Mackie E. Bennett Collection, 1880-1966, 1902-1954

Author

Archives Staff

Title

Mackie E. Bennett Collection

Date

1880-1966, 1902-1954

Repository

Western Kentucky University Library special CollectionsBowling Green, Kentucky, 42101-3576 USA

Conditions Governing Access note

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation Note

[Identification of item] Mackie E. Bennett Collection, 1880-1966, 1902-1954, MSS 5,Library Special Collections, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green.

Extent

3 boxes. 39 folders. 140 items.

Biography/History

Mackie E. Bennett was born on January 1, 1880, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the daughter of Colonel Thomas J. and Ella B. (Wright) Smith. She was one of nine children. Her maternal grandfather, Dr. Thomas B. Wright, was Bowling Green's first mayor (1870-1871) and her father was the city's seventh mayor (1880-1891). She was educated at Bowling Green's St. Columba Academy and attended the Southern Normal School in Bowling Green. In 1923 she graduated from Western Kentucky State Teachers College with a Bachelor's degree. She taught one year at Ludlow, Kentucky, prior to accepting a position as sixth grade teacher at Center Street School in Bowling Green in December 1919. She continued teaching until 1937 when she became the school's principal, a position she held until 1950. When the Center Street School was razed, the new school was named Parker-Bennett in honor of Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Rubye S. Parker.

Bennett was a member of numerous civic organizations, lineage societies, and social clubs, including Daughters of the American Revolution, Order of the Eastern Star, Sue Young Sewing Circle, Board of the Bowling Green-Warren County Welfare Center, Business and Professional Women's Club, Delta Kappa Gamma, Spanish War Veterans Auxiliary, and the Rebekah Lodge. She was a faithful member of the State Street Methodist Church, where she taught the Golden Rule class for forty years.

Mackie and W. S. Bennett, a clothes salesman, were wed on December 7, 1904, and had no children.

Scope and Content

Approximately one-half of this collection is comprised of Bennett's Center Street School grade books (1921-1949). Several of the grade books contain a classroom census that lists: child's name, birthday, parent/guardian, address, occupation of parent, doctor, and telephone number. Also included are minutes/reports of several organizations including the Daughters of the American Revolution, Community Chest and United Spanish War Veterans Auxiliary. A large group of administrative and financial records of the Sue Young Sewing Circle are included. A number of female members of the State Street Methodist Church chartered the club in 1916. The records cover the period from 1915 through 1948. The club was named for Susan Elbert Young (d. 1914), the wife of the church's minister (1913-1916), Dr. J.H. Young. Mrs. Young died unexpectantly at the Norton Infirmary in Louisville and is buried in her native Lexington, Kentucky. The collection was a gift of Bennett's estate and was delivered by her lawyer, Herb Smith, Sr. The addition to the collection in 1994 contained more club records, including minutes of the Sue Young Society, 1949-1959.

Collection Inventory