Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Jennie Lee Carter letters
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Jennie Lee Carter letters
- Date
- 1886-1929, undated (inclusive)
- Creator
- Carter, Jennie Lee, 1890-1981
- Extent
- 0.15 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Agriculture -- Kansas
- Dairy farming.
- Farm life
- Women -- United States -- History.
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by subject. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
- Preferred Citation
- 2009ms132.0287: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Jennie Lee Carter letters, 1886-1929, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Jennie Lee Carter (1890-1981) was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to Theodore A. Carter (1845-1898) and Eliza Jane "Jennie" Nimmo (1854-1929); Jennie Lee was the ninth of ten children in the Carter family. Her siblings include: Edward (1863-1938), William (1871-1935), Wallace (1875-1939), Theodore (1877-1942), Ada (1879-1946), Don (1882-1937), Maggie (1884-1966), Otis (1888-1973), and Lillie (1893-1968). Jennie Lee worked as a secretary and bookkeeper up through the mid-1930s. In 1931, she married Henry A. Martens (1884-1964), a painter in the railroad industry. The couple had no children and lived in Louisville, Kentucky.
- American Letters collector Wade Hall (1934-2015) was a native of Union Springs, Alabama. Starting in 1962, he lived in Louisville, where he taught English and chaired the English and Humanities/Arts programs at Kentucky Southern College and Bellarmine University. He also taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida. He held degrees from Troy State University (B.S.), the University of Alabama (M.A.), and the University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He served for two years in the U.S. Army in the mid-fifties. Dr. Hall was the author of books, monographs, articles, plays, and reviews relating to Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern history and literature. His most recent books include A Visit with Harlan Hubbard; High Upon a Hill: A History of Bellarmine College; A Song in Native Pastures: Randy Atcher's Life in Country Music; and Waters of Life from Conecuh Ridge.
- Scope and Content
- The Jennie Lee Carter letters (dated 1886-1929, undated; 0.15 cubic feet; 5 folders) comprise letters that document the life of Jennie Lee Carter and her family in Kentucky and the mid-west in the early twentieth century. The letters are primarily sent to Jennie Carter and Jennie Lee Carter, with Jennie Carter's sister Margaret Lamb writing to her, and Jennie Carter writing to her daughter Jennie Lee Carter. There are additional letters to both Jennie and Jennie Lee from relatives along with a few letters to siblings of Jennie Lee Carter. The letters to Jennie Carter discuss visiting family, her niece's move to Kansas, daily life at home, the weather, and personal health. The letters from Margaret to Jennie discuss the death of their mother, the weather, work on the farm, gifts sent to each other, the death of Margaret's husband, and her efforts to get a widow's pension. The letters to Jennie Lee from her siblings and friends discuss visiting each other, personal health, their mother, and the weather. In the letters between Jennie and Jennie Lee, they discuss Jennie visiting her sister Margaret's farm in Scott City, Kansas, managing the dairy cattle herd, selling dairy products, and the weather on the plains – namely the constant wind and lack of rain.
- The Jennie Lee Carter letters are part of the Wade Hall Collection of American letters, which includes correspondence and diaries from all over North America covering the time period of the Civil to Korean Wars. The materials were collected by Wade Hall and document everyday men and women.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
Letters to Jennie Carter, 1911-1928, undated
Margaret Lamb to Jennie Carter, 1897-1929
Letters to Jennie Lee Carter, 1914-1922
Jennie Carter to Jennie Lee Carter, 1911-1922
Carter family general letters, 1886-1903, 1922
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.
Table of Contents
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.
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.
