Arts

Delores White Baker (1929-2012) speaks about her childhood in the West End in Louisville and her experiences living in New York and other southern states where she became increasingly aware of the prejudice around her. The focus of the interview is on Baker's experience of the intersection of the arts--particularly dance and theater--and race in the Louisville community. Baker was active with the West End Community Council, which focused on open housing, school integration, health and welfare, and the arts and helped shape the West End after a certain amount of white flight from that area. Baker's focus was on the arts. She started ballet and dance classes for children and organized drama and theater productions. She was director of the city-wide Arts and Talent Festival that took place annually in Chickasaw Park and highlighted local talents in the visual arts, music, dance, theater, etc. She was also involved with the Genesis Arts organization that provided classes for disadvantaged children in the community and the Pigeon Roost Theater players, a black West End based theater group focusing on poetry, music, and drama. Baker emphasizes the importance of exposing children to culture, her thoughts on the state of the Black community in Louisville, the anti-racism movement, and her relationships with local churches.

Mary Boklage discusses her family history and her interests in the arts and folk recreation.

Dean Cronholm discusses her student and faculty days at the University of Louisville (BA 1962; PhD 1967; assistant professor in the Biology department, part-time, 1969, full-time, 1973). Also discusses her tenure as Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Artist and professor Bob Douglas discusses his experience as a young artist and then as a participant in the Louisville arts scene during the Black Arts movement. He discusses his experiences with racism in the workplace and his efforts to find a position. He studied at the University of Louisville, eventually attending graduate school and teaching courses in African American Art. He was one of the founders of a gallery enterprise in Louisville and was a major player in the Louisville Art Workshop. He also worked on urban renewal, improving the property rights of black people in Louisville. Douglass reflects on the impact of the Black Arts movement and the art movements he was involved in on progress for the Black community as a whole.

This contains a conversations about the late William Habich, his role in Louisville cultural life in the 1940s-1970s, especially in the Louisville Ballet and the Louisville Theatrical Association, which he served as executive director, 1963- 1980.

Feminism and the arts

Keller discusses his father's medical practice in Louisville's Portland neighborhood; his student days in the College of Arts and Sciences (B.A. 1930) and the School of Medicine of the University of Louisville (M.D. 1931); his internship at the Louisville City Hospital; Dr. John Walker Moore, Dean of the School of Medicine from 1929 1949; his residency in psychiatry at John Hopkins University and in New York City; and his career as a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Louisville.

Koster (LL.B. 1931) discusses the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Law of the University of Louisville during the 1920s and 1930s; athletics at the University during the same period (he won 16 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track); coach Tom King; President George Colvin; playing professional baseball in Akron, Ohio, Little Rock, Arkansas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and St. Paul, Minnesota, during the 1930s; and the origins of his business, Koster Swope Buick automobile dealership in Louisville, Kentucky.

University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences deanship.

Mrs. Roulston talks about Mr. John L. Gruber and the history of the Louisville Conservatory of Music. Gruber was the business manager for the conservatory from 1920 and its president from 1925 until its closing.