OH118 Kathleen C. Outland Oral History
Collection Title
Jackson Purchase Oral History Project - Lifestyles
Series Number
OH118
Interviewee
Outland, Kathleen C.
Interviewer
Anderson, Margaret R.
Date Interviewed
February 1st, 1989
Processed by
Tara Marcum
Date Processed
July 8th, 2011
Description
2 sound discs (94 minutes)
Abstract
Kathleen C. Outland recalls her youth in Calloway County, Kentucky during the 1920s and 1930s. She describes "tramps" visiting her parents' farm looking for food and a place to sleep during the Great Depression. She discusses how she spent her days as a young child and her early education. She remembers that on "Trade Day" she and her friends skipped school to catch the event. She reflects upon her life involvement with church and her professional career. She mentions that her church would host all day revival meetings called "dinner on the ground" where they had a community dinner and sang gospel songs. She states that during the Great Depression there was plenty of food from the family farm, but that the family had no money. She expresses her thoughts on Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman and recalls listening to President Roosevelt's fireside chats. Outland recalled President Truman visiting Kentucky when the dam was being constructed at Gilbertsville. She also spoke of how farms were taken by imminent domain before the dam was built.
Biographical/Historical Note
Kathleen C. Outland was born in Calloway County, Kentucky on October 31, 1918. Her father was William Clifton Caldwell. He was a farmer that grew tobacco, corn and wheat. In his later years, he worked for the Kentucky State Highway Department. Her mother, Rachel Kelso attended grade school in Calloway County and was a member of the Beach Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She attended the Broach School of Calloway County until the school burned down. She graduated from Lynn Grove High School in 1936 at the age of seventeen. She received a scholarship to attend business school at Paducah, but her education was cut short by the flood of 1937. In the fall of 1937, she moved to Detroit, Michigan to work for the department store of Crown & Miller. In July of 1938, she returned to Kentucky and worked for the United States Department of Agriculture. She married Joseph Purdon in 1940, he was a tobacco auctioneer.
General Information
No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings/Descriptors
Outland, Kathleen C., 1918-
Calloway County (Ky.) - History
Graves County (Ky.) - History
Beach Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Calloway County, Ky.)
First Baptist Church (Murray, Ky.)
Lynn Grove High School (Calloway County, Ky.)
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Margaret R., "OH118 Kathleen C. Outland Oral History" (2025). Lifestyles. 32.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/oh-lifestyles/32
Audio Transcript
