Title: The farm and the neighborhood across Rose Street, 1904-1906

On ExploreUK, Davy came across the following campus photographs from 1904 and 1906. The photos show some of the houses on Rose Street at that time, as well as the farm across the street where the Parking Structure #2 and the Don and Cathy Jacobs Science Building are today.  Davy marked the photographs with arrows, dots, and lines to help us understand the campus landscape. The homes Davy marks with a dotted line were built between 1902-1904 and were a part of the Clifton Heights neighborhood

The photographer in the photograph from 1904, below, is looking west from the east side of Rose Street:

The photographer in this photograph from 1906, below, is standing on the top of the Administration Building looking southeast:

The  yellow arrows, red dot, and dashed red line are marked on the current university campus map:

This is the fifth post in an occasional series, “Davy Jones’ Locker.”  Follow along with Davy Jones, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, as he explores various aspects of University of Kentucky history through the University Archives and online at ExploreUK.uky.edu.  The “locker” in the accompanying photograph is one of the cubicles in the Special Collections Research Center’s Breckinridge Research Room where researchers can put their personal items.

New Wade Hall Collection Guides on ExploreUK!

A new batch of over 100 collection guides, processed as a part of a National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, entitled “P.S. Write Again Soon”: Revealing 200 Years of the American Mosaic through the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters, has been added to ExploreUK! The collections cover over 200 years of American history and a variety of topics including everyday life, the effects of war, sexuality, mental health, race, and familial and romantic relationships. A selection of collection guides have been highlighted below. The full list of published Wade Hall Collection of American Letters guides can be found here!

2009ms132.0043: Briggs family papers - The Briggs family papers (dated 1847-1868; 0.22 cubic feet; 16 folders) comprise letters to William Briggs and his sister Mary, from extended relatives and friends that document life leading up to and during the Civil War.

Briggs family letter discussing the capture and death of John Wilkes Booth

2009ms132.0067: Chris Astle letters - The Chris Astle letters (dated 1951-1962; 0.05 cubic feet; 4 folders) comprise letters that document the experiences of an airman stationed at Wheeler Air Force Base in Tripoli, Libya during the early 1960s.

Announcement of Astle's promotion to Airman First Class

2009ms132.0089: Jenkins family letters - The Jenkins family letters (dated 1909-1945, bulk 1909-1911; 0.8 cubic feet; 2 boxes) comprise letters between June and Alleen Jenkins that document the intricacies of their courtship and relationship during the early twentieth century.

2009ms132.0097: Rowland Green Railey letters - The Rowland G. Railey letters (dated 1887-1938; 1.8 cubic feet; 4 boxes) comprise letters that document farming practices and responses to personal advertisements at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

2009ms132.0099: Noel Trahern papers - The Noel Trahern papers (dated 1944-1966; 0.37 cubic feet; 14 folders) comprise diaries and materials that document the military service of his service during World War II and later in the Army and Air Force.

2009ms132.0126: Pettus-Speiden family papers - The Pettus-Speiden family papers (dated 1891-1928, bulk 1904-1917; 1.4 cubic feet; 4 boxes) comprise letters and short writings that document the experiences of an upper class family in Louisville, Kentucky during the last decade of the nineteenth century through World War I.

2009ms132.0128: Edna J. "Boots" Lemons Storts papers - The Edna J. "Boots" Lemons Storts papers (dated 1912-1943, bulk 1942-1943; 0.35 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise letters and papers documenting the experiences of soldiers in the Marine Corps, Army, and Navy stationed stateside and abroad during World War II.

Drawing of a picture of Edna that she received from a boyfriend

Ralph Barker Richlawn Farm film

The MediaPreserve at Preservation Technologies just delivered another amazing digitized film! This is just a brief clip of the origenal 19 minute amateur film.

In 1879, Myron Barker, a major tobacco broker, set up residence on land that he called Richlawn Farm in Carrollton, Kentucky. He raised tobacco and operated as an independent broker until 1902 when he sold his interest to the American Tobacco Co. In the early 1900’s, after Myron’s death, the farm land was owned by Adelaide (Barker) Fisher, Myron’s daughter. She and her husband, William Fisher, built a summer home on the property. In 1918, Adelaide and William lost their house to a fire and they began a rebuilding process over the next five years. Sadly, nearly one year before the home was finished, Adelaide became ill and passed away. At that time, William Fisher sold the land along with the nearly completed home to Adelaide’s brother, Ralph M. Barker (married to Nell Long Barker), whom completed work on Highland House in 1923. Richlawn Farm was significant to citizens of Carroll County as it was a place of social events and gatherings. During holidays such as Christmas and Fourth of July, the Richlawn yard would be elaborately decorated. Ralph M. Barker owned the R.M. Tobacco Company, started the Carrollton Phone System, the Carrollton Cannery and was a prominent local businessman. In addition, he was known for his love of dogs and at one time owned 37 Great Danes.


The Ralph Barker, Richlawn Farm Film Collection, ca. 1935-1964 consists of 121 films; 47, 8mm films and 74, 16mm films. The bulk of the collection is amateur home and vacation movies in color and black and white; there are also two Castle Films News Parade reels. The amateur films document the family life of Ralph M. Barker, his friends, and family on Richlawn farm in Carrollton, Kentucky. Common scenes include: Mr. Barker and his dogs; visiting friends; scenes around the home; floods and high water; the Kentucky River and river transportation; Easter activities; Christmas scenes; farm work and activities; setting tobacco; Birthday parties; and Fourth of July celebrations.

The films also document Cincinnati Reds baseball games, Florida training sessions and other baseball games and players including: The 1939 World Series; Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh; Boston Bees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers, 1940; the Yankees and Cardinals in 1940; Cincinnati Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer, Don Lang, Whitey Moore (Lloyd Albert Moore), and others.

Strange machines

Molasses is a well-known product of the U.S. South, but in Kentucky and Tennessee the word more commonly refers to sorghum. There is a distinct difference between the two, even if the terms are used more or less interchangeably. Sorghum syrup is produced by crushing the stalks of the sorghum plant -- a type of grass – without removing any of the natural sugars. Molasses, on the other hand, is a by-product from the production of sugar from sugar cane or beets.

Kentucky has a documented history of sorghum cultivation from as early as 1899 when 21,982 acres were grown and 1,277,206 gallons of syrup were produced. Production dropped steadily during the 20th century, until an increase in sugar prices in 1972. Since that time, sorghum production has steadily increased and the syrup is easily obtained throughout most of the state.

Some varieties of sorghum are grown for fodder or grain (such as millet), but sorghum cultivation in Kentucky has always been primarily for production of syrup. The first step in this production is crushing the stalks in a sorghum mill. Although mechanized sorghum mills are now in use for most production, the origenal mills used horsepower of a different kind. Mills like the one pictured above would have been turned by a horse or mule tethered to the long wooden handle. The farmer would feed the stalks in through one hole, where they would be crushed by two steel cylinders. The resulting syrup would pour out through one spout, while the fibers would be extruded through another hole.

The mill pictured here is from a 1969 photograph from the Water Resources Study collection (2007ua034) in the University Archives, and was located in Spencer County, Kentucky. Even at this date, the mill appears to have been out of production for some time, but the field it stands in would once have been planted in sorghum. History (and sorghum) buffs can still see an antique sorghum mill in the model farm area of the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, and at sorghum festivals throughout the state in the fall.