Reprint from Collections & Connections
Spring 1997, Vol. 1, No. 2

The first celebration of National Library Week was in 1958 with the theme "Wake Up & Read." April 13-19, 1997, marks the 39th year for this observance which is sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country. Many thousands of libraries -- school, public, academic, corporate, and special -- participate with special events and contests.

University Libraries' celebration includes the 10th annual Western Authors' Reception on April 15, 1997, from 2:30-4:00 in the Kentucky Building, Galleries K & L. This event features a display of scholarly publications by Western faculty and staff. In addition, the Dean of Libraries and the Museum, Michael Binder, presents the annual Faculty Library Award to a WKU faculty member who consistently contributes to the development and use of library and museum resources.

This year's theme for National Library Week is "Kids Connect @ the Library." Kids of all ages can and do find library connections with people, books, journals, and computers. As an academic library what greater challenge and responsibility is ours than to create an environment and provides resources for lifelong learning.

So, join us at any time to celebrate and navigate the information maze. Call. Visit. Log-on today!

~ Connie Foster

At the close of 1996, the Department of Library Special Collections was also the recipient of a gift of $7,000 in appreciated stocks from Ms. Beulah Winchel, a Western alumna, who served many years as a librarian with the U. S. State Department's school system in Germany, France and Japan. The retired federal employee, now living in Hardinsburg, has maintained strong ties with her alma mater and has endowed other WKU programs.

Riley Handy, head of special collections, said, "Ms. Winchel is generous in her support of a number of programs at Western, including the Educational Resources Center."

Handy said Ms. Winchel is interest in Kentucky history and has visited the Kentucky Building frequently.

"We certainly appreciate her latest gift in support of the Kentucky Building programs," Handy said.

~ Earlene Chelf

Circus figurines made by Hopkinsville, Ky, native John Wesley Venable, Jr. are on display in the Robert Penn Warren Room of the Kentucky building until May 31. The figurines, on loan from the Pennyroyal Museum, Hopkinsville, are significant to Robert Penn Warren's novella "The Circus in the Attic," which was published fifty years ago, and was the focus of this year's Robert Penn Warren Symposium.

It is believed that Warren based his work on Venable, who spent much of his oppressed life building circus figurines in his attic to escape the wrath of his domineering mother.

Similar to Venable, Bolton Lovehart, the main character in Warren's story, transforms such familiar items as bottle caps, cigar boxes, and lipstick holders into circus figures while in his attic. Lovehart, too, had a domineering, possessive mother.

In the article, "A Circus at the Top" (Courier-Journal Magazine, June 4, 1978) by Warren scholar Joy Bale Boone, she quoted the writer to explain the correlation between the fictional and factual "Circus in the Attic."

A friend of Warren's had briefly mentioned Venable's circus to him. Warren said, "I simply made it up from a verbal account, "scarcely more than a few sentences, given me years ago by a young man from Hopkinsville. I didn't even know the name of the circus-maker, or anything about his life, and I had more of Clarksville [Tennessee] in mind than Hopkinsville when I wrote the story. That is, for me, it was almost purely fiction."

While the similarities between Venable and Lovehart's life are evident, Boone cites many ways in which the fictional and factual stories do not match. Boone said John Venable lived in Hopkinsville, Ky, just north of the Tennessee line, the fictional Bolton Lovehart lived at Bardsville, Tenn., just south of the Kentucky border. Unlike Lovehart, John Venable never ran away to join a circus; he just ran away to the attic.

Given the similarities and differences of the lives of John Venable, Jr. and Bolton Lovehart, Warren's fans may assume that "The Circus in the Attic" is the result of a renowned author using poetic license to recreate a story about a native Kentuckian.

Boone makes an insightful observation as to the meaning of the circus in Venable's life and Lovehart's life as well. Warren readers may agree when Boone said, "The circus is a symbol of man's aloneness, a theme increasing drawn upon by Warren in his later novels and poetry, and of the vulnerability that we all share in human relationships."

"The Circus in the Attic" may be viewed during regular Kentucky Library hours: 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday; 9:30-4:00 Saturday. Arrangements for special viewing by classes and organizations may be made by calling (502) 745-6258.

~ Ann Madison