Luise West: Correspondence, July 1970

This series is comprised of correspondence maintained in Lexington, by Mountain Fund secretary, Luise West. West followed Loretto Martin in 1951 and was employed on a part-time basis by the Fund, while at the same time serving as secretary to Edward S. Dabney, president of Security Trust Bank. West served during the chairmanships of Edward O'Rear, Ross Sloniker, Francis Hutchins, Fred Bryant, and J. Farra Van Meter, playing an important role in day-to-day administration. In addition to maintaining principal records of the Fund, she was responsible for depositing receipts of endowment investments, maintaining receipt and disbursement ledgers, and paying the salaries of Homeplace employees.

The West subseries consists of incoming and outgoing letters and memoranda, arranged chronologically. A sizable portion relates to routine financial transactions reported to West by Lula Hale or by Homeplace Hospital staff. There is also correspondence of chairs and other Fund trustees. That for Fred Bryant is especially sizeable. There is only sparse correspondence for O'Rear, Sloniker, and Hutchins because they resided outside Lexington and maintained their own files. This correspondence is particularly useful in documenting the informal authority West came to have in Fund affairs and of her relationship with Lula Hale as both co-worker and friend.