Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project - Lifestyles
Series Number: OH111
Interviewee: Humphrey, Clara H.
Interviewer: Anderson, Margaret
Date interviewed: October 21, 1979
Processed by: Tara Marcum
Date processed: June 14, 2011
Description: 2 sound disc (90 minutes)
Abstract: Clara H. Humphrey describes her life in Calloway County, Kentucky from the 1930s to the 1970s. She begins by discussing that her mother's father was a county judge and that her mother's grandfather assisted in writing the 1891 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She recalls her father discussing politics with Frank Albert Stubblefield and her family dining regularly with Alben Barkley. She describes having a pet fox and swimming in the community pool near the Murray Ice Company where her parents were employed. As a child, she recalled attending events at Pogue Library, singing Christmas carols at Lowry Auditorium and participating in other events on the Murray State University campus. She describes the effects of the Great Depression on her family and the closure of the First National Bank of Murray. While working for the Louisville Courier Journal, Humphrey recalled a report of a man being lynched. She concludes with a discussion on her time as a news director of WNBS in Murray.
Biographical / Historical note: Clara H. Humphrey was the only child of Delaine and H. T. Waldrop of Coldwater, Kentucky. Her father managed the ice company at Murray, Kentucky. Her mother worked for the local welfare office and kept the accounting records for the ice company. When in the third grade, her parents' house was destroyed by fire and her family resided in a local hotel for an entire year until the house was rebuilt. In 1939, she graduated Murray High School at the age sixteen. She attended the University of Missouri and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1943. After college, she worked for the Louisville Courier Journal for three years at the news desk. She later worked for the advertising firm of Foreston and Huff and served as news director of WNBS radio in Murray, Kentucky.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Humphrey, Clara H., 1927-
Murray (Ky.) – History.
Coldwater (Ky.) – History.
Calloway County (Ky.) – History.
Murray State University – History.
Radio stations – Kentucky – Murray.
WNBS-AM (Radio station ; Murray)
