Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Gift, 2000.
Collection is arranged chronologically. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
Dan Strickland (b. 1946) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Edward R. Strickland (1922-1987) and an unidentified mother. In 1971, he joined the Peace Corps and worked in South Korea dealing with epidemiology, namely tuberculosis control, and was there until late 1973. In 1974, he married Myung Eun Chun (b. 1949), a language teacher he met while in Korea. No other biographical information available.
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
2009ms132.0901: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Dan Strickland letters, 1971-1973, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
The Dan Strickland letters (dated 1971-1973; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises letters from Dan Strickland to his family that document his experiences working in the Peace Corps in South Korea in the early-1970s. In the letters, he writes about learning about the small town he is located in, running into other foreigners, traditional Korean breakfasts and food habits, going to teahouses, recommendations of books for his family to read on Korean culture, explanation of gifts he sends, making friends with locals, how he is treated by the family that he boards with, daily work, giving vaccines to residents, studying health survey responses, traveling around Korea, attending language education classes, his thoughts on staying in Korea after his term is complete, meeting a young Korean woman, his plans to marry her, and his efforts to return home. He also writes responses to his family's activities, commentary on his sibling's relationships with boyfriends and girlfriends, how their relationship is with their father, and thoughts on gossip from home.
The Dan Strickland letters collection is 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.
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.