July 16, 2001

WKU Oral History Project Looking For Human Story In New Deal Archaeological Digs Along Green River

Bowling Green, Ky. - Two members of Western Kentucky University's anthropology program are looking for the human story from archaeological digs conducted along the Green River and elsewhere in western Kentucky in the 1930s and '40s.

Dr. Darlene Applegate, an archaeologist, and Dr. Lindsey King, a cultural anthropologist, are conducting an oral history project on the digs conducted by the Works Progress Administration.

The WPA was one of the New Deal programs created by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration to provide jobs during the Great Depression. WPA projects included archaeological digs along the Green River in western Kentucky.

Technical information from the digs is housed at the University of Kentucky, but Dr. King said she and Dr. Applegate are looking for the human element.

To gather information, Dr. King and Dr. Applegate are looking for anyone who remembers the WPA projects, including the workers (and their relatives) and families who provided rooms for archaeologists or workers.

"Many of the people who did the digging were from this area," including Butler and Muhlenberg counties, Dr. King said.

Even if people think their memories aren't important, "we are interested in everything," Dr. King said.

The WKU faculty members also are seeking information on archaeological tourism in western Kentucky. They hope to interview persons who operated, visited or lived near tourist sites like the Lost City, a tourist attraction in Logan County that was developed around an archaeological site in the late 1930s, and Wickliffe Mounds in Ballard County, where tourists observed excavations beginning in the 1930s.

Their work is being funded by the Kentucky Oral History Commission and Western Kentucky University. Dr. King and Dr. Applegate hope to complete their interviews this fall.

For more information, contact the Department of Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies at (270) 745-2401.

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