The Kentucky Archivist

Newsletter of the Kentucky Council on Archives

Page Three

Work Underway on William Natcher Collection at WKU

During his forty-one years representing the Second Kentucky Congressional District, William H. Natcher assembled a fascinating array of papers, photographs, and memorabilia, including 103 boxes that were shipped to the Kentucky Building after his death. Before the public has access to the material in these boxes, it must first be processed. A major step towards this began last summer with the hiring of two individuals who are physically handling every item, placing them in a logical order, storing them under archival conditions and preparing detailed inventories.

To date, more than 2200 photographs and 63 scrapbooks are at least partially processed. The oldest item discovered to date in a letter the congressman's grandfather and namesake, William H. Natcher, wrote to the clerk of the Allen Circuit Court on February 16, 1881. More recent items include numerous greeting cards sent to Natcher by federal, state and local politicians, his constituents and several presidents. One fascinating set of materials relates to the 1949 Kilgore/Daggit/Martin murder trial, a rather sensational case that brought then Warren County District Attorney William Natcher great public recognition.

By the middle of February, the processors had located at least one manuscript item representing every presidential administration from Eisenhower to Clinton, including a special January 1961 Inaugural edition of Life magazine autographed by President John F. Kennedy. The staff hopes to make parts of the Natcher Collection accessible to the public in 2001.

Submitted by Sandy Staebell

Editor's note: The letter mentioned in this article is of particular interest to archivists. Mr. Natcher's grandfather was a tinsmith and was writing Allen County's Circuit Court Clerk to solicit an order for tin boxes which were produced for holding records. He writes:

"We are making File Boxes for Clerk's use which we think for cheapness and durability and duplicity cannot be excelled. They are made of best Tin 9 1/2 x 4 1/2. We make them for $3 per doz. Should you need anything in that line we would be pleased to send you samples for inspection. We refer you to Jas. D. Hines, Clk. Warren Ct. and C.A. Carson, Clk. Butler Court for both of whom we have put up a large number of boxes. They are nicely painted."

These boxes were well-constructed. We know this, because when many of Warren County's court records were brought to the Kentucky Building in the middle part of the last century they came in these tin boxes. The records were eventually transferred to acid-free boxes by dozens of volunteers who spend hundreds of hours processing the records. Mr. Natcher's mention of the boxes being "nicely painted" is a reference to a shellacking or japanning of the boxes to make them more attractive. The Natcher firm was noted for its "stoves, tinware, mantles, grates, castings, [and] kitchen articles" and was located on Bowling Green's Fountain Square. An ad for the operation noted: "Their motto is quick sales and short returns."