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By Katy Davis, Dr. Christiana Taylor
Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Dr. Thomas H. Appleton, Jr. started regularly collecting historical Kentucky materials after he started working at the Kentucky Historical Society in the 1980s. The collection he continues to build consists of materials such as correspondence, ephemera, publications, legal documents and other items, which span over 200 years of Kentucky history. Some notable figures mentioned in the correspondence include Henry Clay, Charles S. Morehead, A.B. 'Happy' Chandler, Phyllis George Brown, Alben Barkley, Barbara Bush, and many more. Materials contain information about politics, religion, pop culture, death, slavery, the military and more. The collection is state-wide in scope; however, most materials are from central Kentucky. The collection continues to grow thanks to a generous endowment funded by Dr. Appleton.
Collection Historical Note
Thomas H. Appleton Jr. (Tom) was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1950. After graduating from the University of Memphis in 1971, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky to pursue a doctorate in American history. At UK he was fortunate to study under two of the eminent scholars in that field, Charles P. Roland and Holman Hamilton. In 1979, he joined the publications department of the Kentucky Historical Society, where he rose from assistant editor to editor in chief in 1990. His work at the KHS nurtured his desire to collect historical materials, which he had begun in elementary school. In 2000, he became professor of history at Eastern Kentucky University; in 2015 he was named Foundation Professor. As he approached retirement (2018), he decided that the archives and special collections department at EKU's Crabbe Library would be the logical repository for his collection. At the same time he established an endowment that would permit the purchase of additional materials to augment the collection. He hopes to inspire other patrons to donate their materials as well.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
Acquisition Source:
Appleton, Thomas H., Jr.
Box and Folder Listing
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- Box 11
- Barcode: 31234014140246
- Folder 1: Strader Family - Accounts, 1840-1867
- Mostly Strader family accounts with local and various Kentucky businesses. The bulk of this and the next six folders relate to the family of Lewis Strader (1804-1869), his son Leonidas (1847-1906) and Leonidas' wife Mattie Vaughn (1851-1890). Mattie was the daughter of Fielding Vaughn and Eliza Gum. All these families resided in Green County, KY.
- Folder 2: Strader Family - Correspondence to Lewis and Lonnie Strader, 1845-1873
- Correspondence relating to business and from friends and family. Most are not addressed to a discernable individual as they use titles such as Pap, Sir, Brother or Col.
- Folder 3: Strader Family - Correspondence to Mattie Vaughn Strader, 1873-1886
- Correspondence mostly from friends who attended St. Catherine's College with her. Many letters talk about friends and the nuns at St. Catherine's.
- Folder 4: Strader Family - Correspondence to Mattie Vaughn Strader from Sister Mary Vincent Ferrer, ca. 1867-1874
- Sister Mary Vincent Ferrar was a nun at St. Catherine's College in Springfield, KY while Mattie Vaughn was a student there. She also taught at Holy Rosary in Louisville. Her letters talk a lot about various sisters and priests at St. Catherine's, as well as other students they both knew. She mentions several times Mattie Vaughn's desire to become a novitiate.
- Folder 5: Strader Family - Green County Court Documents, 1837-1864
- Most of these documents are from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to any constable of Green County ordering that individuals be summoned to appear in court. Beginning in 1851 several of the documents are signed by Lewis Strader, Justice of the Peace in Green County, KY.
- Folder 6: Strader Family - Personal Writings
- Most of these appear to be school papers or religious treatises, possibly written by Mattie Vaughn. One item is a prayer that mentions Mattie's desire to become a nun and the sin of her parents for forbidding it.
- Folder 7: Strader Family - Receipts and Contracts, 1828-1874
- Of note is a contract with subscribers for Lewis Strader to start a singing school. The document includes subscriber names and rules for the school. Most of the other documents are receipts or IOUs, about half do not relate to the Strader family and may be related to Lewis' Justice of the Peace duties.
- Folder 8: Bertie Waters Papers, 1907-1941
- These items document Bertie B. Waters' career as a railway postal clerk with the Cincinnati, Ohio and Nashville Railroad. It documents test scores from his time as clerk as well as promotions, transfers, and pay increases with the Postal Service. Later letters document Mr. Waters' attempt to find work during the Great Depression.
- Folder 9: Depositions (2) in case of Elizabeth Irvin v. Ned Irvin, deceased, in Ohio County, Ky., Circuit Court, 1824-09-18
- This document consists of two depositions given in Washington Co., Ky., by William J. McElroy and James A. McElroy in the ongoing lawsuit filed by Elizabeth Irvin. She seeks the balance of money allegedly owed to her by her former bondsman, the late Ned Irvin.
- Folder 10: Document, 1847-05-03
- Certified list of six men who failed to appear for work on local roads in Pendleton County as they were summoned to do according to law.
- Folder 11: Senia(?) Sapp to Elizabeth Sapp, 1865-03-15
- From Hawesville in Hancock Co., Ky., the female writer tells her cousin that she fears
- Folder 12: Halloween Party in Louisville, Ky., 1904-10
- This folder contains three handwritten replies to Miss Helen G. Smith
- Folder 13: I. S. Bickett to Marion Co., Ky., Criminal Court, 1904-01-17
- Sworn affidavit of I. S., Bickett, M. D., who has been asked to examine a wounded prisoner being held for trial. The physician provides his assessment of the prisoner
- Folder 14: Alben W. Barkley, 1942; 1948; 1952
- This folder contains three items: (1) transcript of Senator Barkley
- Folder 15: Simeon S. Willis, 1947; 1964; 1965; 1988
- This folder contains four items pertaining to Gov. Simeon Willis (1943-47): (1) copy of letter from Oella J. McClelland, Ashland, Ky., attorney, to Willis, 11 December 1964, thanking him for his courtesies when she served years earlier as his secretary; (2) copy of 05 May 1965 letter from Robert Harvey Rice, M. D., to Mrs. Willis reminiscing about his late uncle; (3) typed carbon copy of Governor Willis
- Folder 16: Renfro Valley Bugle, vol. 1, no. 1, 1951; Summer
- A
- Folder 17: James Lee Harryman to Barbara Elliott, 1952-1953
- Twenty letters written by Jim Harryman, an enlisted man in the Army Airborne stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky., to his sweetheart living at home with her parents in Bowling Green, Ky. The letters document the courtship and first months of marriage of a young Kentucky couple. Harryman discusses their parents
- Folder 18: Elijah C. Phister Letters, 1878
- Phister was a judge and Congressman from Maysville, KY and these letters talk about his campaign for Congress.
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