Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy
- Creator
- Bevins, Martha
- Extent
- 0.05 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Radio broadcasting.
- Agriculture -- Kentucky.
- Birds
- Women air pilots.
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged chronologically.
- Preferred Citation
- 2015ms086: [identification of item], Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy, 1955-1962, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Martha Bevins was born Martha Helen Croninger in Covington, Kentucky, on February 25, 1910 to Charles Murry Croninger and Caroline Hamilton Croninger. A pilot, Bevins joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II. She married Okey Bevins, also an experienced pilot, in 1928, in Cabell County, West Virginia. Okey Bevins was killed in 1935 when his plane hit the support wire of a radio broadcast mast. She lived on a farm in Morning View, Kentucky, during the 1950s and 1960s. She owned some livestock, horses, dogs, a small tractor, a barn, a pond, and a stand of trees that she called the tree patch. In addition to being a pilot, Bevins was also a naturalist, a conservationist, and a keen observer of wildlife, weather, and seasons.
- Tom McCarthy (Thomas Joseph McCarthy, 1914-1977) was a writer, journalist, and radio and television broadcaster. In 1937, McCarthy worked as a columnist for the Washington Post. He hitchhiked from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, reporting on the lives of ordinary people during the Great Depression. During the 1960s and 1970s, his articles appeared in many publications including The Boston Globe Magazine, American Heritage, and The New York Times.
- During the 1950s, McCarthy hosted a four hour, daily, morning radio program, which he broadcast from his farm, O'Bannon's Green, Clermont County, Ohio. He broke new ground by broadcasting his radio program, not from a studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, but 25 miles away on his family farm through a specially installed cable link. He held his show on the front porch of his house where the everyday sounds of farming, trains, planes, livestock, and wildlife were audible. These background noises became a feature of his live program. On the morning radio program, McCarthy reported international and local news; gave commentary; interviewed figures such as Eamon de Valera, James T. Farrel, and Aaron Copeland; and told stories about his farm's livestock and crops which he farmed organically. In 1958, McCarthy moved his program from WKRC Cincinnati to WNOP, Kentucky. In 1959, McCarthy ended his show and moved with his family to New Hampshire.
- Bevins started sending McCarthy letters in 1955. And he began reading them during his radio show. She quickly started receiving her own fan mail. It is likely that Bevins and McCarthy never met, and Bevins always declined to be interviewed on air.
- Scope and Content
- Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy (dated 1955-1962; 0.05 cubic feet; 55 items) consist of letters Bevins wrote to radio host Tom McCarthy, which he read aloud on his morning radio program broadcast from his farm in Ohio. The letters, always signed Bevins, contain detailed accounts of Kentucky country life, tornados, memories of the big freeze of 1918, a stake-out of a woodchuck on Groundhog Day, and of how as a pilot she and her co-pilot almost crashed into (the eventually ill-fated air ship) the Hindenburg over the streets of Manhatten. She often references her tree patch and talks about the birds that live there and migrate through her farm. Included among the many birds she mentions are jays, mockingbirds, cow birds, starlings, and woodpeckers. One story of note describes a quail on Bevins' farm hearing another quail over a radio. The letters also contain an account of McCarthy's broadcast from a lion's cage and mention both the show's move to WNOP in Kentucky and its end in 1959.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- 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
1955 December 21
1956 February 2
1956 March 6
1956 March 19
1956 March 29
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1956 April 20
- Box MS-42, folder 1
circa 1956 July
- Box MS-42, folder 1
circa 1956 August
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1956 October 1
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1956 October 11
1956 October 27
1956 November 14
1956 November 28
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1956 December 18
- Box MS-42, folder 1
circa 1957
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 February
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 March 12
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 March 27
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 April 16
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 April 24
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 May 10
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 May 23
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 May 28
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 June 11
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 June 24
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 July 3
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 July 12
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 August 28
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 September 10
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 September 13
1957 October 3
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 October 14
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 October 24
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 November 6
Edward J. Hunter letter to Tom McCarthy, 1957 November 20
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 November 22
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 December 3
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1957 December 26
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 January 8
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 March 20
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 April 10
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 April 29
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 May 7
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 May 29
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 August 8
1958 August 28
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 October 27
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 November 26
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1958 December 18
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1959 February 3
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1959 March 4
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1959 March 17
- Box MS-42, folder 1
1959 March 24
- Box MS-42, folder 1
circa 1959 December
- Box MS-42, folder 1
circa 1962 December
- Box MS-42, folder 1
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Table of Contents
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Materials must be requested at least 5 days before your appointment.
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.