Interview with W. Hugh Peal, October 4th, 1977

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal gives some background information on his family history and heritage, especially their history in Kentucky.

Keywords: Ballard County (Ky.); Bandana (Ky.); Civil War; Dennis Peal; Jasper Peal; Mary Ann Peal; Stephen Peal; Tennessee; books; brothers; family; family history; history

Subjects: Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about the illnesses he had as a young person and how it made him more interested in learning and books than many of his contemporaries. He talks about the books his family had and the books he borrowed from his friends. He also talks about Miss Bishop, the librarian of the Paducah Public Library and her family.

Keywords: Bishop family; Carnegie libraries; Judge Bishop; Life of Napoleon (book); Miss Bishop; Paducah; baseball; books; horses; librarians; spinal meningitis; sports; tuberculosis

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Paducah and his experiences there. He also talks about various cultural centers in that area and the cultural history of Paducah and other settlements along the Ohio river.

Keywords: Aaron Burr; Cairo (Ill.); Charles Dickens; Civil War; Daughters of the American Revolution; Eddie Leonard; Fort Columbus; Fort Massac; John James Audubon; Lasses White Minstrels; Marian Anderson; Martin Chuzzlewit.; Memphis; Paducah; St. Louis; Swan Pond; cultural centers; rivers

Subjects: Kentucky.; Louisville (Ky.).

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal talks about his father, who was born in 1855 and was a landowner. He was an agnostic and served as a magistrate and judge. He talks about some of the cases his father judged and his legal background.

Keywords: Arthur Clark (??); brigades; civil war; clergy; court cases; diaries; dismissal of cases; divorce; home defense; land; law; newspapers; rape; religion; religious disputes; testimony

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about some of the books he had access to and a friend of his father's who took an interest in his education.

Keywords: Alexander Pope; Brown Ogden; Civil War; Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Book); Jesse James; John Dickenson; Joseph Addison; Masterson Ogden; books; manslaughter; prisons; snooker (??)

Subjects: Transylvania University.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his mother and her family history. He also talks about her religious background and her lack of concern at her husband's agnosticism. He talks about non-religious family members and friends of the family.

Keywords: Alfred Shelby; Bowling Green (Ky.); Catholicism; Church of England; Disciples of Christ; Feland family; Presbyterians; Revolutionary War; Scotland; Uncle Tom's Cabin; Wingo (??) family; agnostics; atheists; churches; land; religion

Subjects: Virginia .

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal talks about Kentucky's religious history, the revivals of the early 19th centuries, and the lack of religious controversies in that area by the time he was born.

Keywords: Methodism; clergy; religion; religious controversy; religious revivals

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about how the Civil War led to cultural stagnation and a lack of education in many parts of Kentucky. He talks about Kentucky's putting in a new system of high schools in 1913 and his moving to La Center to finish high school.

Keywords: Bandana (Ky.); Civil War; Mrs. Donovan; cash crops; culture; examinations; high school; milk; slaves; taxes; tobacco; tuberculosis

Subjects: Donovan, Herman Lee, 1887-1964.; Education.; Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his high school years, and some of the teachers who influenced him and who he developed a lifelong friendship with. He also talks about his family and their interest in higher education.

Keywords: Chester Anderson; Germany; La Center High School; Thurman Barton; Willis Sugg (??); high school; higher education; libraries; school subjects; teachers

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about how he felt like he didn't really have much of a choice in choosing the University of Kentucky to attend, since his family was too poor to send him to other schools. UK was very reasonably priced in comparison. He also talks about being thrown out of the Navy during WWI for not meeting the physical standards.

Keywords: Navy; Vanderbilt; William and Mary; World War I; ambitions; diaries; landowners; poverty; professors; tuition

Subjects: University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Dr. John Thomas Cotton Noe, a poet and professor at UK whom he became good friends with. He discusses his interest in writing, a novel that he wrote, and his interest in law.

Keywords: Charles Dickens; Cornell University; John Marshall; Thomas Hardy; Walter Mitty (literary character); law; literary characters; novels; poems; poets; professors

Subjects: Noe, Cotton, 1864-1953.; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his first impressions of Lexington, his living accommodations and the jobs that he found there. He also discusses several jobs that he took in order to pay for his schooling, such as being a high school principal.

Keywords: Mr. Whipple (??); Phoenix Hotel; S. Limestone St.; boarding houses; diaries; high school students; libraries; money; principals; students; summer sessions

Subjects: Lexington (Ky.).; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about professors who had a strong influence on him while he was at UK, and relates a few episodes of his interactions with them. He especially talks about Dr. Edward Wiest, Dr. Mcvey, Frances Jewell McVey and Sarah Blanding.

Keywords: Dean Lafferty; Dr. Edward Wiest; Frances Jewell McVey; Mabel Moore Sawyer McVey; Margaret I. King; Oxford; Rhodes Scholarship; Sarah Blanding; Service Men's Club; Zuleika Dobson (book); administrators; bloomers; books; budgets; college personnel; dean of women; dormitories; personalities; professors; students; veterans; veterans as students

Subjects: McVey, Frank LeRond, 1869-1953.; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Dr. Wiest again, as well as Dr. Miller. He gives Miller's opinions on the "cause of truth", as he put it, and the Scopes Monkey Trial. He tells a story about Dr. Miller and his staying with a family in the Kentucky mountains.

Keywords: "Monkey Miller"; Dr. A.M. Miller; Dr. Edward Wiest; Scopes Monkey Trial; William Jennings Bryan; deans; geologists; hospitality; professors

Subjects: Kentucky.; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his professor of Greek, T.T. Jones (??), and his interest in the Greek language.

Keywords: Dr. Terrell; Greek language; Mrs. Jones; T.T. Jones (??); dean of men; examinations; linguistics; professors; students

Subjects: University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Dr. Tuthill and Catesby Jones, Tuthill's assistant. He discusses his relationships with his teachers and why he had such a close relationship with them. He mentions several other professors whom he interacted with.

Keywords: American history; Catesby Jones (??); Columbus Rudolph Melcher; Dr. Boyd; Frances Jewell McVey; German; Professor Lampert; Red Farquaad (??); T.T. Jones (??); professors; teachers

Subjects: Education.; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Thomas Poe Cooper, a professor well known for inventing several kinds of grasses. Dr. Cooper had many reasons for staying at UK rather than working at a better paying university, but Peal declines to share them because they were personal. He also talks about Miss Barrett (??), his French professor.

Keywords: Ed Johnson; French language; Latin; Miss Barrett (??); SD37; Thomas Poe Cooper; University of Wisconsin; grasses; salaries; students; universities

Subjects: University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about some of his friends and classmates at the University of Kentucky. He also describes their lives after graduation and his relationships with them.

Keywords: Bardstown (Ky.); Carl Edward Fowler; Ed Johnson; Emmett Swisshelm (??); Henry Beam (??); World War I; journalism; marriages; students; veterans

Subjects: University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Raymond Rochers (??), a college friend who later became a noted professor at NYU.

Keywords: Colonel Fletcher; Jules Bogen; Marcus Nadler; New York University; Raymond Rochers (??); Virginia Bankers Association

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about a time in the early 1920's when he and some other university students went to Frankfort to try to get the legislature to allocate more funds to UK. He talks about his relationships with several Kentucky politicians, such as Governor Morrow and Alban Barkley.

Keywords: Alban W. Barkley; Charles Morrow; Cinderella; Edwin Porch Morrow; Governor Morrow; Gus Thomas; Kentucky Kernel; Kentucky governor; Mamie Woods; balls; funding; politics and education; stories

Subjects: Clark, Thomas Dionysius, 1903-2005.; Frankfort (Ky.).; University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his work in the library as a night clerk. He contrasts Margaret King and Frances McVey. (There is a break in the recording)

Keywords: Frances Jewell McVey; Margaret I. King; circulation desks; clerks; libraries

Subjects: University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal talks about how he was accepted as a Rhodes scholar to Oxford University and the other students he was competing against.

Keywords: Professor Hamilton:Brandeis family; Rhodes scholars; languages; law education; students

Subjects: Kentucky.; McVey, Frank LeRond, 1869-1953.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about Oxford and some of the people he knew there, such as Geoffrey Cheshire, the father of the famous RAF pilot Leonard Cheshire. He also talks about his preparations for going there.

Keywords: Bombing of Hiroshima; Eton; Exeter College; Leonard Cheshire; Oxford; RAF; Rhodes trustees:Geoffrey Cheshire; family members; friends; hostels; lawyers

Subjects: Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about how his interest in book collecting got started and some of the books he was given early on by friends of the family.

Keywords: Alexander Pope; Blackstone's commentaries; Charles Lamb; Civil War; Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Gibbon; Masterson Ogden library; books; family; heirlooms; literature; rare books; reading

Subjects: Transylvania University.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal talks about the beginnings of his rare book collecting once he got to Oxford. He gives the stories behind several of the books he bought, both in Oxford and when he was a lawyer in New York. He talks especially about his interest in the works of Charles Lamb.

Keywords: Blackwell's; Charles Pipkin; Earl Drechsel North (??); Essays of Elia; Mrs. William Warren Carmans; Oxford; Parker's; Tales of Shakespeare; Thomas More; acquiring rare books; antiquarian book trade; biographies; book collection; book collectors; first editions; horses; lawyers; rare books

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about an auction in which he was outbid by the University of Texas on a famous letter by Charles Lamb, detailing his sister's insanity, which led to her murdering their mother. He talks about some of the other letters and other Lamb related items he bought at the auction, and shares quite a bit of Lamb's history.

Keywords: Amon Carter; British literature; Charles Lamb; Charles Lloyd; Drake; Lyrical Ballads (book); Parkburney Galleries (??); Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Thomas Manning; University of Texas; William Wordsworth; Winnie Meyers (??); auctions; letters; literature; murder

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about how he went about developing his Lamb collection, and how it led him to collect things by other contemporaries of Lamb to get a more complete picture of that era. He also tells why he and his family were much more interested in British literature than American literature, even though they were from Western Kentucky.

Keywords: Americana; British literature; Charles Lamb; Civil War; David Copperfield (Novel); Emerson; Robert Southey; Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd; Whittier; William Faulkner; William Wordsworth; early 19th century; late 18th century

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about the difficulty of being a book collector, and how he got most his books at sales, since he didn't have the time to hunt for them. He talks about some of the rare books that he got through various sales.

Keywords: Arthur Swan (??); Ernest Russell North (??); Flora Londonensis; Moncure Biddle:Phillip Miller; Otto Brunfels; auctions; book sellers; botany; collating books; collectors; lawyers; rare books; sales

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about a group of book collectors that he often met with, and relates an incident when a clergyman came in during their meeting to try to sell some letters. Some of them were by William Jerdan, a critical reviewer of Lamb's. Peal explains their historical significance.

Keywords: Albert Boni; Archbishop of Canterbury; Charles Lamb; David Kirshenbaum; James S. Schoff, Sr.; Lee Hunt; Literary Gazette; Robert Southey; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; William Jerdan; William Wordsworth; Winston Churchill; book collectors; clergymen; letters; theology

Subjects: University of Kentucky.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about some of the book dealers and collectors that he knew, both in New York and in the UK.

Keywords: Cecil Court; Clifton Waller Barrett; Gordon Ray; Johnson's Dictionary; New York; Oldmans Council (??); Sam Dobbin (??); Samuel Johnson; Swan (book dealers); University of Virginia; book dealers; book sellers; committee meetings; committees

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal relates an incident when he was at Oxford, but was staying with a friend and his family in Toulon, France for the holidays. He found a very interesting copy of Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe in a shop there.

Keywords: British literature; Clarissa Harlowe; Napoleon; Oxford; Samuel Richardson; Toulon (France); artists; books

Subjects: World War, 1939-1945.

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about some of his favorite book stores in New York, where he used to look for additions to his collection, and his friend David Kirschenbaum, who owns the Carnegie Book Shop. He gives an example of Kirschenbaum's helpfulness regarding a letter that he bought which was suspected to be a forgery.

Keywords: Bloomingdales; British Museum; Carnegie Book Shop; Charles Lamb; David Kirschenbaum; Dodd and Pine (??); Fitzgerald Papers; New York City; Quibell collection; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Sir Frank Francis; The Strand Bookstore; book stores; books; forgeries; letters; wives

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal has not bought any major forgeries, but he mentions a book he bought that was supposedly used by Charles Lamb as a child. He continues to talk about Lamb's relationship with Coleridge.

Keywords: Charles Lamb; Daniel Defoe; Ed Morris; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; books; forgeries; rare books

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks more about why he preferred to collect books from the English Romantic movement, rather than more modern literature, which he describes as being harder to get at. He talks about some of his other interests, such as botany, and his family background in that subject.

Keywords: 137th Psalm; Bible; Biddle sale; Duke of Argyle; English Romanticism; Gardener's Dictionary; Jackson Purchase; Victorians; Washington Society; book collections; botany; entertaining; family history; gardeners; illustrations; incunabula; literary movements; literature; pomegranates; printing; prospectus

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: Peal talks about some of the other genres and books he has collected, besides botanical texts and English Romantic works.

Keywords: Chesterfield's Letters (book); Edward Gibbon; Harvard Law School; John Evelyn; Norman French; Oxford; Samuel Pepys; biography; diaries; law; manuscripts

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about an important Voltaire letter that he bought, its historical background and his interest in manuscript collection.

Keywords: Catholic Church; David Kirschenbaum; Ira Wade; Jean Calas; Le Gout de Manuscript (??); Napoleon; New York Public Library; Voltaire; auctions; books; cataloging; letters; manuscripts; religion; secretaries

Partial Transcript:

Segment Synopsis: He talks about a miscellaneous collection that he bought and some of the interesting finds within it, such as letters related to Robert E. Lee and Washington Irving. He talks about Charles Lamb and his tendency not to keep his letters. The interview ends abruptly.

Keywords: Charles Lamb; China; Civil War; France; Robert E. Lee; Thomas Manning; Turner Ashby; Washington Irving; politicians; religion