Tool to be used to evaluate the archival materials and to note what will still need to be done for the future.  Since the collection contains a wide variety of materials I had to gather from multiple assessment tools that other archival repositories use and create one that would work for this collection specifically.  After doing research on methods of assessment and discovering a plethora of documents, I was able to create an evaluation form for the collection by merging several other repository's forms together.  The evaluation form will contain the project name, quantity of materials within each project, a check list for types of materials as well as several pages to evaluate storage conditions and material conditions.  For every project that the Kentucky Folklife Program has created or participated in, it will have its own evaluation form.   These forms will be helpful for the future archivists who will work with the collection and to assist them with looking more closely into preservation needs of the collection as a whole.   In the end I am trying to preserve the hard work that has been done to document the people and cultural ways of Kentuckians, in hopes that researchers can use the materials in the future. 

"People must know the past to understand the present and face the future."—Nellie McClung  

--Archivist Heather Stone

p.s. The Kentucky Folklife Program will be hosting the next Community Scholar Training Session at the Center for African American Heritage in Louisville, KY, March 12-April 23, 2012.  If you or anyone you know are interested please see flyer:   Download Community Scholars_Louisville.  For more information you can contact Amanda Hardeman--(502) 564-1792 ext. 4555 or amanda.hardeman@ky.gov.  The program welcomes anyone to apply, regardless of age or cultural background.  The more diversity the better!

*Video and photographs were provided by the Kentucky Historical Society. 

"Faux Sawyiers" discovered in KHS collections

Last winter the Museum Collections and Exhibition (MC&E) team spent several weeks re-cataloging the Paul Sawyier painting collection. Sawyier, an Impressionist from Frankfort, is known for his watercolor landscapes of central Kentucky and the Catskill area of New York. As we “waded” through painting after painting of images of the Elkhorn Creek and the Kentucky River, we began to get a sense of Sawyier’s style and technique. That’s why when we came across a painting entitled Main Street at Calvert Corner we realized something was not quite right. The lines weren’t as straight or crisp as Sawyier’s and the skill level wasn’t the same.

Main Street at Calvert Corner (1980.40.19)

After a bit of research we discovered that Main Street at Calvert Corner was a copy of Sawyier’s painting entitled A Rainy Day in Frankfort that we also have in the collection. Although each painting depicts the same scene it was obvious (even to us non-art historians) that they were done by two different people. As we continued to work our way through the collection we were able to identify five more so-called “faux Sawyiers.” Some were even signed with Sawyier’s signature! We know that Sawyier had students. We also know there were art classes in the 20^th century who copied Sawyier’s work as an exercise in technique. Although we don’t know who painted our copies, we do know who one of the Sawyier copyists was.

After writing about these “faux Sawyiers” in the fall 2011 issue of the Chronicle, I received an email from a KHS member in Louisville who had another copy of A Rainy Day in Frankfort. This one, painted by Eva Graham of Frankfort, had Sawyier’s signature but more importantly had been signed “copy by Eva S. Graham.” By looking at the photograph one can tell that Mrs. Graham was a much better artist that the person who painted the copy that we have. Eva Scottow Graham was born in 1878 and died in 1971, so it’s possible she either studied with Sawyier himself or she could have been a student later in the 20^th century. Graham also painted a copy of Sawyier’s Old Louisville Road that I think is better than the original.

A Rainy Day in Frankfort (2008.21.4)

I think it would be fun to do a mini-exhibition of the copies hanging next to the originals giving folks the opportunity to compare the two. One of the other items on our “things to do when we have time” list is to determine if Mrs. Graham painted any of the copies that we have. To be honest, only a couple of them would qualify as good enough to have been done by her. Most would fall in the category of “folk” or “primitive.” Unfortunately those ideas will have to wait until some time in the future. In the meantime, here are images of Sawyier’s A Rainy Day in Frankfort and the copy entitled Main Street at Calvert Corner. Can you tell which is the real Sawyier?

-Sara Elliot, KHS Curator 

 

Lunch conversation reveals unexpected oral history connection!

As a new staff member working with the oral history collections here at KHS, I recently got to experience an exciting coincidence that encapsulated Kentucky’s long-held commitment to documenting and preserving the stories of our commonwealth.

KHS director Kent Whitworth invited new staff and interns to join the executive board for their January board meeting lunch.  We were encouraged to mingle, and always being up for meeting new people, I sat down next to a friendly looking mustachioed man.  I introduced myself and asked his name and he told me he was Mike Mullins, executive director of the Hindman Settlement School.  Being a city girl (I live in Louisville) I only recently learned a bit about Hindman and asked Mr. Mullins if he knew James Still.  “Yeah, I knew him.  We had Thanksgiving dinner together every year for the last 32 years before he died.”   As we discussed his work at the historic settlement school one of the new interns, Jamie Holt, approached our table and asked if we minded if he sat down.  I had met Jamie a few days previously in the digital lab where we convert cassette tape recordings to digital files and I introduced the two.  As they chatted, they soon discovered they had something in common—oral history.

Jamie is finishing his degree from Alice Lloyd College with a semester-long Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities (AIKCU) internship with the Special Collections and Library team. Part of his work involves digitizing and uploading oral history interviews to the KHS digital collections website, as well as creating catalog records for some of our 9,000 interviews.   This task complements Jamie’s efforts in the library at Alice Lloyd where he and former AIKCU/KHS intern (and fellow Alice Lloyd student) Justin Maynard are working on the initial effort to digitize the nearly three thousand oral histories collected during the Appalachian Oral History Project (AOHP).  Founded in 1970, the AOHP ranks as the earliest large-scale oral history project conducted in Kentucky.  Sarah Milligan, administrator of the Kentucky Oral History Commission at KHS, has been advising Alice Lloyd on the digitization process and now supervises Jamie’s work with oral history during his time at KHS.   

Well, it turns out that prior to working as executive director at Hindman, Mr. Mullins taught classes at Alice Lloyd College and when Mr. Mullins heard about Jamie’s work on the AOHP he shared that he had actually recorded some of the original interviews and also directed his students in conducting interviews as part of their curriculum.  He told us about his favorite interviews from the project, those of Verna Mae Slone, quilter and doll maker among other things or as Mr. Mullins called her “Grandma Moses of the Mountains.”  Ms. Slone condensed her interviews into a book about her life in Appalachia called What I Want to Tell, a memoir she wrote for her family members, the first of six books she would write.  Mullins recounted the progression that Ms. Slone’s book took from hand-typed personal memories stapled together and passed out at family gatherings, to published work, and how proud he was when he opened up the newspaper on the beach one morning on vacation and saw Ms. Slone’s picture looking back at him.

As the desserts arrived, Mr. Mullins expressed appreciation to Jamie for the work he has done to preserve these invaluable histories of Kentucky’s heritage and I realized I was witnessing the progress of the oral history tradition in our commonwealth.  Mr. Mullins worked in the pioneering days to establish the value of oral history documentation and Jamie works today to help preserve and present these histories in the digital age.  I’m happy that digital technology has allowed me to capture and present this  auspicious meeting to you.

--Heather Fox, project archivist for Pass the Word: The Guide to Oral History in Kentucky

Are These YOUR Kentucky Ancestors? – New Blog Series Coming Soon!

If you’ve followed any of our recent posts about the winter season activities in the library, I’m sure you’ve noticed that we are not only covering ground fast, but are encountering some wonderful gems along the way! So, you might also wonder; "What is all this processing for? Don’t you already know what is in the library?" Of course we do, but as technology changed over the years, things were not always processed in a manner that made it easy for our catalog system to find items once we took things online - which means you, our patron, could not find them either without quite a bit of digging through paper finding aids, or spotty catalog search results! Tweaking our collection descriptions will allow the catalog to find more items related to your research and/or Family History!

 Ok, enough with the boring details – but what does all that MEAN?! The long and short of it is: we are re-discovering some amazing details about our collection that shed new light on Kentucky families. Many of you come to our research library with one purpose in mind – finding your family’s Kentucky history. As you conduct your research, I’m sure you’re familiar with the microfilm room, the vertical files and the published indexes/histories. When most of those records were printed or photographed for microfilm/publication, they were all gathered into one place – usually from local Court House collections – and filmed to create as complete a representation of that county’s history as was possible at the time. However, as we have all learned the hard way, those records can have all sorts of problems with them: Counties didn’t record some events in the early years, some counties had devastating fires that destroyed decades worth of records, and sometimes the quality of the paper/writing has deteriorated to a point of illegibility.

 This is where supplemental information can greatly enhance your research or fill in missing pieces! Your ancestors may have left a paper trail that extends beyond the scope of formal record keeping, in the form of photos, letters, personal transactions, organizational memberships, family Bibles or even store ledgers! Don’t forget, our ancestors were social beings just like us and were involved in groups, businesses and other social activities that produced letters and records. The key to finding these types of records for your research is by expanding your search to include special collections/archival records, which is mostly made up of “primary sources” and rare publications. These items, unless re-published at a later date, will not be found in the regular stacks of our library, nor even in the microfilm room. They can only be found by searching our online catalog and then requesting the items at our reference desk. Our staff will be more than happy to retrieve these unique pieces of history for you to explore here in the library.

 As we process more things this winter, we are bound to find more links to your Kentucky families, which can then be found by you as you explore our Collections Catalog. Remember, it is free for anyone to use from home – at any time of the year! We also have the Digital Collections and Objects Catalogs available that hold images of some of these unique items. After you have explored these three free catalogs for items relating to your family or research subject, keep checking back! We are busy adding more content to these catalogs and continue to enjoy these months of new discoveries as we open a new folder or box and meet someone new from Kentucky’s past!  

 As I wrap up this post, I would like to introduce you to a new blog series that can be found here regularly: Are These YOUR Kentucky Ancestors? Each Kentucky County has its own unique records, resources and original documents/photos that help to enrich its overall story. A few times each month, we will feature a new original source, publication, document, or photo from a different County that specifically mentions Kentucky families by name. Along with the wonderful re-discoveries from around our state, we hope to provide some background on the item presented or some tips on how to use this in your research. If any of the featured items add to your Kentucky Family’s story, let us know! Don’t forget! If you see something you want to explore in person, come visit our library when it is open to the public each 2^nd Saturday of the month, or during regular season hours when they resume on March 13^th! Stay tuned, you won’t want to miss what we find!

--Cheri Daniels

Confessions of a Costumed Interpreter

Historic Locust Grove is a Regency style home built around 1792 in Louisville, Kentucky. Home to the Croghan family, this National Historic Landmark welcomed three presidents, the famed members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and General George Rogers Clark. Owned by William Croghan (a surveyor and one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky) and his wife Lucy Clark Croghan (the sister of George
Rogers Clark and William Clark), Locust Grove was a major gathering place in Kentucky. Today, Historic Locust Grove hosts many events including: 18th Century Market Faire, Antique Fair, 18th Century Thunder Revolutionary War Encampment, patriotic picnics, lecture series, KJHS club, and an opportunity for visitors to tour the home and experience the magic of an 1800’s Christmas celebration.

On December 9-10, 2011 I participated in Candlelight Christmas at Locust Grove. Candlelight is a popular event at Locust Grove, during the second week of each December, where visitors connect with history through costumed interpreters (CI) like me! The house is decorated in Regency Style Christmas splendor while visitors participate through dancing, playing card games such as Whist, and conversing with the interpreters.

About three and a half years ago, my best friend introduced me to the world of costumed interpreting opportunities at Historic Locust Grove. To prepare for my CI role, I attend monthly meetings to learn from other interpreters and guest speakers. The group also learns current events of the early 1800’s, clothing styles, children’s activities, food preparation and presentation, day to day activities, and conversation points to use to engage visitors in enjoyable topics. Select members also participate in rehearsals of Regency period dances. Through the CI meetings I have made friends my age, and have met seasoned interpreters who have amazing storytelling talent and a passion for history.

When I began costumed interpreting I portrayed Eliza Croghan, the youngest daughter of William and Lucy Croghan of Locust Grove. However, she was only eight years old and I had recently turned 14 years old and grew six inches, which squashed the believability of me being a little girl. I was then given the character of Ann “Nany” Clark. Nany was the youngest daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Clark, the wealthiest family in Kentucky and the niece of George Rogers and William Clark.

To research my new character I discussed my “family” with the other interpreters, and researched and shared my new knowledge from the internet and meetings with local historians, on the CI blog. My favorite parts of the CI learning process are researching clothing styles and the dancing practices. Due to my recent growth spurt, a new dress was in order. I purchased authentic period fabric at the Jane Austen Festival (hosted annually at Locust Grove) and a friend sewed the dress for me in Regency style. To complete my transformation, my mom fixed my hair in “the latest Regency fashion,” and I wore my great-grandmother’s cameo necklace, which is almost a hundred years old, strung on a beautiful ribbon.

The final touches were placed around the grounds, the halls were “decked” with holly and greenery, the luminaries were lit, showing the way to the house, and the cold air urged the visitors toward the music and candlelight filled house. A large crowd of my family, friends, and members of my KJHS group arrived to enjoy an evening of history and treats from 1809. I spent most of the night dancing with short breaks to “introduce” myself to the guests. Both evenings went by so quickly and were full of music, dancing, and storytelling. Now, I can’t wait for next year!

Written by Clare Egan (KJHS Board Historian)

a.k.a. Nany Clark

For more information on Historic Locust Grove and costumed interpreting go to www.locustgrove.org or call (502)897-9845.

For more information on the Kentucky Junior Historical Society contact Cheryl Caskey at cheryl.caskey@ky.gov.

Winter Season Weeks 2 and 3

Well, we had a few holidays so we merged our accomplishments into one blog.  Hope you don't mind.  We have been cataloging like madhatters.  Our microfilm cataloging crew has knocked out 13 counties without knocking out or down each other. Carroll county gave us fits, but check it out online.  We are proud as peacocks!

Carroll County in the Online Catalog

 

Our maunscripts cataloging crew (same group as our microfilming crew) has cataloged over 250 collections.  Among our favorites are the Virginia Louise Hart Memory Book and a recipe book from 1858.  The Memory Book (SC 679) documents the senior year of high school for a young female graduate from Paducah High School, class of 1921.  We have all taken to chanting the senior year cheer:

Hail! Sleet! Thunder! Rain!

Get out of the way of the gravy train!

Hoot! Hoot! Seniors!

The book is full of calling cards, newspaper clippings, play programs and photos, but one page that sticks out as the most colorful showcases scraps of fabric cut from dresses worn by Virginia during her senior year.

 

Another page which earns an award for the most unique and possibly the most romantic highlights the tokens of affection given to Virginia by her male classmates in the form of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum wrappers.

 

 

We are thinking of taking on Virginia's senior class motto as our Seasonal mission statement:

"We build the ladder in which we climb."

 

Another item that had us drooling was the Elmore family recipe book (SC 808).  Besides recipes for several pies and cakes, this slim little volume had a recipe for a wine laud.  We don't know what a laud is used for but the three ingredients melted together are sugar, butter and wine.  Perhaps someone can try this out at their New Year's Eve party and tell us how it turns out!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the staff of the Special Collections and Library. 

Winter Season Week 1

The Special Collections and Library team started off the Winter Season with a party for the Governor, complete with cookies and punch.  Well, really, the Governor was having the Inauguration reception here at the Thomas D. Clark Center for History and the SC&L staff watched from the windows above Commonwealth Hall.  We did not have too many researchers on Tuesday, mostly lots of folks taking the opportunity to look around.  They got to see the SC&L team hard at work cataloging manuscripts.

So what did we accomplish in our first week?  Well let me tell you!  We cataloged 183 small manuscript collections, 20 large manuscript collections and 17 oversize collections.  One of my favorite discoveries was a trio of hotel registers from around central Kentucky covering the time period of the Goebel assassination. Apparently, the investigators collected these registers in the hopes that they would show the activities of the assassins.  On a side note, how many people remember actually signing into a hotel register?

Another highlight was SC 574 the George Delph account ledger, which has marginally interesting account information on a dry goods enterprise in Nicholas County.  It was later used, however, as a scrapbook by an unknown collector who decorated its pages with cut out images of fashion plates, political cartoons and product labels.  You can look forward to digital images appearing in the Digital Collection soon.

We also got together late Friday afternoon with our colleagues at the Kentucky Department of LIbrary and Archives to show them what we would be doing this Winter Season.  Since they will be answering lots of questions about our activities, we thought we would invite them in for a tour.

Not to be outdone, our Oral History staff met with 10 young women as part of the Staging Voices program with the Kentucky Commission on Women.  These high school students are learning how to create a theater piece using oral history as the raw material for their inspiration.  They will be doing 6 or 7 interviews with women who have served as advocates for women or who have effected change in the lives of other women. The students came in on Saturday to learn how to use the equipment and to do a practice interview with Sheila Mason Burton, who inarguably has done much for women in Kentucky.

Well, it is time to get to work.  Stay tuned for our next update on Tuesday December 27!  Merry Christmas everyone!

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.

Exploring the KJHS Archives (conclusion)

While exploring the KJHS archives I have come across every sort of document, photograph, and artifact but there is one last untapped resource I had yet to explore: oral history.

During the last few weeks of my internship, I had the pleasure of interviewing a past KJHS member, Sarah “Suzie” (Orrahood) Hall who, in 1971, was the second female president of KYHA (Kentucky Young Historians Association - it wasn’t known as the Kentucky Junior Historical Society until 1976). Sarah was very active during high school in her Owensboro KYHA chapter, organizing projects to clean up local cemeteries and entering projects into the essay contest at the state convention.

Campaigning for state office was always one of Sarah’s favorite activities in KYHA. She campaigned very hard in high school to be elected state historian, then state secretary, until finally she became state president in 1971 in the twelfth grade.  Sarah’s campaign slogan was “A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.” Becoming president was one of Sarah’s fondest memories, and one of her greatest achievements.

After leaving KYHA, Sarah continued to be active in the organization by mentoring women that also wanted to become state president. Sarah continued her interest in the past by majoring in history at Western Kentucky University and eventually practicing law. Sarah said that she became a lawyer because the campaigning in KYHA inspired her to pursue that profession. In the 90’s Sarah would return to the Kentucky Historical Society to provide legal council.

I asked Sarah why she thought it is important for today’s students to participate in KJHS. Her answer helped to put me to put history into a better perspective. “History is cyclical,” and “only with an understanding of global events in history can children understand what is going on in the nation.” Sarah is a substitute history teacher in Lexington and she is worried that current students might not be able to connect the past events of history with the present.

Sarah is currently organizing a walking tour of an African-American cemetery in Lexington and an outreach program for young African-American school children to visit historic sites. Programs such as this give children a chance to view history in their community.

Interviews help to prove that history isn’t simply just an event—it’s an ongoing process involving the entire community. While interviewing Sarah I remembered a book I read in graduate school called Presence of the Past by Roy Rosenweig. In the book, Rosenweig explains that there are two types of history; History (national and global events that effect us all, that are recorded) and history (events that shape all of our lives, though on a much more local or mundane aspect of life, that aren’t necessarily recorded). For me the connection came when I realized that everything we do is history. The events, documents and organizations that we create as a society may not make the history books, but they are just as important because they shape the lives of future generations of people in our community. Organizations such as KJHS and the Kentucky Historical Society, though created years ago, still continue to influence members of the community through their actions.  

In the case with Sarah Hall, her passion for history still influences the community today. It is this passion that will continue to serve the community, and also inspire other children to pursue their interest in history.

--Derrick Ranostaj

 

Images:

1.) KYHS chapter outside building in Hodgenville, ca. 1963.

2.) 1974 Harrodsburg High School Yearbook of KYHS chapter.

Oral History Based Radio Series on Displaced LBL Region

KHS Collection. 1987ph08.77. J.B. Bruce homestead, Eddyville, Ky. Described as: "This old log house is one of the few dwellings entirely within the 55, 000 acre forest preserve of Hillman Land in the 'In Between the Rivers' section of Lyon County." circa 1920. 

I recently heard from author, journalist and oral historian, Constance Alexander (also a member of the Kentucky Oral History Commission, might I add) about the rebroadcast of a radio program based on a western Kentucky oral history series from the late 1990s.

If you are interested to see

a) how oral history can be turned into a meaningful and interesting media broadcast,

b) unique culture and history from the Land Between the Lakes Region of the state or

c) a good way to spend a few hours over the upcoming work week,

then this is something you are going to want to check out.

The original series Connecting People & Place, aired on Murray’s public radio station WKMS-FM, is a documentary radio project celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Between the Rivers in west Kentucky and Tennessee.

Each hour of the rebroadcast combines two of the half-hour segments originally developed by Alexander in 1997-98 as a cooperative project between WKMS and Land Between The Lakes Association with funding from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Oral History Commission. As a part of this oral history project, Alexander conducted more than 60 interviews focusing on the displacement of people who formerly lived in the Between the Rivers region. Between the Rivers is an area of land comprised of roughly 170,000 acres located in parts of Lyon and Trigg Counties of western KY and Stewart County of TN. In 1963, President Kennedy created Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area, eventually displacing hundreds of families living in the Between the regions area. The interviews cover family, community, historical personal narratives along with regional folklore of a place that only exist in the shared memory of a dislocated physical community.

I recommend listening to some of the radio pieces and seeing if the stories being broadcast ring familiar with your own family and community history? If so, maybe it is time to document your own stories – oral history is an easy way to get that started. (Find out how)

The re-broadcast kicks off a celebration of our region’s history in conjunction with Journey Stories, a traveling exhibition form the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program. With support from the Kentucky Humanities Council, Journey Stories will be on view at Murray State University’s Wrather Museum from January 28 to March 10, 2012. WKMS is seeking personal journey stories from its listeners to broadcast while the exhibition is on view. (CONSIDER PARTICIPTING!) Contact msu.wkms@murraystate.edu by the end of October to participate and receive a keepsake recording as well.

Does anyone have their own memory of this region of the state? Feel free to share comments.

 

--sarah milligan