In this series, we are going to bring you voices from the past – recordings recently found of four of our speakers from the years 1973-1975. This third voice is that of a historian, James W. Hammack, Jr.   Dr. Hammack was on the Department of History faculty of Murray State University (MSU) for 30 years, 10 years of which he served as Department Chair.   Following his death,  a Scholarship Banquet has been held, for the past 8 years, at which the Dr. James W. Hammack, Jr. graduate scholarship is awarded. Dr. Hammack was the author of a book entitled,…

In this series, we are going to bring you voices from the past – recordings recently found of four of our speakers from the years 1973-1975. This second voice is that of a writer, Robert Drake, talking about his hometown, Ripley, Tennessee, and the origin of his characters.  “What I Write About:  Death and Old Women” is the title of one of his works, and his answer when anyone asks about what he writes. This was recorded on June 1973 in Fulton, KY and here for the Society he discusses his early life which was populated with old maids and…