A Day in the Life of a UK Student: April 26-27, 1911

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 27, 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 61st-63rd diary entries, dated April 26-27, 1911, including an undated entry on the peculiar disappearance of a fellow student, Willis E. Smith, and details of a house meeting to air grievances. 

"Much Ado About Nothing."

There was a young fellow of excellent pith, Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.

But he heard of the fame of a school called S.U.

And said, "There I'll show them just what I can do."

He left Owensboro far back in the rear

He journeyed to Lexington, wise as a seer; But he got to the hill where the old college stood And after some days he said, "Well, it's no good!"

I came here to show them just how I could shine, I thought they'd appreciate talents like mine; But since they ignore everything I do, I'll leave this old place of the White and the Blue."

He boarded a freight car that went to the west, He told to nobody his name nor his quest; But the ones that before had ignored his existence Began to be anxious - and then grew suspicious.

Just where was this youth who had entered their hall?

And why had he left? Did some other school call?

Oh! Fate sadly failed when she sought to conceal With the title of "Smith" a young man of his zeal!

Like wildfire, the news spread from city to state, His name was the watchword both early and late; The students hazed him, the public felt sure, Who else would have harmed him? That was evident, clear.

Excitement was great; disgrace stared at old State, And no one once thought of the innocent freight; But they digged in the streets, and they searched every inch Of the old college ground; and their task was no cinch.

While the Profs. were distracted, while fear grew apace, While students felt outraged, and turned pale in the face, While Old State's reputation hung as though by a thread To what parts had Willis E.'s freight car now sped?

He went far to the west, or north it may be, Who can tell, since nobody was near to see?

He worked in a town or a field or a mine Or someplace where everything suited him fine.

At last he decided to wend his way home, Come back to Kentucky and nevermore roam; A newspaper showed him his name in large type, He had never received such a shock in his life.

Had State at last worked? Was his name really known?

Did they want him to come back and claim it his own?

Oh sad disillusion! When he further had read He felt the great burden of quiet on his head.

He sent in his name just to say he was safe, He hadn't been hazed, but had just been displaced!

Would state please forgive him, and leave him to find In some other place a work more to his mind?

So what's in a name, be it ever so fine?

And What's in report told in newspaper rhyme?

Oh! Fate sadly failed when she sought to conceal With the title of "Smith" one of Willie E.'s zeal!

Apr. 26th. Phyllis and I want to go and see Tap Day exercises, but it storms and we come home, after which it storms still worse.

Apr. 27th. Addie and I go to town in the afternoon. She is white as to the extremities, and "thin" too. I write an announcement on the bulletin board in the name of the Senior girls, and we have a "housemeeting" in the abuse of the authorities. We express our opinions and at least show how we stand. Later Mamie McCann, Phyllis, Addie, and I take in the Colonial where we stay for a second "big black crow in the sycamore tree", then the Princess where the cavalry horses splash water on us, and the fire department splashes water on Haus and Fritz. Jessie Mit and Phyllis spend the night.

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