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Kentucky Library and Museum

Opened in 1939, the Kentucky Library and Museum at Western Kentucky University is dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of Kentucky’s cultural heritage. Its collections include objects and papers that describe Kentucky and the world from the perspective of Kentuckians and others.

The museum’s diverse holdings include more than 1,000 paintings, prints, and sculptures—from fine art to folk art—as well as vintage clothing, an extensive collection of quilts, postcards, political memorabilia, furniture, more than 100,000 arrowheads and other archaeological items, and ceramics and glassware. The museum also houses a toy collection encompassing about 2,800 toys, dolls, and games, most dating from the late 19th century through 1940. Important categories include cast-iron banks and vehicles, tin mechanical toys, miniature furniture, and china-head and porcelain bisque dolls. Exhibit galleries include pioneer and Victorian rooms.

Services for educators include school tours, workshops, and traveling trunks. The trunks, available for teachers to borrow, offer hands-on experiences related to topics such as From Flames to Flashlights: Lighting Mammoth Cave, Looking at Japanese Culture, the Green River Valley, and Prehistoric Kentucky. For information about the traveling trunks, call the museum’s education curator at (270) 745-6082. The museum offers a variety of accompanying teacher’s guides, including some online.

KYLM educators also take Museums That Go lessons on such topics as Frontier Life in Kentucky, Folk Art, and Fine Art into area classrooms. These lessons, developed for the classroom-size audience, last one hour and are available during regular school hours. Schools can book multiple sessions per day at a per-student cost. The museum also lends educational videos on topics including Kentucky’s First People, Children in the 19th Century, and Pioneering in Kentucky.

For more information, contact:

The Kentucky Library and Museum
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd. #11092
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1092
(270) 745-5083
Fax: (270) 745-4878
www.wku.edu/Library/kylm/

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