Interview with Nancy D. Baird, June 17, 2013

Partial Transcript: I went back and took a class at Western merely to fill in some time and get away from playing bridge.

Segment Synopsis: Nancy tells about her education and her circuitous route to Bowling Green, following her husband's medical career.

Keywords: Alexandria, LA; Bowling Green, KY; Carol Crowe Carraco; Cherry Point, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Crawford Crowe; Flight surgeon school; History Professors; Isadore Newman School; New Orleans, LA; Pensacola, FL; Private schools; Tom Baird, M.D.; U.S. Navy; University of Alabama; University of Kentucky

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Handy, Riley, 1941-2010 Harrison, Lowell, 1922-2011 Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: I took the job, and what I thought was going to be a one year position turned out to be a 35-year career that I loved every moment of. I also taught nearly every semester of those 35 years one class for the History department.

Segment Synopsis: Nancy tells about how she met Riley Handy, who asked her to be a Librarian at the Kentucky Library, even though she had no library degree.

Keywords: Department Head of Kentucky Library; History professors; History specialist; Ivan Wilson Hall; Working mothers

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Handy, Riley, 1941-2010 Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: The title Kentucky Library has always been misleading. Originally it started as a Kentucky Collection, but today less than a tenth of the collection relates to Kentucky.

Segment Synopsis: Tells about the great diversity of materials in the Special Collections (formerly Kentucky) Library.

Keywords: Archeology; Faculty instruction; Folklore; Historical letters; Historical wills; History programs in schools; Manuscripts; Medical history; Medicine; Paper vs. etexts; Technology's impact on library usage; Travel history

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: What do you say to students who say "I don't need to understand history, I need to understand technology, because I know this is going to be important for my career in the future, what does history have for me?"

Segment Synopsis: Nancy talks about how history is fully as important as technology for today's students, and remembers Margie Helm.

Keywords: Digital natives; Early hiring processes at WKU; Faculty House Library; Helm Hotel; Henry Hardin Cherry; Log house at WKU; Margie Helm - physical description; Riley Handy; Technology vs. history

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: Up until quite recently, there were no Ph.Ds in the library; today there are. Once upon a time, there were no Master's.

Segment Synopsis: Various departments on campus got funding in different ways; Nancy talks about her Master's Thesis subject - medical history of Kentucky.

Keywords: Academic budgeting; Athletic department; Cholera epidemic in Kentucky; Librarians - Education; Librarians - Salaries; Lowell Harrison; Luke Blackburn, Kentucky Governor; Professor salaries; Research; Spanish Flu epidemic in Kentucky; University of Louisville Medical School; Yandell family; Yellow Fever epidemic in Kentucky

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: The USO was formed to provide them with a place to meet, to write, to listen to the radio.

Segment Synopsis: Talks about her research and travel on the USO, and what she learned from visiting libraries across the country.

Keywords: Alice Baird; Bob Hope; Customer service in libraries; Grants; Libraries and the USO; Salvation Army; Travelers Aid; University librarians; USO (United Service Organization); YMCA; YWCA

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: A sizable portion of the researchers for Kentucky Library and other special collections are those hunting for their ancestors.

Segment Synopsis: Most interesting patron stories at the Kentucky Library.

Keywords: Civil War Diaries; Civilians during warfare; Genealogy; Illiteracy; Josie Underwood's Civil War Diary; Kentucky Humanities Council; Living History; Women in the Civil War; Women's History

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: I was the only one in the building, and I was down in the stacks in the basement, and I came up to the first floor on the elevator, ready to go out of the building. The museum had gotten some mannequins that day from someplace here in town.

Segment Synopsis: Nancy tells a "near ghost" story about the Kentucky Building.

Keywords: Mannequins; Scary events in Kentucky Library

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: I was among the first to use a computer; you had to go down to the College of Education in the basement where they had the films and the whatevers, and they had two or three computers down there.

Segment Synopsis: The march of technology and how it has affected historical library research - to keep or discard the card catalog?

Keywords: Ambrotypes; Card Catalog; Cartes de Visites; Cataloging Photographs; College of Education; Daguerrotypes; Dewey Decimal System; Filson Club - Louisville, KY; First personal computers on campus; Historical Libraries; Library of Congress Classification System; Online Catalog; Special Collections - University of Kentucky

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries

Partial Transcript: Lowell was a member of the history department for... I think he came somewhere around 1969, 1970, and retired, I don't know, in the 90s and died a couple years ago. He was a wonderful, wonderful guy.

Segment Synopsis: Key faculty on campus who were great supporters of the library.

Keywords: Baird endowment to the Kentucky Library; Cleveland Ohio Museum Board; Harry Jackson; Heather Ratiu; John Spurlock; Library Board; Lowell Harrison; Matching funds from state

Subjects: Academic Libraries Baird, Nancy D., 1935- Kentucky Building Kentucky History Kentucky Library Oral History Western Kentucky University Libraries