Kentucky's Historian Laureate: Thomas D. Clark - Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

By the flip of a coin, Thomas Dionysius Clark intertwined his life and career with the vast history of Kentucky. In 1928, Clark received scholarships to both the University of Cincinnati and to the University of Kentucky. Kentucky won the coin toss, and the claim to one of the South's greatest historians.

"Books in a home with growing children is one of the most important things you can put in a house." - T.D. Clark*

Born in 1903, Clark was raised on a small cotton farm in the hill country of east-central Mississippi. Clark hated the common schools of the area, and dropped out during his seventh grade year to work at a sawmill, then later on a dredge in the Pearl River. At the insistence of his parents, Clark returned to school, graduated, then attended University of Mississippi. While at Ole Miss, Clark received the scholarship for graduate studies at the University of Kentucky. As a temporary resident of the Bluegrass, Clark developed not only a fondness for the state, but a deep concern for the state's lack of historical document preservation. After completing his doctoral program at Duke University, Clark returned to Lexington to teach at the University of Kentucky, where he remained for more than 70 years.

"Kentucky at one time was a happy hunting ground for manuscript collectors." - T.D. Clark**

Kentucky's indifference to its print heritage can be traced all the way back to the administration of Isaac Shelby. Many state documents were stored in wooden buildings, which fires eventually destroyed. Negligence of politicians also contributed to the problem. Papers documenting Kentucky's role in the War of 1812 were defaced, the service records of soldiers in the Mexican War were lost or destroyed, Civil War records were indifferently filed away in worn paper boxes. Troops quartered in the Capitol had made beds of documents and lit their pipes with papers from the files.

In 1931, Clark's first project at UK was to begin a catalog of Kentucky's remaining historic documents. After Gov. Ruby Laffoon left office in 1935, state government administration under newly-elected Gov. A.B. "Happy" Chandler began undergoing reorganization. Officials were creating space for desks by destroying large volumes of historically significant papers which were stashed in unmarked boxes. Clark traveled to the capitol, appealed to the governor, and succeeded in saving the records and having them transferred to the university. By this act, Clark is credited with beginning the state's first archival system.

Clark, often referred to as "Dean of Historians" taught at the University of Kentucky from the mid-1930s until his retirement in 1968 and was considered to be one of the most popular instructors on campus. During his tenure, Clark was head of the history department from 1941 to 1965 and a distinguished professor from 1950 to 1968. His premier work, A History of Kentucky (1937), is still considered the definitive history of the Commonwealth. Not only being the first book written about Kentucky history, it was also written because he needed a text book to use in history course at UK.

Clark wrote more than 30 books chronicling Kentucky's history, including the history of the city of Louisville, and the Louisville/Nashville Railroad, the Kentucky River, Kentucky's historic farms and a biography of rural scout Simon Kenton.

"And to Kentuckians of the past... Your roots are firmly planted and will be nourished in hospitable soil at the Kentucky State Archives." - T.D. Clark***

Clark was also instrumental in the building of the Department for Libraries and Archives in 1982. Clark’s commitment to ensuring preservation and citizen's accessibility of state documents and records was grounded in a deep belief in the importance of history. First serving as chair of the Kentucky Archives Commission in 1957, Clark began pleading to state government to appropriate funds for a suitable structure to house records. The state library had been operated as a resource for the Court of Appeals until the 1940s when it was turned over to the Archives Department. As innovations in technology expanded the department's ability to preserve documents, the formation of facilities were needed. During the 1950’s the library was eventually moved to Berry Hill mansion. The cramped quarters caused several splits in divisions, eventually resulting in having materials in five different locations in Frankfort. Clark lobbied ten successive governors for a building designed to house the state's archival holdings. Gov. Julian Carroll allocated $10.5 million for a combined library and archival facility of almost 140,000 square feet.

The building, located on 300 Coffee Tree Road in Frankfort, was dedicated on October 8, 1982. The structure which houses the state's archives, state library, and talking book library was named the Clark-Cooper building in honor of Dr. Clark and prominent Hazard banker Vernon Cooper, who was also a champion of Kentucky's library system.

Also, in 1982, Clark was a key player in the formation of the Friends of Kentucky Public Archives, Inc. The Friends created an endowment fund to honor Clark's years of effort on behalf of Kentucky's public records. The proceeds from this endowment annually fund internships in archival administration at the state archives.

"...Dr. Clark, like our bountiful land, lakes, mountains and streams, is a unique Kentucky resource deserving highest honor..." - House Joint Resolution 8

On March 27, 1990, the Kentucky General Assembly passed a resolution naming Thomas Clark as Kentucky's Historian Laureate for life, the only person in Kentucky's history to receive the honor. Among other awards, Clark also received the Mississippi Historical Society's B.L.C. Wailes Award, which honors Mississippians who have achieved national distinction in the field of history. Clark was the first person to ever receive this award.

Clark was an active advocate in lobbying for a Kentucky History Center. The building, which was dedicated in April, 1999 in downtown Frankfort, houses a museum dedicated to the history and people of Kentucky, a special exhibit room which houses temporary exhibits dedicated to Kentucky culture, and the Kentucky Historical Society and library.

Clark resided in Lexington, and up until a short time before his death, was an active speaker, author and proponent of strengthening of historical records repositories throughout the state. Clark died on June 28, 2005.

Featured below are a few of the works by Thomas Clark available for check out from the Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives. To reserve books from this list, librarians may contact Interlibrary Loan at (502) 564-8300, ext. 327. Members of the general public may request materials by contacting their public library, or check materials out on-site with a KDLA library card.

Clark, Thomas. Agrarian Kentucky. Illustrated by William B. Crouch. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1977. Call number: K 976.9 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Beginning of the L&N: The Development of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Its Memphis Branches from 1836 to 1860. Louisville: Standard Printing Company, 1933. Call number: K385.0976 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Century of Banking History in the Bluegrass: The Second National Bank and Trust Company of Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington: John Bradford Press, 1983. Call number: K 332.109769

Toulmin, Harry. Description of Kentucky in North America: to Which Are Prefixed Miscellaneous Observations Respecting the United States. Ed. Thomas Clark. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1945. Call number: K 917.3 Toul

Clark, Thomas. Emerging South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Call number: K 917.5 Clar

Kleber, John E., Mary Jean Kinsman, Thomas D. Clark, Clyde F. Crews, and George H. Yater. Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2001. Call number: K 976.944003 Ency

Clark, Thomas. Exploring Kentucky. New York: American Book Company, 1939. Catalog number: K 976.9 C59e

Clark, Thomas. Footloose in Jacksonian America: Robert W. Scott and His Agrarian World. Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1990. Call number: K B Scot

Burns, David M. photographs by Adam Jones; introduction by Thomas D. Clark. Gateway: Dr. Thomas Walker and the Opening of Kentucky. Middlesboro: Bell County Historical Society, 2000. Call number: K 976.91 Burn

Coleman, J. Winston, Jr., Thomas D. Clark, Lawrence S. Thompson, Clyde T. Burke, Charles L. Atcher, Jacqueline Bull, et. al. Kentucky: A Pictorial History. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1972. Call number: K 976.9 Cole

Clark, Thomas. The Kentucky. Illustrated by John A. Spelman III. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. Call number: K 976.93 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Kentucky. Photography by James Archambeault. Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1982. Call number: K 917.69 Arch

Clark, Thomas. Kentucky II. Photography by James Archambeault. Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1989. Call number: K 917.69 Arch

Clark, Thomas. Kentucky III. Photography by James Archambeault. Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1999. Call number: K 917.69 Arch

Kleber, John E., Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, James C. Klotter. Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. Call number: K 976.9003 Kent

Clark, Thomas. Kentucky: Land of Contrast. New York: Harper Row, 1968. Call number: K 917.69 Clar

Clark, Thomas and Bill Cunningham. Kentucky's Clark. Kuttawa: McClanahan Publishing House, 1987. Call number: K 976.9007202 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Kentucky's Historic Farms: 200 Years of Kentucky Agriculture. Paducah. Turner Publishing, 1994. Call number: K 630.9769 Kent

Clark, Thomas. Pills, Petticoats, and Plows: The Southern Country Store. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. Call number: K 917.5 Clar

Clark, Thomas and F. Gerald Ham. Pleasant Hill and Its Shakers. Pleasant Hill: Shakertown Press, 1983. Call number: K 289.809769485 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Pleasant Hill in the Civil War. Pleasant Hill: Pleasant Hill Press, 1972. Call number: K 289.8 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Rampaging Frontier: Manners and Humors of Pioneer Days in the South and the Middle West. Bloomington: Illinois Press, 1964. Call number: 917 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Rural Press and the New South. New York: Greenwood Press, 1970. Call number: K 071.5 Clar

Clark, Thomas. Simon Kenton: Kentucky Scout. Illustrated by Edward Shenton. New York: Toronto, Farrar and Rinehart, 1943. Call number: K B Kent

To read more about Dr. Thomas D. Clark, explore the Vertical Files, located in the the State Library.

* "The Challenge of Kentucky." A Step Through Time: A Special Publication of the State Journal, April 7, 1999, pg. 3.

** "The Challenge of Kentucky." A Step Through Time: A Special Publication of the State Journal, April 7, 1999, pg. 2.

***"Thomas D. Clark, State's Premier Historian, Scholar." Kentucky Journal, Profile Section, March, 1991, pg. 18.