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By Jason Adkins, Laura Lozier
Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The Richard Alexander Edwards Collection documents the Cook and Gatewood families of Trimble County, KY, of which Pauline Cook, Edwards's wife, is a descendant. In addition to these family documents dating back to the early 19th century, there are scrapbooks documenting farm activities and daily life. R.A. Edwards added to the scrapbook collection with his notes on bee-keeping. School notes and teaching materials document the education and career of Edwards, especially related to the selection of textbooks. Some materials in this collection were donated throughout his tenure at EKU and were cataloged as a part of the book collection. These have been removed from the catalog and added to this collection to provide a single point of access for family materials.
Collection Historical Note
Richard Alexander Edwards was born January 16, 1884, in Graves County, Kentucky. He taught in Graves County rural schools from 1902 to 1906. After receiving his Bachelors of Arts from the University of Kentucky in 1910, he worked as principal of Trimble County High School until 1914. From 1914 to 1918 he served as superintendent of Morganfield City Schools in Union County. He was employed by Eastern Kentucky State Normal School on September 1, 1918, as the director of the Training School. After winning the General Education Board Scholarship he studied at Columbia University, receiving his Master of Arts in 1925.
Richard A. Edwards was a member of the National Education Association (NEA), National Society for Supervisors of Student Teaching, and the Kentucky Education Association (KEA). He was appointed by Governor Fields to the State Textbook Commission and served from 1924 to 1928. From 1948 to 1951 he was on the State Personnel Council, having been appointed by Governor Clements.
Edwards initiated many programs in his career. In 1915 he helped organize the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. While principal at Trimble County and superintendent at Morganfield, he created sports teams. In 1926 Edwards organized Richmond's first permanent Boy Scout troop in the Model High School. He also wrote several books; Looking Back and Walters Collegiate Institute.
Edwards also had several articles published ranging in topic from the history of Kentucky, to education, to bee-keeping. Richard A. Edwards retired in 1954 after working at Eastern for thirty-six years. On May 25, 1964, Edwards won the Eastern Founders Merit Award, proving his lasting effects on the University. After retirement, Mr. Edwards spent many years working in the Crabbe Library binding books in the Townsend Room and organizing the University's first archives. It is obvious from R.A. Edwards's correspondence that he was respected. He gave advice freely. He was well liked by his colleagues. Thirty-eight fellow teachers signed a proclamation honoring him.
R.A. Edwards was married to Mildred Pauline Cook. They had two children Stephen Edwards, and M. Josephine Edwards. Richard Edwards died on October 8, 1982, and is buried in the Richmond Cemetery.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
Acquisition Source:
Edwards, Steven & Josephine Edwards Carpenter
Acquisition Method:
gift
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Cook/Gatewood Family],
[Series 2: Richard A. Edwards Papers],
[
Series 3: Oversize Materials],
[
All]
- Series 2: Richard A. Edwards Papers
- Sub-Series 1: Correspondence, 1902-1974
- Most of the correspondence regards professional questions. This gives the researcher a good idea of Edwards's projects and when he worked on them. There is a bound index to these letters included in the box. The series is arranged in chronological order.
- Box 3
- Barcode: 31234014058562
- Folder 2: Index to Correspondence
- Box 4
- Barcode: 31234014058513
- Folder 1: Correspondence, 1902-1919
- Folder 2: Correspondence, 1920-1924
- Folder 3: Correspondence, 1925-1929
- Folder 4: Correspondence, 1930-1939
- Folder 5: Correspondence, 1940-1949
- Folder 6: Correspondence, 1950-1959
- Folder 7: Correspondence, 1960-1974
- Sub-Series 2: School Assignments
- Box 4
- Barcode: 31234014058513
- Folder 8: Botany, 1907
- Folder 9: Compositions, 1904
- Richard A. Edwards Bowling Green, Ky
- Folder 10: Educational Statistics
- Folder 11: Psychology
- Box 5
- Barcode: 31234014058505
- Folder 1: Sociology
- Folder 2: Tests and Measurements
- Folder 3: Zoology
- Sub-Series 3: Professional Publications and Records, 1903-1939
- Box 5
- Barcode: 31234014058505
- Folder 4: A Manual for Observation and Method Teaching and Student Teaching, 1928
- Folder 5: Syllabus for Fundamentals of Secondary Education, 1939
- Folder 6: Teacher's Register and Grade Book of R.A. Edwards, 1903-1906
- Sub-Series 4: Farming Records, 1822-1970
- Materials relating to farm management. This series contains scrapbooks of farming records. Dating from 1882 to 1970, they record information about two farms. Eventually R.A. Edwards began farming the land, so he added to the scrapbooks. In addition to farming he raised honey bees, and a scrapbook on bees is included in this series. The records are a good source of information on prices, farming schedules, and farm layout. The series is arranged in chronological order.
- Box 5
- Barcode: 31234014058505
- Folder 7: Cook Place Land Records, 1822-1937
- Typescripts of deeds relating the the Cook Family land in Trimble County, Kentucky.
- Folder 8: Farming Cookplace, 1937-1948
- Photographs, news clippings ephemera, contracts and financial records for the Cook farm.
- Folder 9: Beekeeping Records, 1941-1970
- Annual records for apiaries in Trimble County and Madison County, Kentucky.
- Folder 10: Honey Bees, 1941-1970
- More in-depth records on income and expenses relating to Mr. Edwards' apiary.
- Sub-Series 5: Memorabilia/Ephemera
- Box 6
- Barcode: 31234014058497
- Folder 1: Memorabilia/Ephemera
- Includes several greeting cards from Cotton Noe and Herman L. Donovan, booklets on the liquor option, textbook adoption materials, news clippings and programs.
- Sub-Series 6: Personal Writings
- Box 6
- Barcode: 31234014058497
- Folder 2: The Collins Family
- Folder 3: The Cook Family
- Folder 4: The Edwards Family
- Folder 5: The Gallemore-Bean Family
- Folder 6: My Sourcebook of Genealogy of the Edwards Family (f.1 of 2)
- Folder 7: My Sourcebook of Genealogy of the Edwards Family (f.2 of 2)
- Box 7
- Barcode: 31234014058489
- Folder 1: Pioneer Catholics in Kentucky
- Folder 2: First Forty Years of the Training School
- Folder 3: Looking Back
- Folder 4: History of the Training School, 1956
- History of Model Laboratory School, also known as the Training School.
- Box 8
- Barcode: 31234014058471
- Folder 1: Scripturae
- "Schoolboy Compositions, Essays, Speeches Bulletins and Other Written Material, Wise and Otherwise, Good and Nogood." Much of the volume consists of educational topics affecting Eastern and Model Laboratory School.
- Folder 2: The Training School, Vol. 1 (f.1 of 2)
- This 4 volume set contains a complete history of Model Laboratory School and includes, lists of students, programs, correspondence, statistics, photographs and Edwards' explanatory text.
- Folder 3: The Training School, Vol. 1 (f.2 of 2)
- Folder 4: The Training School, Vol. 2 (f.1 of 2)
- Folder 5: The Training School, Vol. 2 (f.2 of 2)
- Box 9
- Barcode: 31234014058463
- Folder 1: The Training School, Vol. 3 (f.1 of 2)
- Folder 2: The Training School, Vol. 3 (f.2 of 2)
- Folder 3: The Training School, Vol. 4 (f.1 of 2)
- Folder 4: The Training School, Vol. 4 (f.4 of 2)
- Folder 5: Walter's Collegiate Institute
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Cook/Gatewood Family],
[Series 2: Richard A. Edwards Papers],
[
Series 3: Oversize Materials],
[
All]
