New Employee Spotlight: Nick Shaner, Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photograph Collection Archivist
Posted: November 21, 2023 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Collections, Images, Louisville History, Photographic Archives, Photographs | Tags: archives Leave a comment
From riding his bike across the Lewis and Clark Trail to living on a sailboat in Portland, Maine, Nick Shaner’s adventures make him an especially cool archivist. However, it was his role in salvaging thousands of documents and photographs after the catastrophic 2022 Eastern Kentucky flooding that showcased his commitment to preserving history.
In the aftermath of the devastating flood in Appalachia, Shaner found himself knee-deep in the daunting task of rescuing and preserving the cultural heritage damaged by the deluge. Many documents and over a thousand photographs, soaked and near ruin, became the focus of his meticulous efforts.
“The Saturday after the flooding, the director of archives and I were loading a truck load of flood-damaged material from Hindman into a big walk-in freezer space in the convention center at Eastern Tennessee State University,” he says. “There ended up being 19 boxes of paper material and more than a thousand photographs that needed to be washed and cleaned and dried and flattened.”
The unexpected challenge tested his archival skills and revealed the emotional depth of his connection to the stories and faces captured in the images. “As a Kentuckian with friends in the area, I would be cleaning a photo and then it would come out of this muddy water bath and be the face of one of my friends. It was a very evocative and emotional experience, and I was proud to have a hand in helping preserve their cultural heritage and history.”
Appalachia holds a vast and diverse history, much of which many are unaware. Working in the Archives of Appalachia, Shaner’s work helped to uplift the stories and histories of underrepresented communities and preserve diverse narratives. He processed the Mary Adeline Henderson Alexander Papers, Kipp Dawson Papers, and letters sent to and from Appalachian soldiers during the Vietnam War. Shaner also digitized theses of Black Appalachian scholars and the McClatchey Family Photographs. “The McClatchey family photos were from the 1920s and 1930s and were in an album that was found under the floorboards of an apartment building in Johnson City, Tennessee.”
Now, at UofL’s Archives and Special Collections, Shaner stands at the helm of managing the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photograph Collection, one that doubles the entire holdings of the photographic archives. He views the project as an opportunity to explore new horizons in archival work. With a strong emphasis on innovative processing methods and active student involvement, he envisions not only preserving historical narratives but also shaping a new generation of archivists and Kentuckians.
Looking ahead, Shaner sees the project as a community-driven effort. By seeking opportunities to collaborate, engaging in public initiatives, and hosting events, he hopes to make the archives a place for Louisvillians to explore and celebrate Louisville’s history with a focus on inclusivity and shared narratives. “Not only will the collection foster students’ curiosity and learning, but it will hopefully bring interest from the wider community. As far as Louisville as a whole, this really is an integral part of its history. There is a lot of visual evidence of Louisville and its community members throughout the twentieth century.”
“I definitely anticipate that this will be a heavily used collection, but I hope that in some ways it will also bring more attention to the archives and their holdings in general. And I think that it could be a springboard, that all the people coming to look at a photo in print from the Courier-Journal are led to experts who can help them with so many interesting things.”
Shaner’s diverse experiences reflect his dedication to preserving history, and his work invites Louisvillians to connect with their roots. He encourages others to engage with archives and libraries as a gateway to discovery and offers a final piece of advice for those who want to learn more about the collection: “Librarians are very engaging and interesting people. They are also very willing and available to help. Start by talking to one of us.”
UofL Archives Capture Music Legends in Upcoming Photography Exhibit
Posted: October 4, 2023 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Exhibits, Louisville, Photographic Archives, Photographs | Tags: archives 1 Comment
The music world has always been electrifying, and there’s nothing quite like experiencing the energy of a live performance. Now, thanks to Dave Cronen’s exceptional talent behind the lens, all have the opportunity to relive the glory days of rock through his remarkable photographs taken at concerts in the 1960s through the 1970s. Join us at the opening reception of “What You Say? Rock n’ Roll Photos by Dave Cronen” as we step back in time to witness the iconic moments that defined an era of music. Hosted by Archives and Special Collections (ASC), the event is part of the 2023 Louisville Photo Biennial, a celebration of photography in all its forms.
Dave Cronen, a Louisville native who now calls Lexington home, has a deep passion for music and photography. Raised in the heart of Kentucky, Cronen’s interest in the Louisville Underground Music Archive (LUMA) led him to ASC. Although the exhibition is not an official part of LUMA, it is an exciting addition to ASC’s photographic collection. Cronen’s work captures the essence of rock ‘n’ roll and brings to life the legendary performances that once graced stages in Louisville, Lexington, and Cincinnati.
The Louisville Photo Biennial is a significant event in the Louisville art world. Paul Paletti, owner of the Paul Paletti Gallery on Market Street in Louisville, launched the festival to celebrate the art of photography every odd year. Since 1999, the biennial has expanded far beyond its initial boundaries. Elizabeth Reilly, Curator of Photographic Archives, notes, “Originally, they filled all the display spaces in Louisville with photography exhibits. Now it has expanded to Frankfort, Lexington, and New Albany.”
What sets the Louisville Photo Biennial apart is its commitment to showcasing both nationally and internationally renowned photographers alongside local and regional talent. It’s a collaborative effort that brings together galleries, museums, colleges, universities, and cultural institutions to celebrate photography in its various forms. From fine art to documentary, design to historic, and everyday snapshot photography, the biennial provides a platform for photographers to share their unique perspectives.
Cronen’s ability to freeze moments of raw emotion and musical brilliance in time is a testament to his talent and the enduring power of photography. “What You Say” will display photos capturing legendary artists such as Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Tina Turner, and Robbie Robertson, and attendees will be transported to the heart of rock ‘n’ roll’s golden era.
Don’t miss the opening reception of “What You Say? Rock n’ Roll Photos by Dave Cronen” on October 5th, from 5 pm to 7 pm, at the Julius Friedman Gallery.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Reilly, Curator of Photographic Archives, at eereil01@louisville.edu.
UofL Photo Archives receives full collection of Courier Journal photography
Posted: September 29, 2022 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Art Library, Collections, donor, Ekstrom Library, Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, Librarianship / Archivy, Louisville, Louisville History, New Items, Photographic Archives, Photographs, Primary Sources, University Archives & Records Center, University of Louisville, University of Louisville Libraries Leave a commentA treasure trove of roughly three million images have been donated to UofL’s Photo Archives by current and former owners of Louisville’s Courier Journal newspaper.
The Courier Journal – winner of 11 Pulitzer Prizes throughout its 154-year history – and its parent company Gannett have transferred its library of photographs and negatives to UofL Archives and Special Collections. Many of the images are iconic and capture important historical moments in the last century.
Members of Louisville’s Bingham family, which owned the newspaper from 1918 to 1986, have made a separate donation to support the collection, including preserving it, preparing it for use by the public, and developing programming to enable the public to engage with it.
Their combined generosity is creating the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection, a unique journalistic collection of local, state and national importance.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Courier Journal, Gannett, Emily Bingham, Molly Bingham and the rest of the Bingham family for making this historic gift possible,” UofL President Lori Gonzalez said. “Generations of readers saw these photos in their daily newspaper each morning, and now, future generations will continue to be able to study and appreciate the insight they provide into the history of our city, state, nation and world.”
“This gift will allow the Courier Journal to retain the legacy of our work through this collection of historic photographs,” said Courier Journal Editor Mary Irby-Jones. “It is important for us to preserve and share our work with others so our community can learn about the history of Louisville as captured through our photographers in the field for more than 150 years. The Courier Journal is honored to entrust this priceless archive to the care of the University of Louisville for the purpose of making the collection available to the community for research and scholarship.”
“For most of a decade, it has been our dream to honor our father by finding a permanent, public home for the Courier Journal’s photographic collection,” said Emily and Molly Bingham. “This visual treasure is a testament to his dedication to high quality journalism, his passion for photography, his love of archives and his commitment to public access to information. He is up there somewhere today, smiling and joyfully twirling his trademark handlebar mustache.”
About the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection
The collection, consisting of images created by the photo department that served both the Courier Journal and the afternoon Louisville Times newspapers, chronicles daily happenings and major events from approximately the mid-1930s to the early 2000s when digital photography began to replace the use of film to capture images. The collection doubles the size of UofL’s photo holdings. It might have dated back further, but the Great Flood of 1937 destroyed much of the newspaper’s photo and negative library.
“The collection chronicles the civil rights movement, World War II, the Kentucky Derby through the years, presidential visits, changes in the built environment, and numerous public appearances and behind-the-scenes images of world leaders and celebrities,” said Archives and Special Collections Director Carrie Daniels. “Basically, all of the changes happening within our country were captured in these photographs.”
“It’s an incredible collection,” Elizabeth Reilly, photo archivist, said, “and with any large-scale acquisition like this, it will take years to process, organize and add information to the collection, to make images discoverable and usable by the public.
“A small portion of the collection will be available online in the near future, and, as we process the amazing imagery it contains, we will be opening up bigger and bigger parts of the collection to the public, making it accessible to everyone who wants to see it.”
Reilly credited Barry Bingham Jr., the third and last Bingham family member to serve as the paper’s publisher, for his devotion to setting high standards for the photography his newspaper published. The Courier Journal won two Pulitzer Prizes for photojournalism during his tenure.
“He was a huge supporter of high-quality photojournalism,” Reilly said. “He grew and improved the quality of photography in the newspaper through investments, hiring talented photojournalists, and giving them time and travel budget to capture visual information beyond the news moment or press release. That commitment to quality is reflected in the collection and adds to its national significance.”
Daniels cited the increase in scholarship and creative potential that the collection will bring to UofL. “Our Photographic Archives already contain 2-3 million historical, documentary and fine art images dating from the 19th century to today that capture faces, buildings, landscapes and events from around the world, with a focus on Louisville and Kentucky. These images have appeared in scholarly or artistic work, including filmmaker Ken Burns’s documentaries, Dustbowl, Prohibition and Baseball. This dramatically increases our ability to provide images that everyone, including scholars and artists, will be able to use going forward, and we are very excited about that.”
The Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-JournalPhoto Collection Endowment is seeking additional contributions to support the organization, digitization, library services and public programming for this remarkable resource.
To make a contribution or for more information, contact Denise Bohn, denise.bohn@louisville.edu.
Archives & Special Collections celebrates Julius Friedman with Exhibit and Gallery Dedication
Posted: July 7, 2022 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Art Library, Collections, Digital Collections, Ekstrom Library, Exhibits, Images, Kentucky, Louisville, Louisville History, New Items, People, Photographic Archives, Photographs, Primary Sources, University of Louisville, University of Louisville Libraries | Tags: art, artist, Julius Friedman, Louisville History Leave a commentEarly posters and other works by internationally renowned Louisville artist Julius Friedman are featured in the exhibit Graphic Pioneer: The Early Poster Designs of Julius Friedman, 1965-1980, hosted by Photographic Archives, part of UofL’s Archives and Special Collections (ASC). The exhibit opened with a reception on July 14 featuring the dedication and renaming of the Photographic Archives gallery in Friedman’s honor.
Friedman’s sister, Carol Abrams, donated the bulk of his artistic works to the Photographic Archives after his passing in 2017. Ms. Abrams states, “Julius loved to mentor students and fellow artists. In giving his work to the Archives and Special Collections, students can learn from his work.” Ms. Abrams also generously provided support to renovate the gallery, enhance storage for ASC’s photographic holdings, including Friedman’s work, and prepare the collection for research by the community. This preparatory work is ongoing, but the full collection is expected to be open to the public in 2023.
Beloved by the local arts community, Friedman was also highly regarded among international audiences. Perhaps best known for the posters “Fresh Paint” and “Toe on Egg,” Friedman created posters and other graphic works for a broad range of clients. Outside of his design work, Friedman created his own artwork through photography – often printing on unique surfaces like metals and fabrics – as well as sculpture, furniture design, collage, book art, and collaborative video. While this exhibit focuses on his early posters, the collection includes this broad range of media and formats.
“Julius Friedman was such a significant figure in our local arts scene,” said Carrie Daniels, Director of ASC. “We are delighted to serve as the home of his archive, and to present a slice of it to the community in this exhibition.”
Friedman was a graphic design alumnus of UofL and had a decades-long relationship with the University Libraries. His work frequently appeared in ASC exhibits, including a 2012 celebration of Photographic Archives’ 50th Anniversary, which featured Friedman’s photographic capture of a ballerina in mid-swirl. Friedman’s close friend, former Art Library Director Gail Gilbert, inspired one of Friedman’s later efforts, a project titled The Book. Gilbert suggested that Friedman create works of art from old books that otherwise would have been thrown away, and he ran with the project, taking old books, tearing them, twisting them, boring into them, reconstituting them and creating art. The Book consists of 130 photographs of that art.
Among ASC’s Oral History Center (ohc.library.louisville.edu) digital offerings are two recordings of conversations between Abrams and ASC archivist and local historian Tom Owen. In them, Abrams discusses her memories of growing up with Julius, her older brother and only sibling, and how she came to work alongside him in his studio and then gallery to exhibit and sell his work commercially. Abrams recounts observing her brother’s talent burgeoning in childhood and watching him become successful as an adult. She also talks about establishing a nonprofit foundation in her brother’s name to help young people pursue academic degrees in the arts, the Julius Friedman Foundation (juliusfriedman.org).
The exhibition will run through December 16 in the Julius Friedman Gallery, on the lower level of Ekstrom Library. For more information, contact Elizabeth Reilly (502 852-8730; elizabeth.reilly@louisville.edu).
WHAS11 Interviews David Williams, ASC Donor and Local Activist, for Pride Month
Posted: June 28, 2022 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Books, Collections, Digital Collections, donor, Ekstrom Library, Louisville, Louisville History, People, Photographic Archives, Photographs, Primary Sources, University of Louisville Libraries Leave a commentIn celebration of Pride Month, local news affiliate WHAS recently interviewed Rare Books Curator Delinda Buie and Archives and Special Collections donor and local activist David Williams about the Williams-Nichols Archive, one of the largest LGBTQ collections in the U.S.
Williams donated the large, eclectic archive to ASC in 2001 to honor his late partner Norman Nichols, who died in 1995. It contains many pieces of memorabilia from protests and demonstrations, parties and events, and photos, newspapers, magazines, flyers and other materials.
You can find the article here: https://www.whas11.com/article/news/community/moments-that-matter/louisville-lgbt-history-ekstrom-library-collection-archive-david-williams-kentucky/417-b72d609a-8fa2-4410-b309-0ed5853ba173
Libraries hire new project archivist for Julius Friedman collection
Posted: April 26, 2022 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Books, Collections, Digital Collections, Digital Scholarship, donor, Ekstrom Library, Exhibits, Kentucky, Librarianship / Archivy, Louisville, Louisville History, New Items, People, Photographic Archives, Photographs, Primary Sources, University of Louisville Libraries | Tags: archives, Collections, donors, JuliusFriedman, philanthropy Leave a commentA trove of work by Louisville artist Julius Friedman (1943-2017), including a diverse mix of graphic design, books, commercial art, and photography, was recently donated to University of Louisville’s Archives and Special Collections (ASC), by Friedman’s sister, Louisville philanthropist Carol Abrams.
And now Friedman’s work will soon be preserved, organized, cataloged and available for public viewing thanks to additional funding from Abrams which allows ASC to hire a project archivist.
“It’s a rich and unique group of materials and there are so many different types,” said Haley-Marie Ellegood, who will serve a one-year term as archivist for the Julius Friedman Collection. “He worked with widely different formats – there is graphic design, posters, photography, and at the end of his career he got into bookmaking. He was moving into video production when he died.”
A recent Indiana University graduate with a Master of Library Science, Ellegood specialized in archives and records management and worked in the IU Archives. In addition to researching, cataloging, and preserving the collection, Ellegood will help select items for an exhibit of Friedman’s works to be held in mid-July in ASC’s gallery.
“He really loved working for nonprofit groups and he mostly worked for free,” said Ellegood. “He wasn’t really into making money, but he created annual reports for corporations and was able to charge a fair fee for it. That type of payment apparently funded his work for nonprofits.”
Friedman was well known for his commercial photography, graphic design, and iconic posters, including “Fresh Paint”; “Ballerina Toe on Egg” for the Louisville Ballet; and “Ice Cream in French Horn” for the Louisville Orchestra.
In addition to many of Friedman’s iconic posters, the collection includes much of his photography, and graphic design for menus, postcards, stationery, event programs, and flyers. Other materials include some of his written work, including a few notebooks and some correspondence. ASC has had a relationship with Friedman going back decades. Although the Filson Historical Society has a small collection of Friedman’s art, ASC holds the largest part of the collection.
Ellegood says her love of archival work grew out of her love of history, her subject major as an undergraduate. “I love learning about important people in historic places and from historic times. And I enjoy making information accessible to people, so they can appreciate it.”
Processing Friedman’s collection is an exciting first professional project after graduate school for Ellegood. “His art really makes you think about what’s going on, it’s not what you would expect. You wouldn’t expect a ballerina to balance on an egg. It challenges your preconceived notions.”
Louisville history of racial oppression and activism revealed in new online resource
Posted: March 7, 2022 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Art Library, Books, Collections, Databases, Digital Collections, Digital Scholarship, Ekstrom Library, Images, Kentucky, Kornhauser Health Sciences Library, Louisville, Louisville History, Photographs, Primary Sources, University of Louisville Libraries | Tags: archives, information literacy, Photographic Archives, racial justice, research 2 CommentsBy Rebecca Pattillo
University of Louisville’s Archives and Special Collections (ASC) has published a new resource, Uncovering Racial Logics: Louisville’s History of Racial Oppression and Activism, a website that provides access to documents, oral histories, photographs and other materials that tell the story of Louisville’s history of racial oppression and activism.
The site is focused on education, policing and housing, “areas in which we see institutional racism at work, producing unequal access to resources, freedoms, and opportunities as part of ongoing U.S. racial stratification,” according to the site’s introduction. Funded by the Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research (CCTSJR) and the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, the collaborative project was created by faculty members across multiple departments for an interdisciplinary look at the “racial logics” of Louisville via primary source materials housed in ASC.
Dr. Carrie Mott, UofL Assistant Professor of Geographic and Environmental Sciences and one of the site’s creators, said the goal of the project was to provide access to useful information to anyone interested in learning about Louisville’s history around racial justice.
“We also wanted to provide a tool that would help people see the amazing archival resources housed at ASC,” said Mott. “From prior research and teaching with archives at UofL, I knew of the wealth of resources we have here at UofL. But we recognized many people on campus as well as in the larger Louisville community do not understand how to use archival resources, why they might be useful, or know how to access them. The website was an opportunity to provide some resources in terms of actual scanned documents, but also to help people learn that UofL has a lot more where that came from for research on Louisville’s racial history.”
Rebecca Pattillo, ASC Metadata Librarian and site co-creator, said “Working on this project allowed ASC to make some of our materials available digitally. The site also directs visitors to our robust online digital collections, where they can explore some of the materials referenced in greater depth.”
“One misconception about the archives is that they are only available to UofL affiliated people, when actually we are open to anyone in the community,” said Pattillo.
The site features scanned archival documents including pamphlets, newspaper clippings, oral histories, correspondence, and photographs, with contextual and historical information about each document and the larger collection to which it belongs. In addition to scanned documents, the site also highlights oral histories, story maps, and other resources addressing Louisville’s racial history.
Site users may explore the topic of both secondary and higher education in Louisville to learn about the push for equal pay among Black and white teachers in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the city’s move to desegregate schools via court-ordered busing in the mid-1970s, integration of the University of Louisville in the 1950s, and the founding of the Black Student Union and the Department of Black Affairs in the late 1960s. In addition, learn about Simmons University, one of Kentucky’s two HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and Louisville Municipal College, the only Black liberal arts college in the state which operated from 1931 through 1951, when it merged with a newly integrated UofL.
Another topic explored is the history of policing and police violence throughout the city. An example is the story of Fred J. Harris, a Black man who lost an eye after being beaten by police in 1979, and the work of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression to seek justice for Harris by demanding accountability from the police force.
Housing and Urban Renewal is another focus of the Uncovering Racial Logics project. Select archival materials highlight the narrative of Louisville’s history of racist housing policies and practices, including the construction of racially segregated federal public housing projects in the aftermath of the destruction of neighborhoods and displacement of communities via Urban Renewal. These materials also reveal resistance to and organizing among the Black community and white allies to fight against racist housing policies and discriminatory practices. One such well known housing project is Beecher Terrace, which is explored via the papers of its long-time manager, Earl Pruitt.
Rounding out the project is an extensive, albeit not exhaustive, list of resources for further research. You can explore interactive maps that detail the history of racism within city planning and zoning, as well as redlining within Louisville. In addition is a list of community resources that highlight local organizations that work to empower and improve life for Louisville’s diverse citizens. Also included is a list of UofL Resourcesthathighlights on-campus organizations and committees that work towards racial and social justice, as well as minority affinity groups.
This project was created by Carrie Mott, Rebecca Pattillo, Melanie Gast, Anna Browne Rebiero, Joy Hart, Kelly Kinahan, and Catherine Fosl, with additional assistance from undergraduate and graduate research assistants Cat Alexander, Elizabeth Frazier, and Ben Harlan. Additional technical assistance was provided by Cassidy Meurer and Terri Holtze. Special thanks goes to UofL’s Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research (CCTSJR) and Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research (ABI) for funding and supporting this work, as well as our community partners.
Archives and Special Collections collects, organizes, preserves, and makes available for research rare and unique primary and secondary source material, particularly relating to the history and cultural heritage of Louisville, Kentucky and the surrounding region, as well as serving as the official memory of the University of Louisville.
James Everett Recalls Beecher Terrace and ‘Old Walnut’ in the ‘40s
Posted: December 15, 2021 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Collections, Digital Collections, Images, Kentucky, Louisville, Louisville History, People, Photographic Archives, Photographs, Primary Sources | Tags: Archives & Special Collections, Louisville History, Oral History Center, Photographic Archives, Primary Sources 2 CommentsBy Tom Owen, Archivist for Regional History, Archives & Special Collections
of Howard Breckinridge
Howard Breckinridge of Plano, Texas, a longtime friend of our Archives and Special Collections and a fountain of information about West Louisville history, told me that his eighty-eight-year-old cousin James Everett also had keen memories of Louisville’s African American community in the 1940s. Everett and his parents were among the first residents of the brand-new Beecher Terrace public housing project on Muhammad Ali, and he spent his entire youth enjoying the bustle of the ‘Old Walnut Street’ business district. I jumped at the chance to capture those memories on tape since Beecher Terrace is being totally redone as a mixed-income community. At the same time, the wisdom of the destruction by Urban Renewal of that segregated commercial district immediately west of downtown in the late 1950s is being reopened for debate.
The problem was James Everett, an Indianapolis resident, was in poor health and under Covid protocols it was unwise for me to travel. Heather Fox, director of ASC’s Oral History Center, stepped into the breech, downloading an app to my cell phone that allowed me to record an almost one-hour interview with James Everett which as a digital file has been added to our massive collection of 2000 oral histories, gathered since the early 1970s and including many from the African American community.
In our interview last July, Everett recalled the family move to Beecher Terrace when he was eight as a God-send—a new comfortable home with central heat, indoor plumbing, and hot and cold running water which trumped in every respect their former rental in Louisville’s Black Hill neighborhood at Eleventh and Magnolia. He also remembered ‘Beecher’ as a safe, pleasant community where children were admonished by other parents if they got out-out-of-line and there were plenty of things for kids to do. For him, the lengthy ‘Old Walnut’ business district, which bordered his home on the south and stretched from Sixth to Thirteenth and beyond, offered a potpourri of possibilities: a favored donut shop, movie theaters, cleaners and tailor shops, pawn shops, dry goods and drug stores, cafes, and taverns and much more. (Some of the venues were Black owned.) At one point, James tells how as a teenager he snuck into the locally famous Top Hat Nightclub without being ejected by Frankie Maxwell, the watchful manager. On Derby Day, he said, ‘Old Walnut’s’ sidewalks were filled with fashionably dressed visitors—some not even headed to the track—and a large parade filled the street on Thanksgiving Day prior to an annual Central High School rivalry football game.
One especially warm memory involved Mr. Davidson, James’ teacher at Central, who met eight or ten male students in the neighborhood and led them on a lengthy Saturday hike through Downtown Louisville, across the Second Street bridge, and down the Indiana shore to the Falls of the Ohio. Praising this youth mentorship, Everett told of wading into the shallow pools at the Falls to catch carp with his hands and stopping for lunch on the way back to Beecher Terrace. The last third of our interview is a chronicle of James Everett’s years in the Air Force, his brief return to Louisville, and a permanent move to Indianapolis where, after a decade of job changes, he was employed by Ford Motor Company twenty-eight years until his retirement.
Sadly, a couple of weeks ago, Howard Breckinridge texted that James Everett died on November 13. How happy I am that Heather Fox made possible a phone interview that will be preserved in our ASC Oral History Collection. Now we hold forever the memories of a childhood and youth of an elderly Indianapolis resident spent in the 1940s in Louisville’s Beecher Terrace housing complex along that once-vibrant ‘Old Walnut’ business district.
In Memoriam: Photographer Ron Morris (1947-2021)
Posted: December 1, 2021 Filed under: Art Library, Books, Collections, donor, Librarianship / Archivy, Louisville History, New Items, People, Photographs, Primary Sources, University of Louisville Libraries Leave a commentBy Trish Blair, Art Library Collections Coordinator
In the fall of 2018, I met Ron Morris for the first time, and the very first thing he said to me and my co-worker Kathy Moore, is that he was dying. And that is how our partnership began – with that brutally honest and poignant statement.
He asked if the Art Library would be interested in a donation of maybe 200 of his books about photography. Since we were between directors, we consulted with Libraries Dean Fox, Tyler Goldberg (Head of Technical Services), Matt Wyatt (Development Director), and James Procell (Interim head, Art Library), and decided to accept, as photography is one of our most popular collections. After meeting with Mr. Morris, that quickly turned into a donation of over 1,100 titles. We don’t have an official value, but a rough estimate is about $175,000. We think it was the largest single donation to the Bridwell Art Library.
I began working with Mr. Morris, taking his hand-written lists of books and arranging for pick-ups. In the summer of 2019, I took our student intern at the time, Maree Grosser, with me for the heavy lifting. Once a week we would drive to Mr. Morris’ house and fill either my car or the library van with the treasures he was gifting to us. He would always have jazz or classical music playing and was happy to find out that Maree was an aspiring photographer. His keen intellect and interest in both our lives was comforting. He and I shared a love of taking pictures of things that were not “pretty” to museum standards.
To say that he was eclectic is an understatement. He was unconventional, funny, and warm. He collected antique typewriters, cameras, and books of all sorts. He had a very large collection of Chuck Taylor shoes that perfectly suited his style and being. His apartment was like a museum, mixed with a bookstore, mixed with a comfy home.
Ron Morris was a Louisville native and alumni of UofL’s Hite Art Institute (1969). He was also the Arts editor at the Louisville Cardinal during his undergrad period. He went from UofL to the Massachusetts College of Art for his MFA (1982) and settled in Boston for 40 years teaching photography at Newtown High School and honing his craft. He retired from teaching in 2014 and moved back to Louisville. His photographs have been exhibited at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Hofstra University, MIT, the Portland Art Museum, Newton Art Center, Vision Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, the New England School of Photography, the Memphis Academy of Art, the Hudson River Museum, Northeastern University and Texas A&M University, and the Caviar Forge & Gallery in Louisville.
We had great plans to celebrate his donation in 2020, but Covid cancelled them. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Morris passed away in the spring of 2021. Through his death we have added more items to our collection from his estate: prints of his photography; self-made books; graphic design images of the objects he collected; re-imagined movie posters; and of course more books. We will celebrate his gift sometime in the near future, but until then we will keep adding the objects he gave to us and remembering the man who was so inspirational.
Women’s Work in Louisville, Ky.
Posted: September 7, 2021 Filed under: Archives & Special Collections, Digital Scholarship, Louisville History, People, Photographs, University of Louisville Libraries, Web Site Leave a commentOver a decade ago I assisted at the research desk in the Archives & Special Collections (ASC) at the University of Louisville for a short time. I’m not an archivist, but I find the archival collections fascinating and I’d worked the ten years prior as the Social Sciences Reference Librarian. ASC was short on staff that year and I had just taken the position of Head of Web Services and wanted to keep some contact time interacting with the public, so I jumped at the opportunity to assist at the ASC Research Desk.
Cigarette manufacturing at Brown and Williamson, 1930. (CS 111146)
While working there, I got a lot more exposure to their collections – particularly the photographic collections. Being a woman, I started to notice a pattern in the photos related to Louisville: they were heavily-weighted towards men – well-off White men in particular. Talking with our archivists revealed some history about the collections. Most of our Louisville images came from the work of photographic studios in Louisville and the work of the studios during the early twentieth century was largely paid for by – you guessed it – White businessmen. So, it’s no big leap to understand why you see so many men in business suits and relatively fewer images of women, but that just made me more curious about what women were doing during these times and what life was like for them.
That started a ten-year journey into researching women’s roles in the workforce of Louisville, Kentucky. My research took me through dozens of collections in the UofL Archives and Special Collections, as well as collections at the Filson Historical Society, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, the Jefferson County Public School Archives, and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.
In doing this, I “met” some fascinating women – from a frontier businesswoman to a nun / nurse for Civil War soldiers. I felt that their stories needed to be shared more broadly to make people more aware of the contributions of women’s work to our community and to advertise these amazing historical resources to people who’ve never set foot in one of our archives.
So the Women’s Work of Louisville, Ky., project was born. It’s available to anyone with internet access at https://womenwork.library.louisville.edu/. The project includes sections on Eras, Women, and a Timeline. The Eras section features essays about women’s occupations from settlement through World War II, along with a bonus essay on Louisville women’s fight for suffrage. The Women section includes short biographies of women in a variety of careers, from steamboat captain to Lieutenant Governor. Whenever possible, I tried to include quotes from the women themselves talking about their work experiences. The Timeline section highlights important legislation and firsts for women in Louisville.
I hope you enjoy learning about these women as much as I did. And when you’re ready to learn more, come visit us in the archives!
https://womenwork.library.louisville.edu/
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