Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark dies at age 101

Thomas Dionysius Clark, 101, a longtime professor and chair of the University of Kentucky history department and a prolific author of Kentucky history, died at 3:45 a.m. June 28 at the Mayfair Village Retirement Center in Lexington.

Thomas D. Clark

Clark, whom former Gov. Brereton Jones called “ Kentucky’s greatest treasure,” died two weeks short of his 102nd birthday, July 14.

The family suggests that memorial contributions to honor Clark be given to the Thomas D. Clark Kentucky Center for History, 100 W. Broadway, Frankfort, Ky. 40601, or to the Lexington History Museum, 215 W. Main St., Lexington, Ky. 40507.

Born in Louisville, Miss., Clark was the son of John Collingsworth Clark and Sallie Bennett Clark. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1928 from the University of Mississippi, a master’s in 1929 from UK, and a doctorate in history from Duke University in 1932.

He taught history at UK for 37 years and chaired its Department of History from 1942 to 1965. It is estimated Clark taught more than 20,000 students during his teaching career, which included five years as a Distinguished Professor of History at Indiana University after he retired from UK. He also served as a visiting professor of history at Harvard, Duke, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisville, Wyoming, Chicago, Wisconsin, Washington State and Stanford. He was a guest lecturer at Oxford and in several foreign countries including Greece, Yugoslavia and India.

During his time at Indiana University, Clark authored a four-volume history of that institution titled “ Indiana University; Midwestern Pioneer.”

He saved most of his prolific history writing skills for Kentucky, however, publishing volume upon volume of books about the Commonwealth including ”Exploring Kentucky (1939),” a book used as a textbook in the public schools. In all, he wrote more than 30 books on the American South, the Westward Movement, and Kentucky.

As recently as 2002, when he was 99 years old, the University Press of Kentucky, which is housed in a building that bear’s Clark’s name on the UK campus, published a Clark co-authored book titled “The People’s House: Governor’s Mansions of Kentucky.”

Clark helped establish the University of Kentucky Press in 1943, and two decades later he was instrumental in founding the University Press of Kentucky, a statewide consortium that includes most of Kentucky’s regional universities and private colleges and which published many of Clark’s works. Clark served on the Press’s board.

Among the three dozen or so books he wrote or co-wrote, in addition to the “History of Kentucky” and “The People’s House,” are “History of Clark County,” “History of Laurel County,” “The Kentucky,” “Kentucky: Land of Contrast,” “Agrarian Kentucky,” and “The Greening of the South.”

Clark’s account of the history of a Southern country store, published in 1944 under the title “Pills, Petticoats and Plows,” is one of his popular early books. A significant writing effort was his two multi-volume historical sets published between 1956 and 1962 titled “Travels in the Old South” and “Travels in the New South.”

In addition to his own published works, including several entries in the “Kentucky Encyclopedia” and the “Encyclopedia of Louisville,” books have been written about the author himself, including “Thomas D. Clark of Kentucky: An Uncommon Life in the Commonwealth,” published in 2003. The book is a collection of essays by persons who knew Clark and edited by John Kleber who also edited the “Kentucky Encyclopedia.”

In 1990, the Kentucky General Assembly honored Clark by declaring him Kentucky’s Historian Laureate.

Another building that bears Clark’s name is the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort, which was renamed on July 9. The center is the Kentucky Historical Society’s headquarters, and the Kentucky General Assembly voted in March to rename the center for Clark, who helped raise the funds for the 167,000-square-foot brick building’s construction. Clark was a member of the society’s executive board.

A few of the more significant UK events Clark helped celebrate were the 1986 and 2003 celebrations of the two and three-millionth volumes added to the collection of UK Libraries. The volume Clark selected as the symbolic two-millionth for the library was an early pamphlet printing of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Only two copies of the slender booklet are known to exist which preserves, on page 40, Lincoln’s famous speech. The three-millionth volume, “Thomas D. Clark of Kentucky: An Uncommon Life in The Commonwealth,” was presented to Carol Diedrichs, dean of libraries, at the 100 th birthday celebration in the William T. Young Library July 9, 2003.

Clark received many honors, including the presidencies of both the Southern Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, an organization for which he later served as executive secretary. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Alpha Theta honor society in history.

During his teaching career, Clark taught many Kentuckians who went on to significant public service, including the late Gov. Edward T. “Ned” Breathitt and UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and his wife Patsy Todd.

“The University of Kentucky has a heavy heart,” said President Todd. “We lost one of this university’s true treasures. From the moment he walked on this campus in 1928, UK has been blessed with one of the nation’s most cherished historians. Dr. Clark taught with passion and vision, constantly sought new knowledge, and challenged the Commonwealth to remember its history. One of his greatest legacies is that he continually challenged our leaders to strive for greatness in education as well because he understood what it would mean for the future of our state and our children. Tom Clark, an adopted son of Kentucky, will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”

The Todds hosted recent birthday parties for Clark at UK. His 99 th birthday party was held at Maxwell Place, the historic home of university presidents, and his 100 th birthday party was held at the William T. Young Library in conjunction with the publication of the book about him.

Dan Smith, chair of the UK Department of History, said, "In Tom Clark's passing today, Kentuckians and all those who care about our history have lost an absolute treasure. He constantly thought of new ways to present history, how to teach it, and what next to write about. His boundless energy and endless curiosity to discover the truth about the past were the hallmarks not only of a remarkable intellect but also of a well-lived life."

Gov.Ernie Fletcher directed that flags at the state Capitol be lowered to half-staff in honor of Dr. Thomas Clark. Flags remained at half-staff at the Capitol until sunset the day of Dr. Clark's funeral.

"Dr. Thomas Clark always saw Kentucky as a land of contrasts, and that's as true today as it has ever been," Gov. Fletcher said. "We will be eternally grateful to him for trying to define and explain those contrasts. But we will be just as grateful to him for doing more than any other individual to make us proud of being a Kentuckian. His legacy will enrich the commonwealth for countless decades to come."

Ralph Derickson

Excerpts from Charles P. Roland’s comments at Clark’s funeral. Roland is a retired UK history professor and close friend of Clark. “To borrow a line from Abraham Lincoln’s epic Gettysburg Address, it is altogether fitting and proper that these honors and respects be paid, for Dr. Clark has cast an imposing shadow over Kentucky and indeed over the American landscape. I have often wondered what moved a parent, or parents, in rural Mississippi at the dawn of the 20 th Century to fix such a classical name as Dionysius on their infant. I never questioned Tom (that’s what his countless admirers and friends called him), I never questioned him on this point, but I assume they named him after the famed ancient Greek rhetorician and historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Whatever their motive, it turned out to be a remarkably apt name; it tempts one to wonder whether it was self-fullfillingly prophetic. For this infant would grow to become a rhetorician and historian of national and also international distinction.” “Tom was a man of astonishing vigor and longevity. He was also a man who held a grand intellectual vision. To him, history was far more than a mere narrative of events; it was a vitalizing force in the life of society. He agreed with a statement made by General Robert E. Lee shortly before his death. Lee said, ‘It is history that teaches us to hope.’ Tom believed that education is the key to progress, and, of course, that history is an indispensable element in education. One of the things that attracted Tom to the Kentucky students is their abiding sense of history.” “Tom lived an incredibly long, full and productive life. He will be sorely missed by a multitude of Kentuckians and others. The scene feels emptier for his departure. His was a comforting presence. He was the guardian angel, the driving spirit, of worthy causes; his name lent legitimacy and force to any endeavor. But now we must bid him farewell. Let us do so with a simple but profound ‘Good night, old friend, good night.’”