By Dawn Miles
Title: Wallace Family Papers, 1867-1975
Extent: 16.28 Cubic Feet
Date Acquired: 05/25/1978
Languages: English [eng]
Through correspondence, diaries, speeches, photographs, news clippings, and other primary source materials the public career and personal life of William Luxon Wallace and his family are documented. Glimpses of late nineteenth century Richmond, KY social and political life can be found in the correspondence of Wallace's father, Coleman Covington Wallace. In addition, due to Wallace's significance as an organizer in the Kentucky Republican Party, the collection sheds some light on the party's history during the first half of the twentieth century. It also contains political memorabilia which Wallace assembled along with a quantity of materials that document his World War I experience.
The correspondence is mostly personal and covers Republican Party activities, World War I, and the proper behavior expected from young women of the 1920s. Other letters deal with various state and national elections. When Wallace served on the Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents, the subject of the correspondence shifts to Eastern.
The collection also includes several diaries from the women in the family, Wallace's wife wrote over a span of 44 years; his sister wrote while she was at school in Louisville in the 1920s and there is one volume from his sister-in-law.
Acquisition Source: Wallace, Velma & Pat Wilkerson
Processing Information: In May 1978 Mrs. Velma Wallace, wife of William Luxon Wallace, donated the Wallace family collection of records to Eastern Kentucky University. The records were scattered throughout the Wallace family house in Lexington. A small portion of the papers found in the basement and attic along with some World War I correspondence and reports Wallace kept in an old steamer trunk required fumigation and extensive cleaning. Since the bulk of the Wallace collection had no organization, the Archives staff imposed its own pattern of arrangement. The inventory to the collection describes material at the folder title level. In addition, a correspondent name index lists letters of content Wallace received from prominent persons. According to provisions of the Donor Gift Agreement the entire collection is open to research.
Other Note: Photographs were initially numbered with the accession number; however, a decision was made to change to collection number. The database was changed, but the numbers written on the images were not changed.
Item 431: Boss' Banquet and the Y.W.C.A., 1951
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