DCPL Kentucky Room

06/06/2026

American Bloodlines by Sonya Lea

06/04/2026

Have you ever played a game of marbles? Starting in the 1920s up until the 1950s, it was all the rage. It was so popular that there were district and national championships. Sponsored by the Owensboro Inquirer, the Owensboro District Championships drew competitors from seven counties--McLean, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Hancock, Breckinridge, and Daviess in Kentucky and Perry in Indiana. Hundreds of children from the Owensboro District participated in marble matches, and several of them even won the all-expenses paid trip to the national finals in Atlantic City and Ocean City, NJ.

Tommy Raley, from Hancock County, was 13 years old when he traveled to Atlantic City to participate in the national championship in 1925. He was runner-up and got to take home an impressive trophy that is seen in our display. In 1931, 13 year-old John Jeffries from Greenville, traveled to Ocean City, NJ and ended up winning the national crown. He was met back home with a parade. Owensboro's own Carl Spalding went to nationals twice-once in 1932 and again in 1933, at the ages of 12 and 13, respectively.

Although it is rare to see children shooting marbles at the playground, the National Marble Tournament is still presently being held every year in June in New Jersey, with over 1200 marble matches being played over a course of four days.

Through the month of June, we will have on display some facts about marble-shooting, articles about local "mibsters," and some marbles that came from the collection of Dennis F. Higdon. Many thanks to the Hancock County Museum in Hawesville for loaning us Tommy Raley's trophies to display.

06/01/2026

Join us on the second floor this Saturday, June 6th, at 2:00 to hear a presentation by author Sonya Lea regarding her book, "American Bloodlines".

"American Bloodlines" combines memoir with reportage and cultural criticism to interrogate and complicate the traditional narrative about how lynch culture is created in families, communities, and institutions. The essays in this collection grapple with our complicity in these atrocities—including the agreement in our silences—and demonstrate how we, as descendants, might take responsibility and bring new scrutiny to ancestral and communal crimes.

05/20/2026

Presentation: John Spalding, Owensboro D-Day Hero

05/11/2026

Few people in Owensboro know the story of this local sports writer turned D-Day hero. Driven by this knowledge, Dave Roberts was determined to make sure that John Spalding's story was never forgotten, and successfully campaigned to have Spalding recognized in town. During this presentation, Dave will discuss John, his D-Day heroics, and his post-war life.

05/02/2026

In honor of the 152nd Kentucky Derby today, we would like to remember Spend a Buck, the 1985 winner of the Derby and an Owensboro native! This horse was born on a Thruston farm that also contains a historic home of the county! It was built in 1842 by Juste Nicola Vairin, the personal bodyguard of Napoleon Bonaparte. After having participated in the famous Battle of Waterloo and being honorably discharged from the French military, Vairin eventually settled down in Thruston, of all places, and built the house and farm that would go on to make history with this incredible horse.

04/29/2026

Today we would like to celebrate one of Owensboro's most famous sons: Tom Ewell. Born Yewell Tompkins on April 29, 1909, to Martine Yewell and Samuel Tompkins, Tom was a founding member of the Rose Curtain Players, and went on to study acting at the University of Wisconsin, selecting "Tom Ewell" as his stage name. He was both a Broadway and movie actor, and two of his biggest hits were "The Girl Can't Help It" alongside Jayne Mansfield and "The Seven Year Itch" with Marilyn Monroe. He had starring roles in both movies. He participated in many other films and plays throughout his career, and was celebrated any time he returned home to Owensboro. To learn more about Tom, check out his biography file here in the Kentucky Room, or stop by- we love to talk about him!

https://dcpl.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17056coll12/id/251/rec/6

04/01/2026

On this April Fool's Day, we would like to share this historic prank conducted by Kentucky's own John James Audubon. Do you know of any other pranks from the past?

Featuring fake fishes, made-up mammals, and taxonomic tomfoolery

01/30/2026

While it's true items in the Kentucky Room stay in the Kentucky Room, we do have a small fiction section comprised of Kentucky authors! If you've been wanting to read one of these selected (or more) but haven't been able to take the time to sit down and do it at home, there's SNOW better time to come in during library hours and sit a spell- and read a good book!