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      54. MARY WHEELER COLLECTION
      55. MARYLEE COMISAK WWII COLLECTION
      56. MCCRACKEN COUNTY CEMETERY
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      66. PADUCAH AMERICAN LEGION POST 31 COLLECTION
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      98. WOMAN'S CLUB OF PADUCAH
      99. WORLD WAR I HONOR ROLL
      100. WPSD-TV COLLECTION
      101. 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.