Special Collections on Historypin!

Wonder what Newport, Ky. looked like in the early 20^th century? Want to compare Monmouth Street of the past with Monmouth Street of the present?

Special Collections and Archives recently added content to Historypin, an interactive website designed by the organization We Are What We Do for individuals and institutions to share historic material using Google maps. We “pinned” (Historypin speak for uploading an image and placing it on a map) over 225 digital images of Kentucky postcards from the Gilliam Postcard  Digital Collection. Users can compare the historic image to the current area using Google’s Streetview feature. See the story note attached to each image for content and collection information. Explore the map at http://www.historypin.com/map/, find our nku_archives channel, or hit the streets to see the sights using Historypin’s mobile app for your Android, iOS, or Windows Phone 7 device. Be a fan of our channel and check back soon to see more Kentucky images.

 

The Gilliam Postcard Digital Collection can also be viewed on our department website at http://archives.nku.edu/digital_collections/gilliam_collection/index.php.

Celebrating Dreams: The Presidency of James C. Votruba

General James Taylor Family Papers now available for research use

Do you know where Taylor Mill got its name from? Do you wonder who settled northern Kentucky in the late 18^th century?  The General James Taylor Family Papers, now available for research, shed light on the area’s early land settlement by one of its most prominent settlers, General James Taylor, and his family.

Early plat of Newport, Kentucky showing the Ohio and Licking Rivers.
Box 1, Folder 6, General James Taylor Family Papers, Eva G. Farris Special Collections, Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University.

The General James Taylor Family Papers contains material documenting land speculation and businesses in the northern Kentucky and southern Ohio region during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It also has records relating to founding of Newport, Kentucky. The papers illustrate the economic and demographic transformation of the Ohio River valley through land records such as deeds, grants, surveys, and plats.

A guide to the Taylor Family papers can be found at: http://archives.nku.edu/special_collections/collections/general_taylor/index.php.

Special Collections and Archives is located on the 1^st floor of Steely Library in room 106. A map of Steely Library is located here: http://library.nku.edu/about_the_library/maps_and_parking/.

The reading room is open to the public for research Monday-Friday from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Please see http://archives.nku.edu/about_us/policies/ for visit procedures and use policies.

Interested in Newport, KY history? Check out the Social Action Committee records

The Social Action Committee of the Newport Ministerial Association records are now available for research in Special Collections, Steely Library. The records document the work of the Social Action Committee to rid Campbell County, Kentucky of illegal activity, particularly gambling, illegal alcohol sales, and prostitution, during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The collection contains organizational records such as correspondence, committee minutes, project materials, and research file that document this work. A guide to the collection can be found at: http://archives.nku.edu/special_collections/collections/social_action_committee/index.php

The Social Action Committee was formed by and reported to the Newport Ministerial Association, which was a group of northern Kentucky protestant ministers, in 1957. Most of its membership was comprised of laypeople under the leadership of Christian Seifried, a postman from Newport, Kentucky who served as chairman from 1957 until Dec. 11, 1966 when the committee officially dissolved. The Social Action Committee is distinct from and its formation predates the Committee of 500, another reform organization active in Campbell County and northern Kentucky in the late 1950s-1960s.

Researchers using this collection may also be interested in looking at Special Collection’s Claude W. Johnson Committee of 500 records and the H. Lew Wallace Newport History Collection for other information on reform in northern Kentucky in the 1960s.

Special Collections and Archives is open to students, staff, faculty, and the general public from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is located on the 1^st floor of Steely Library in room 106 near the fountain entrance. A map of Steely Library is located here: http://library.nku.edu/about_the_library/maps_and_parking/ .

Committee of 500 records now available for research

Special Collections recently opened the Claude W. Johnson Committee of 500 Records for research access and use. The collection contains a small amount of organizational records and campaign ephemera for the Committee of 500, a group operating in Campbell County, Kentucky during the 1960s. Local Campbell County businessmen and citizens organized the Committee of 500 in 1961 to change some of the local economy from illegal activity such as gambling, prostitution, and organized crime, to a legal, industry-based economy. The committee developed a large membership and campaigned for new officials to be elected to key local government offices.

Materials in the records include committee membership lists, correspondence, financial receipts, speeches, campaign ephemera, news clippings, and photographs. A guide to the collection can be found at: http://archives.nku.edu/special_collections/collections/johnson/index.php

Researchers using this collection may also be interested in looking at Special Collection’s Social Action Committee of the Newport Ministerial Association Records and the H. Lew Wallace Newport History Collection for other information on reform in northern Kentucky during the 1960s.

US Senator Jim Bunning: Baseball and Beyond

In January 2011 two hundred white boxes arrived at the NKU loading dock from the federal records center in Virginia. These boxes contain records documenting twenty-four years worth of work by the office of Jim Bunning, US Representative and US Senator. Jim Bunning also donated a modest collection of baseball memorabilia from his professional career as a Major League pitcher.

This collection is a very significant donation. The archives already holds the congressional papers of Gene Snyder (1963-1965, 1967-1987) and Ken Lucas (1999-2005) who also held the 4^th Congressional District seat. With the receipt of Jim Bunning’s papers, NKU now has over 40 years of continuous records for this district. This strength promises the ability to study not just the impact of a single individual, but a longitudinal study of this district.

Congressional Papers are a subspecialty among archivists. Processing this collection will be a multi-year project and require an archivist dedicated solely to this work.

In November, a fundraiser was held to solicit contributions towards the expense of processing this important collection. It included a dinner followed by Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher, and his friend Tommy Lasorda chatting informally about their baseball careers and answering questions from the audience. An extensive collection of Bunning baseball memorabilia, owned by Rex Morgan of Campbellsburg, KY was displayed for the evening.

University Archivist Lois Hamill with Jim Bunning (left) and Tommy Lasorda (right) at the fundraiser.

Anyone who is interested in contributing to the processing fund for the Bunning Congressional Papers or other Special Collections and Archives Department needs may contact Nancy Perry, Director of Development for Steely Library at (859) 572-5722 or (859) 468-1409.

Photography students use University Archives photos in creative exhibit

Last November, students in Professor Chris Smith’s Applied Photography class visited the Schlachter University Archives for a creative assignment.

“Because of the radical changes in the appearance of NKU from 1968 to the present,” Professor Smith “thought a ‘re-photographic study’ of the university would be interesting” for a class project. The study would also help students understand “the process of researching a subject that they were going to photograph.”

The students were instructed to research in the University Archives for old photographs of campus buildings and scenes. Once the student selected a photo, he or she captured the original image and then re-photographed the physical scene in its present state. The result of the project is a captivating exhibit titled NKU Then/Now which displays the re-photographing of forty different areas around the NKU campus.

NKU Then/Now will be on view in the Student Union until March. The students have already generously donated their modern photos to the archives. When the exhibit closes, they will also donate their prints to the archives where they will be preserved and available for future research.