Marion Smith correspondence and photograph albums
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Marion Smith correspondence and photograph albums
- Date
- 1917-1976, undated (inclusive)
- Creator
- Smith, Francis Marion, 1905-1984
- Extent
- 1.78 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- College students -- Correspondence -- 20th century
- College students -- Social life and customs
- Letters.
- Young men -- United States -- Correspondence -- 20th century
- Young men -- United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
- Young women -- United States -- Correspondence -- 20th century
- Young women -- United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by subject into three series: John Smith letters to Marion Smith; Other correspondence; and Photograph albums.
- Preferred Citation
- 2018ua043 : [identification of item], Marion Smith correspondence and photograph albums, 1917-1976, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Dice Samuel Smith was born in Daviess County, Kentucky, on November 21, 1870. He served as a cook in the Spanish American War. In 1900 Smith lived in Sacramento, California, worked as a grocer, and boarded in his uncle's house. His sister, Rose Smith Pirtle, had a cactus garden, Pirtle's Cactus Garden, in the Western United States. By 1910, Smith had moved to Livermore, Kentucky, and lived with wife, Sally Tanner Smith; son, John Smith; daughter, Marion Smith; and brother, George Smith. He owned a general store while his brother worked at a sawmill. In 1930 Dice Smith lived in Owensboro, Kentucky. He owned a car dealership called Chambers Auto Sales while his daughter Marion was the bookkeeper for the dealership. By 1940 Smith had remarried to Clara Smith. His daughter, Marion, still lived with him, and Smith had retired. Dice Smith spent the last 24 years of his life in Evansville, Kentucky, and died in 1956 at age 86.
- John Rowan Smith was born on December 3, 1906 in Mclean County, Kentucky. After earning a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Kentucky in 1926, John Smith moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, and worked at a power plant as a stationary engineer. He married Mary Anderson on October 5, 1940, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. In 1940 he lived at 1731 North Taylor Road, East Cleveland as a boarder and had lived there since 1935. He was an electrical engineer for an electrical equipment manufacturer. John's wife, Mary A. Smith died in 1982. John Smith died at age 81 on Saturday, November 14, 1987 at Hermitage Manor Nursing Home.
- Francis Marion Smith was born in 1905 in Livermore, Kentucky (birthday unknown). She attended Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College and graduated in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in history with a minor in English. In 1930 Marion Smith lived in Owensboro, Kentucky, with her father, Dice Smith, and stepmother, Clara Smith. She worked as a bookkeeper for her father's auto dealership Chambers Auto Sales. In 1940 Marion still lived with her father and stepmother in Owensboro, and was working as a schoolteacher. Marion taught in Morganfield, Jenkins, Owensboro, and Louisville over the course of her career. Marion married George E. Smith who died in 1972. Marion Smith died at age 79 on Thursday, August 2, 1984.
- Source: Genealogical notes from donor in collection file in repository.
- Scope and Content
- The Marion Smith correspondence and photograph albums (dated 1917-1976, undated; 1.78 cubic feet; 2 document boxes, 1 flat box) consists primarily of letters written to Marion Smith by her brother, John Smith, and their friends from when both Marion and John were attending college at Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College and at the University of Kentucky, respectively, from 1922-1926. There are also letters Marion wrote to her friends and father, mother, and grandmother (1922-1929, undated), and two photograph albums compiled by Marion documenting family and friends, travel, and her students (1917-1968, undated). Subjects of the letters include academic life such as grades, classes, social events, course work, and campus activities. Other subjects include Marion's experiences as a teacher; musical and theatre performances; church; John's activities as a cadet at UK; sports at John and Marion's schools as well as around the state; small pox and typhoid vaccinations; the lives of family and friends; events taking place in the Smith family's home town of Livermore, Kentucky; John and Marion's father, Dice Smith's, car business; and car brands such as Ford, Star, and Buick. Letters from Marion's friend, Gus Hicks, and Marion's photograph albums document travel and impressions of new places and people in Kentucky and the western United States.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment
- Use Restrictions
- Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
John Smith letters to Marion Smith, 1922-1976 and undated
Scope and Contents
Consists primarily of letters sent from John Smith (Lexington, Kentucky, and Cleveland, Ohio) to his sister Marion Smith (Bowling Green, Kentucky), 1922-1926, when John was attending the University of Kentucky (UK) and working in Cleveland post-graudation, and Marion was attending Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College. Subjects covered in the letters include John's academic life, such as descriptions of and opinions about his classes (course work and grades), campus events and happenings, and John's activities as a cadet. Other subjects include descriptions of and opinions about sports at John and Marion's schools as well as around Kentucky; events at the sibling's home in Livermore, Kentucky; the lives of John and Marion's friends; events John attended such as musical and theatre performances; John and Marion's father Dice Smith's car business; and car brands such as Ford, Star, and Buick. Also included is a folder containing papers regarding John's University of Kentucky Alumni Association membership (1976), a photograph of John in his cadet uniform, and his 1926 commencement program.
Other people frequently mentioned in the letters include John's roommate, Louis Fendley; John's friends, Mildred and Winston; and Marion's friends Alda, Ruth, and Cliffie. Items sent or included with letters include a copy of John's English exam (Feb. 19, 1925); the UK varsity battle cry along with a key-shaped invitation to an upcoming game (Nov. 11, 1922); newspaper clippings from the student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel; and the bankbooks of both John and Dice Smith. Specific references to notable people and local events include performers such as Ricardo Martin (Feb. 10, 1923), Frieda Hempel (Feb. 1, 1923), and Robert Mantill (February 1, 1923); a speech given in John's collateral activity class by August O. Stanley (March 17, 1923); the shooting of a UK night watchman by a UK student (February 16 and 24, 1923); the death of UK junior student Price McLean following an accident in a football game with Cincinnati (October 9, 1923); John's description of his use of a Dictaphone (Oct. 30 and Nov. 11, 1926); and the death of Floyd Collins in the Sand Cave at Mammoth Cave (February 19, 1925). Letters, incliding items sent with them, are arranged chronologically. Other items and papers are arranged alphabetically.
1922
1923 (three folders)
1924
1925
1926
John Smith alumni association papers, 1976
John Smith cadet photograph and graduation ceremony program, 1926 and undated
Other correspondence, 1922-1929 and undated
Scope and Contents
Consists of letters sent by Francis Marion Smith when she was attending Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College (Bowling Green, Kentucky) to her parents and grandmother (Livermore, Kentucky, 1922-1929 and undated) and letters sent to Marion during the same time period from friends Amelia (Bowling Green, Kentucky, undated), Louis Fendley (Lexington, Kentucky, 1923-1924), Cliffie Brown (Short Creek, Kentucky, 1923 and undated), Gus Hicks (Palo Alto and Pataluma, California, 1923), Camilla (Tennessee College, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, undated), J. Dodson (Livermore, Kentucky, 1923), Elizabeth (unknown location, undated), Etta Belle Terry (Jett's Creek, Kentucky, 1929), Loren Whitely (Owensboro, Kentucky, 1927), John N. Stevens (Bowling Green, Kentucky, 1926), Willie (Russellville, Kentucky, August 11, 1926), and Wilma (Bowling Green, Kentucky,1926 and undated). Subjects of the letters include academic life such as grades, classes, social events, and sports. Other subjects include clothes; small pox and typhoid vaccinations; the lives of family and friends; events at Marion's home in Livermore, Kentucky; her father, Dice Smith's, automobile business; experiences teaching school; musical and theatre performances; and church.
Friends frequently mentioned in the letters include John's roommate, Louis Fendley, as well as John's friends Mildred and Winston. Marion's friends Alda, Ruth, and Cliffie are also mentioned. Items sent with the letters include an invitation to Marion's friend, Etta Belle Terry's, wedding; a bulletin from First Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky (Loren Whitely, December 9, 1923) and an invitation to the First Baptist Church special meeting sent with a letter to Marion's parents (April 13, 1924). Specific references to notable people and events include performances by singers Frida Hempel and Galli Curei (Louis Fendley, February 25, 1924) and Japanese opera singer Madame Miura (Marion to parents, January 16, 1923); Gus Hicks's travels to Los Angeles and San Diego, California, and Tijuana , Mexico (Gus Hicks, April 18, 1923, Washington state, Idaho, and Utah (Gus Hicks August 7, 1923), and his work in a hatchery in California (February 20 and April 18 1923). Arranged alphabetically by correspondent name.
Amelia to Marion, undated
Cliffie Brown to Marion, 1923 and undated
Camilla to Marion, undated
J. Dodson to Marion, 1923
Elizabeth to Marion, undated
Louis Fendley to Marion, 1923-1924
Gus Hicks to Marion, 1923
Marion to parents, 1922
Marion to parents (two folders), 1923 and undated
Marion to parents, 1923-1924
Marion to home, 1927, 1929
Marion to home, 1928
John N. Stevens to Marion, 1926
Etta Belle Terry wedding invitation to Marion, 1929 May 22
Loren Whitely to Marion, 1927 October 20
Willie to Marion, 1926 August 11
Wilma to Marion, 1926 and undated
Miscellaneous letter and envelope, 1923, 1926
Biographical Material
Dice E. Smith cards and death, 1957 and undated
George Smith (Marion's husband) death, 1972
John Smith correspondence and Bailey Meter Company employee card, 1957, 1980-1982 and undated
John Smith funeral book
Marion Smith funeral book and sympathy cards
Mary Smith (John Smith's wife) death certificate and appraisal of her wedding ring, 1982
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Table of Contents
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
No items have been requested.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
