A Day in the Life of a UK Student: June 1911

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 10, 2015) — In celebration of the University of Kentucky sesquicentennial, UK Special Collections Research Center is releasing the diary entries of former student Virginia Clay McClure. The diary chronicles the day-to-day activities of McClure's junior and senior years at the State University of Kentucky (now UK) from 1910-1912. McClure's 73rd and 74th diary entries, which are undated, continue her chronicles about her trip to Asheville, North Carolina, to the YWCA national conference. Her entries include information on dining, touring and the housing as well as her experience meeting two young Chinese girls. The entries fall sometime in early June 1911. 

Undated entry 1

Didn't see Jessie Milton until Asheville. We had lots of fun finding the place. Took a long drive that afternoon to Sunset Mountain, where we picked wild strawberries. Went through Battery Park Hotel where we got an excellent view of Asheville from the roof.

Had to wear little green buttons to get our eats. Second table is fine for breakfast. 8 o'clock. We all sang "Praise God" instead of having a blessing.

Thirteen Kentucky girls. Nell Crutcher, Caldwell; Virginia Crutcher, Nola Redd, Millersburg; Miss Durham, Miss Bach, Richmond; Miss Taulbee, Miss Hauser, Berea; Hattie Blakeman, Sallie Keen, Logan College; "Asia" Minor, Miss McElroy, Georgetown; and Jessie Mit and I.

Inserted beside McClure's first undated entry in June was the green button the girls had to wear when it was time to eat. She also included a red piece of paper that listed multiple points of interest in the Asheville area and their distance from the city. McClure attended the YWCA conference as an officer of the university chapter of the organization.

Undated entry 2

We lived on the "fifth" floor! Honey, yes! And the last flight of stairs was that narrow! But didn't Jessie Mit, Nola, and I go up three abreast one day? All the Kentucky girls were on this same "little" fifth floor. I liked them all, but Nell, Virginia, and Nola especially. We had some good times together. Sunrise on Beaumont, for instance!! And the mountain climb Miss Betts was going to take us on, but we never did go.

McClure inserted her room assignment card beside this undated entry. The card showed where her room was and where she would be eating.

There were two perfectly dear Chinese girls there. The little one was so cute and both as bright as could be. This is the little one's signature. They came over last autumn.

Also next to the diary entry was the piece of paper the little girl signed.

More on Virginia Clay McClure

Virginia Clay McClure, a native of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, graduated in 1912 with an AB degree and received her master’s degree in 1928 from UK. After receiving her AB, she taught for a year at Middlesboro, Kentucky, another year at Paducah, Kentucky, and seven years in Cynthiana, Kentucky. After this, she returned to Lexington, where she taught for nine and a half years in the Fayette County schools. At this point, she took two and a half years off of work to complete her doctorate.

The first woman to receive a Ph.D. from UK, McClure said that her department chairman did not “want a woman to get a doctor’s degree.” In spite of those words, McClure received her doctoral degree in American history in 1934.

Her dissertation was “The Settlement of the Kentucky Appalachian Region,” about which “nothing had been done before.” McClure did significant original research for the

dissertation and made several trips to Eastern Kentucky with Katherine Pettit, who had taught in settlement schools, including Pine Mountain School, which she helped to establish.  

McClure planned to teach at the college level but after finishing her dissertation in the midst of the depression, colleges were laying off faculty rather than hiring them. She then joined the Fayette County School system, then Lexington City Schools, and taught United States history and government at Henry Clay High School from 1934-1959. A position that she found quite rewarding.

The UK alumna and educator was very active in the community. McClure was a member of Central Christian Church and Kappa Delta Pi Honorary, Kentucky and National Retired Teachers associations, Salvation Army Auxiliary, Cardinal Hill Hospital Auxiliary and numerous historical societies. She was also a charter member of the Lexington Rose Society, twice serving as president, and was a member of the American Rose Society.

McClure passed away in 1980 at 91 years of age.

The Virginia Clay McClure papers are housed at the Special Collections Research Center and include a diary/scrapbook, a photograph album and other assorted photographs related to McClure's time as an undergraduate at State University, Lexington, Kentucky from 1910-1912. The scrapbook includes clippings, small artifacts, programs and invitations, but the bulk of the material is McClure's many personal writings. The photograph album and loose photographs also document this time period and include photographs of her UK classmates (many of whom are identified and also mentioned in her scrapbook); class trips and events (such as Arbor Day); and women playing basketball among other casual snapshots. 

This story on UK's history is presented by UK Special Collections Research Center. UK Special Collections is home to UK Libraries' collection of rare books, Kentuckiana, the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Bert T. Combs Appalachian collection and the digital library, ExploreUK. The mission of the center is to locate and preserve materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
 

Diary transcriptions completed by senior Taylor Adams, Special Collections Learning Lab intern and history major from Ashland, Kentucky.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu