Horsky Collection

The contents of this collection contain materials that relate to the lives of Elmer Gene "Al" Horsky and Joanne Louise Horsky before, during, and after their time at Ohio University. This collection was donated by their daughter Debra Jo Hamrick in 2011 after the death of both of her parents. The materials of this collection range from the 1940-1960 with a few miscellaneous items that were digitized later in the 1990s .

The bulk of this collection is about Al Horsky's band: The Ohioans. He was the band leader and the trombonist for this dance band, and Jo Horsky was the lead singer. The Ohioans was started in the early 1950s with performances that ranged from the Tau Kappa Epsilon Formal Spring Dance to the opening of Ohio University's Baker Center. Most of this material consists of photos from their performances with the names of the performers listed on the back. There is also a performance program, an advertisement for the Ohioans, and a photo collage someone made of the Ohioans at the Berry Hotel. Along with these items are two CDs: one of the Ohioan's 1958 Logan Elms Dance performance, and another labeled "Al Horsky" with one of his performances on it.

The second largest part to this collection is on Jo Horsky. In all of the materials in the collection, Jo is referred to as Jo Keen. During performances she took her maiden name rather than go by Jo Horsky. There is also a discrepancy in the spelling of her last name. In some instances it is spelled as Keen, and in others it is spelled as Kiehne. The actual spelling of her name is Kiehne, but any of the material from college onward it is spelled Keen. Besides this minor discrepancy, the material on Jo is mostly from her college experience. A majority of the photographs of her are from when she was in college working at the WOUB radio station on campus. Along with this, her high school and college scrapbook is included in the collection. Her scrapbook contain newspaper clippings, dance cards, photographs, and keepsakes that give insight to the student life at Ohio University during the 1950s.

The smallest part of this collection includes photographs of Al Horsky while he was a high school band director. All of these photos are from "Annual High School Band Day" competition hosted at Ohio University each year. These photos are from the 7th, 9th, and 10th years of this competition and consist of all of the band directors (representing all of the schools that attended).

This collection is organized in folders by topics. In the first box, these topics include: Information from Debra Hamrick, The Ohioans Performance Photos, Al Horsky and the Ohioans, Marching Band, Jo Keen, and Items from Ohio University's Sesquicentennial. Once broken down into folders, the materials for the collection are broken down by year. The second box contains the audio and visual material for the collection. This includes two performance recordings (CDs) in a folder and two VHS tapes labeled "Totally Plaid Jimmy Crum". The Third and final box of this collection contains Jo Keen's High School/College Scrapbook.

The Horsky collection is a good account of student life at Ohio University during the 1950s and great description of how the WOUB radio station worked during the 1950s as well. This collection shows the variety of ways students could be involved at Ohio University, from music to Sesquicentennial committees. Most of all, this collection shows the lives of two different undergraduate students at Ohio University and what their college experiences helped them do in their futures.