What is the origin of the EKU Colonel?

In the 1920's, Eastern students who wished to be known as something other than "The Maroons" voted for the Leopard as the school mascot. A plan to purchase a leopard from the Memphis, Tennessee zoo came to nothing and the students remained Maroons.

In 1963 President Robert Martin established the Colonel as the mascot, who continues in that capacity to the present day. The original Colonel design was by Louisville Courier-Journal editorial cartoonist Hugh Haynie.

(Illustration by author)

Books to Movies

A couple months ago I was looking at books by Kentucky authors which had been made into movies. With the help of IMDB I was able to pull together a short list of titles. These authors were born in Kentucky or have close connections with the state. The list includes only novels, not short stories or story lines or screen writers. The list would be much longer if those items were included.

• All the Kings Men, by Robert Penn Warren has been done twice. In 1949 Robert Broderick played the leading role while Sean Penn was cast as Willie Stark in 2006.
• The Hustler, by Walter Tevis has been touted as the movie that launched Paul Newman's career in 1961 as he portrayed pool shark, Fast Eddie Felson.
• The Color of Money, also by Tevis in 1986 paired Paul Newman as a middle aged Fast Eddie with a young Tom Cruise as Eddie makes a comeback.
• The Dollmaker by Harriet Simpson Arnow starred Jane Fonda in 1984 as Gertie, an Appalachian woman uprooted from her home in WWII when her husband moved Detroit to find work.
• Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson was released in 1998 and starred Johnny Depp as a drug addled journalist and his crazy sidekick attorney, portrayed by Benicio Del Toro.
• The Man Who Fell to Earth, also by Walter Tevis is a 1976 cult classic starring David Bowie as an alien who comes to Earth in an effort to save his planet.
• Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, by Alice Hegan Rice was filmed four times between 1914 and 1942 with stars W.C. Fields and Shirley Temple playing leading roles. Other books by Rice which were also made into early movies include Lovey Mary (1926), Sandy (1918), Sunshine Nan (1918) and Mr. Opp (1917)
• The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, by John Fox, Jr. was also released three times between 1920 and 1961. Other Fox novels that were made into movies were The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1923), The Kentuckians (1921), A Mountain Europa (movie title: A Cumberland Romance) (1920) and Heart o' the Hills (1919).
  

Some of these are great movies, some are really strange and some are not so good, but it's interesting to see the variety of movies available.

English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians

Our Archives contains some fascinating volumes in its collection, and one of these is English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, edited by Cecil J. Sharp. Sharp traveled throughout the southern mountains from 1916 to 1918, collecting songs from numerous singers in North Carolina, Tennesse, Virginia, West Virginia, and, of course, Kentucky. His travels in this state included several counties -- Fayette and Madison, plus Lee, Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Perry, Leslie, Harlan, Knox, and Bell. There are ballads and songs, hymns and nursery song, jigs and play-party songs. Tunes and variants of tunes, texts and various texts, are found in the book. For anyone who delights in singing these songs, for scholars of English ballads, for researchers in Appalachian studies, this is a resource to treasure.

Major Family Papers

The Papers of the Major Family of Frankfort Now Open to Researchers!

The University Archives is pleased to announce that an important collection of 19th century material has been organized and arranged, and is open to researchers. The Major Family was a prominent Frankfort family in the mid-nineteenth century. The majority of the manuscripts and documents in this collection relate to Samuel Ire Monger Major II, who was the editor and publisher of the influential Kentucky Yeoman and a noted local politician (member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, mayor of Frankfort following the Civil War), civic leader, and entrepreneur. In addition, a number of documents relate to his: grandfather, Francis, a farmer and early settler of Franklin County; father, Samuel Ire Monger Major I, who was Clerk of the Penitentiary of Kentucky, a businessman, politician and noted local civic leader during the early days of Frankfort; brother, Dr. Patrick Major, who was a business partner and confidant, and whose correspondence reflects their close relationship; and son, Patrick Upshaw Major, a well-known attorney and judge.

A number of the Major family women are represented here as well, including: Margaret (Peggy) Porter who was married to Francis Major; Martha Hipkins Bohannon married to Samuel Major I, and known as Martha H. Major; and Mary Brown Scott who married Samuel Major II to become Mary B. Major. Unfortunately, there is very little biographical information regarding the Major Family women. But the extensive correspondence between the women, to and from their husbands, fathers and sons as well as with cousins and friends give more than a passing glimpse into their social background, daily lives, education, and some sense of their political and financial views.

There are personal documents that range from poetry to journals, business and financial papers that concern a wide range of endeavors, land and legal documentation such as deeds and land grants for holding in Kentucky and Virginia as well as other states, and political material that relates to campaigns and political beliefs.

Researchers and scholars will find this collection is rich in primary source material relating to the politics, events and repercussions of the Civil War as well as the business and personal aspects of American Slavery.

Jennie Jeffers Ashby

Several years ago we processed a small collection of papers from long-time teacher Jennie Jeffers Ashby, who received a Normal Life Diploma from Eastern Kentucky State Normal School in 1907.

Bill Ellis, retired EKU history faculty, wrote his August 2010 Kentucky Monthly column about Mrs. Ashby and her teaching career. Her memoirs offer a wonderful look at education in Kentucky during the first half of the 20th century.

Check out the article or better yet come in and look at the collection.

Central University

The President's Office just sent this great woodcut to archives. It was taken from a German edition of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1886. The caption under the University Building means Main Building and the other building is Memorial Hall.

Historic Madison County, KY Architecture

The University Archives recently collaborated with the Madison County Historical Society (MCHS) to make their out of print publication, Madison County Rediscovered : Selected Historic Architecture, by Lavinia Kubiak available online.

The MCHS provided funds for a graduating history student who had worked in the archives to process and scan the photos used in the book. On the placeography.org wiki site created by the Minnesota Historical Society, he created a page for each building using the text and photos from the book.

Placeography offers users the opportunity to upload additional images of the building, make notes on the building and record their memories of any building. At this time only buildings are included on the Madison County site, but structures, historic sites and tours can also be added.

There is more work to do to make the information more accessible, but play with it and add your memories.