Reprint from Collections & Connections
Fall 1999, Vol. 4, No. 1

"My name is Stella [Bradley] Pool. I am a graduate of Western ('72) and...would like to inquire if the Kentucky Library would be interested..." So began an e-mail message directed to the Special Collections Librarian in April of this year. This e-mail inquiry was one of the first received by the Kentucky Library that has resulted in a donation. If Mrs. Pool's collection is any indication of the material that might be received through this new communication tool, we hope to receive many more inquiries.

Pool explained how the Melton family had migrated from North Carolina to Webster County, Kentucky, in the early part of the nineteenth century, and her desire to have these records housed safely in a repository. In May she delivered the collection which contained four early land grants signed by Kentucky governors, some manuscript material related to the Poole, Melton, Lively, and Strum families, photographs, advertising material, some Henderson County newspapers, and other western Kentucky ephemera. Of special importance were 1,376 historical postcards from the turn of the century.

One of Mrs. Pool's relatives, Cynthia I. "Sibbie" Melton, compiled this fantastic melange of tinted delights. The postcards date chiefly from the first twenty years of this century. Although confined to a wheelchair, Sibbie saw the world through postcards. Her relatives, neighbors and friends were eager to help her build the collection. One neighbor, who traveled throughout western Kentucky, sent many views of local sites. "The locally produced postcards hold the greatest interest for us," said Kentucky Library Coordinator Connie Mills, "but the collection contains a wide variety of cards ranging from occasional cards sent at holidays to novelty and romance cards."

Some of the cards were loose, but many of them were housed in postcard scrapbooks that were popular at the turn-of-the-century. Sibbie had carefully numbered many of the cards on the front, so she could keep up with the total number in her collection.

Also included in the collection is a series of articles produced by Sibbie for the Henderson Gleaner in which she reports on the activities of the small hamlet of Cairo in southern Henderson County. They provide interesting information for the local genealogist and for the social historian. In reporting on an excellent sermon delivered by Rev. C. R. Crowe, Melton noted: "We can usually judge how much a people appreciate their preacher by the way they pay him. There has been $25 more paid on Rev. Crowe's salary than any other preacher ever on this circuit, and he has collected nearly $75 for mission from the Cairo church alone." She informs readers about social functions, marriages, deaths, elections, weather, visitors, the changing seasons, and nature's bountiful beauty. In the fall of 1906, she noted: "The wild grape vines are hanging full of delicious ripe grapes and there are plenty of blushing persimmons waiting for more kisses from Jack Frost's icy lips to destroy that bitter puckering taste and make them sweet and good."

The "Melton Collection" is now available to researchers in the Kentucky Building. Thank you Mrs. Pool for inquiring if we would be interested.

~Jonathan Jeffrey

WKU Libraries kicked off the Fall Semester with the August 31st launching of its new state of the art catalog, TOPCAT 2000. Users of the new web-based catalog can "point and click" to search the Libraries' holdings; print, e-mail or download results; and seamlessly link to cited Internet resources.

Materials held in WKU Libraries' collections can be located using a variety of search options including keyword, author, title or subject. Library patrons with WKU ID numbers will be able to verify what they have checked out and determine whether they owe any fines or fees. In the future they will also be able to place hold requests for desired items, search course reserve materials, and search other libraries' online catalogs and initiate interlibrary loan requests for materials not held by WKU Libraries.

TOPCAT 2000 can be accessed from WKU main, branch and extended campuses via the campus network, WKUNet, or remotely via the web address http://topcat2000.wku.edu. You may also go to the WKU Libraries' Home Page at www.wku.edu/Library and click on TOPCAT 2000. Once connected to TOPCAT 2000, you will find extensive online help.

~Elaine Moore