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      1. AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COLLECTION
      2. ANDREW JACKSON GRADE SCHOOL
      3. AUGUSTA TILGHMAN HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF …
      4. BALLARD COUNTY COLLECTION
      5. BELL FAMILY COLLECTION
      6. BILL POWELL COLLECTION
      7. BLYTHE AND KOGER COLLECTION
      8. BOAZ SHOE REPAIR
      9. BOLDRY CEMETERY
      10. BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA TROOP 1 COLLECTION
      11. BRAZELTON SCHOOL COLLECTION
      12. BROADWAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH JAMES…
      13. CENTRAL PHOTO COLLECTION
      14. CHARLES 'SPEEDY' ATKINS
      15. CITIZENS BANK BUILDING COLLECTION
      16. CITY DIRECTORY COLLECTION
      17. CIVIC COLLECTION
      18. COCA-COLA BUILDING COLLECTION
      19. DAVID STARR FAMILY COLLECTION
      20. DEANN MAY STEWART 1937 FLOOD COLLECTION
      21. EIGHTH OF AUGUST EMANCIPATION CELEBRAT…
      22. FLOOD COLLECTION
      23. FORRESTDALE SCHOOL COLLECTION
      24. FRANKLIN SCHOOL COLLECTION
      25. FRED NEUMAN COLLECTION
      26. HARRIET BOSWELL AND CARNEGIE LIBRARY C…
      27. HEATH COLLECTION
      28. HOTEL COLLECTION
      29. HUGH EDWARDS COLLECTION
      30. IRVIN S. COBB COLLECTION
      31. ISAAC WOLFE BERNHEIM COLLECTION
      32. JAMES HARRIS WARNER COLLECTION
      33. JOHN M. MASSEY PADUCAH BUILDINGS COLLECTION
      34. JOHN M. MASSEY RURAL BUILDINGS COLLECTION
      35. JOHNSON SHOES COLLECTION
      36. JOHNSTON BROTHERS COLLECTION
      37. KATE RUDY EMERY COLLECTION
      38. KENNEDY FUNERAL HOME COLLECTION
      39. KEVIL BROOM AND MOP FACTORY COLLECTION
      40. LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL COLLECTION
      41. LIVINGSTON COUNTY COLLECTION
      42. LONE OAK COLLECTION
      43. LYNDLE SEATON COLLECTION
      44. LYON COUNTY HISTORY COLLECTION
      45. MAPS - GENERAL, PVA, AND HISTORICAL
      46. MAPS - SANBORN [1885]
      47. MAPS - SANBORN [1893]
      48. MAPS - SANBORN [1906-1944]
      49. MARY WHEELER COLLECTION
      50. MARYLEE COMISAK COLLECTION
      51. MCCRACKEN COUNTY CEMETERY
      52. MCCRACKEN COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT COL…
      53. MICHAEL SMITH COLLECTION
      54. MUNDY FAMILY COLLECTION
      55. NAGEL AND MEYER COLLECTION
      56. ORAL HISTORIES - KOHC 1974-1979
      57. ORAL HISTORIES - MCCRACKEN COUNTY PUBL…
      58. ORAL HISTORIES - OHIO RIVER PORTRAIT
      59. PADUCAH AMERICAN LEGION POST 31 COLLECTION
      60. PADUCAH AND MCCRACKEN COUNTY GOVERNMEN…
      61. PADUCAH AND MCCRACKEN PUBLIC LIBRARY C…
      62. PADUCAH CINEMAS COLLECTION
      63. PADUCAH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT VIRTUA…
      64. PADUCAH LIONS CLUB TELETHON OF THE STARS
      65. PADUCAH TILGHMAN COLLECTION
      66. PAUL TWITCHELL COLLECTION
      67. PEOPLES BANK COLLECTION
      68. POSTCARD COLLECTION
      69. RAY PELLY ANTIQUES COINS CARDS AND COL…
      70. REIDLAND SCHOOL COLLECTION
      71. RIVER FILMS COLLECTION
      72. ROBERT ALEXANDER COLLECTION
      73. ROBERT BRUYNS VIETNAM WAR COLLECTION
      74. ROTARY CLUB OF PADUCAH COLLECTION
      75. ROY W. MCKINNEY COLLECTION
      76. SAINT PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH COLLECTION
      77. SPRING BAYOU BAPTIST CHURCH COLLECTION
      78. STEINHAUER COLLECTION
      79. STEVEN A. BIRCHFIELD COLLECTION
      80. TOMMY QUARLES COLLECTION
      81. W. G. HARVEY COLLECTION
      82. WALTER BEASLEY JR COLLECTION
      83. WASHINGTON SCHOOL COLLECTION
      84. WASHINGTON STREET BAPTIST CHURCH COLLECTION
      85. WATKINS FUNERAL HOME
      86. WEATHER COLLECTION
      87. WESTERN KENTUCKY CIVIL WAR COLLECTION
      88. WESTERN KENTUCKY MUSIC COLLECTION
      89. WOMAN'S CLUB OF PADUCAH
      90. WORLD WAR I HONOR ROLL
      91. WPSD-TV COLLECTION
      92. YOPP SEED COMPANY COLLECTION
McCracken County Public Library Digital Collections Collections
Browse Mary Wheeler Collection

The Mary Wheeler Collection is an original, private collection comprised of folk songs, notes, scrapbook pages, and photographs that musicologist Mary Wheeler collected, wrote, and photographed during her lifetime. The bulk of this collection pertains to former roustabouts and chambermaids that worked on packet boats during the late 19th and early 20th century. Wheeler's work was in preparation for her dissertation, "Ohio River Folk Songs of the Packet Boat Era," and later books, "Roustabout Songs, A Collection of Ohio River Valley Folk Songs" and "Steamboatin' Days, Folk Songs of the River Packet Era." Included here are numerous photographs and songs from the the former roustabouts and chambermaids living in the Jackson Purchase region and Ohio River Valley during the early 20th century. They are presented here with notation and language that Mary Wheeler, herself, used. The McCracken County Public Library Special Collections contain items from communities and time periods for preservation and to provide access to cultural and historical records. What may be perceived as materials containing harmful or disturbing content or language, the McCracken County Public Library presents as a unfiltered social records and does not endorse the views expressed therein. The McCracken County Public Library archives house some 9 cubic feet of materials donated by the family of Mary Wheeler. Only a portion is presented here digitally. The library archives are always open to the public. For further research please contact library.