Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Gift, 2000.
Collection is arranged by subject. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
Alfred J. Blowers (1894-1972) was born in New York to Charles C. Blowers (1857-1935) and Jerretta Catherine Hedrick (1864-1943). In 1929, he married Evaline Bergey (1892-1933). After her death in 1933, Blowers began a relationship with Massachusetts divorcee Lempi S. Syrjala nee Koykka (1893-1978). The couple married in 1934, and had one child, Alfred Blowers Jr. (1935-2016).
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
2009ms132.0308: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Alfred J. Blowers letters, 1933-1934, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
The Alfred J. Blowers letters (dated 1933-1934, undated; 0.45 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise letters that document the courtship of Alfred Blowers and Lempi Syrjala during the mid-1930s in Massachusetts and New York. The letters are primarily from Lempi to Alfred, and she discusses her divorce proceedings, employment, marriage, Christianity, visiting family and friends, trips taken, and her excitement on being able to freely see and speak with him after the divorce was finalized. There are a few letters from Alfred to Lempi, and he writes mainly of his excitement on marrying her, preparations to visit, and traveling for work.
The Alfred J. Blowers 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.
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.