Science

Aden Family Papers

MS78-02 includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, and legal and financial documents relating to the Aden family of Henry County, Tennessee. The bulk of the collection contains legal documents acquired by James S. Aden while serving as Henry County judge in the late 19th and early 20th century. Included in the collection are records from the Odd Fellows College (1859), Ladies Aid Society (1911-1915) and letters from the Rogers family (1853-1904) of Paris, Tennessee.

An advertisement for "Magnolia Metal," which claims to be the "best anti-friction metal" for many industrial purposes. "Scientific" products like this were commonly advertised in newspapers and other publications in the 19th century.

Nathan B. Stubblefield Collection

This collection consists of correspondence, handwritten notes, drawings, photographs and patents associated with Nathan B. Stubblefield during the first quarter of the 20th Century. The majority of MS84-04 is secondary source material, including newspaper and journal articles written about Stubblefield and his inventions from 1930 to 1998. The collection includes research notes, biographical information, and manuscripts written on his life by various authors.

Pictured in foreground is Nathan B. Stubblefield, a native of Murray once purported to have invented radio and a wireless telephone. This photograph shows Stubblefield field-testing his wireless phone outside of Washington, D.C. in 1902.

L. J. Hortin Papers

MS93-05 is made up of correspondence, newspaper clippings and photographs amassed by L. J. Hortin, a reporter and journalism professor, from 1933 to 1992. The bulk of the collection focuses on the activities of the Lower Tennessee Valley Association and the Tennessee Valley Authority in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee during the 1930s and 1940s. The papers contain his personal and professional correspondence from 1957 to 1985, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. Included in the collection are typescript articles, poems, awards, certificates and other memorabilia.

Mancil J. Vinson Papers

MS69-09 includes correspondence, speeches, reports, and office memoranda produced or received by Mancil J. Vinson, an agriculture teacher and then state agriculture official, from 1956 to 1968. The papers also contain subject files, newspaper clippings, published materials, ephemera, and photographs associated with Vinson’s employment with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and as Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture. The papers include information on rural development, state fairs, farming and agricultural organizations, and marketing of Kentucky farm products.

A chart explaining some concepts dealing with electricity from a Murray State course, date unknown.