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Wikipedia:Reliability of GNIS data/Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection

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One source of GNIS data is the Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection at Morehead State University, with the following annotation in the citation field of the record:

Rennick, Robert M. Geographic Names Field Research . 31-Dec-1973. Conducted over a span of approximately 40 years, and annotated on USGS 1:24,000 scale topographic maps which date from 1938 to 1973. This data was also used in several published works by the author that were published during and after the field research was conducted.

Source

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Robert Morris Rennick (1932-06-28 – 2010-08-05[1]) was a retired professor, member of the American Name Society, chairman of the Kentucky Committee on Geographic Names, and member of the GNIS Phase II committee; who did a lot of primary research himself.[2][3] As an employee of the Kentucky Division of Licensing and Regulations from 1972 until 1997 he travelled over many parts of the state collecting information on names as he went.[3][4] Xyr manuscript collection and books at the University comprise six major things as far as Wikipedia needs are concerned:[5]

  • a set of annotated maps, marked up by Rennick xyrself, incomplete list:
    • Rennick, Robert M.; United States Geological Survey. "Richardson Quadrangle (1954)". Robert M. Rennick Topographical Map Collection (638). Morehead State University.
    • Rennick, Robert M.; United States Geological Survey. "Big Creek Quadrangle (1953)". Robert M. Rennick Topographical Map Collection (57). Morehead State University.
  • a place-name card collection (sometimes with more than 1 entry for a given place documenting different primary sources)
  • county-by-county reports on place names for all of the counties digitized from the card collection, incomplete list:
  • A to Z alphabetized reports of place names digitized from the card collection, incomplete list:
  • a bunch of recorded oral histories (primary sources)
  • around 50 books on county post offices[3] and county histories, based upon the primary source maps and oral histories with explanatory footnotes, incomplete list:

Morehead State University provides the manuscript collection on-line with a full index at https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/ . The post offices and county histories books are in its Federal Writers' Project collection at https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/ . The maps are indexed by USGS quardangle at https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_maps_all/ . The oral histories are at https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_oh_collection/ .

You might also come across xyr books through a Google Books search for a GNIS record name, albeit that the manuscript collection comprises a lot more than what went into the book. Here is an incomplete list:

  • Rennick, Robert M. (1997). From Red Hot to Monkey's Eyebrow (Unusual Kentucky Place Names). Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
  • Rennick, Robert M. (2013). Kentucky Place Names. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813144016.

Example entries

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The seventh entry, out of eight, for Eriline/Erline post office in Clay County, Kentucky in Rennick 2016c reads:

ERILINE (Clay Co., Ky)
Acc. to Van Britton, 11/14/02, the 1st name prop. for this new po was Britton and it would be serving the Mouth of Hector Creek, at that site, 6 mi nw of Big Ck po, 7 mi ne of Hector Ck. (sic) po, 5 mi se of Bar Ck po// On 10/25/43, Geo. Cling Hensley pet. for a move 1 mi s to a pt 150 ft e of the Redbird R, 200 yds s of Big Ck, 2 mi from co line, 1 m w of Big Ck po, 5½ mi s of Spurlock po, 2 mi n of Peabody po. Eff. 11/20/43// On 7/19/44, Mrs. Mary w. Bowling pet. for a move 2 mi n to a pt 500 yds w of Red Bird R, ½ mi w of Jacks Ck, 4 mi from co. line, 3½ mi n of Big Ck po, 4 mi s of Spurlock po, 2½ mi w of Jacks Ck po. Eff. 8/1/44 to a better location to serve more patrons// On 6/6/49, Mrs. Ersa Sams, act. pm pet. for a move 1 mi s to a pt 2½ air & 3½ rd mi from Leslie Co. line, 2 mi n of Ky 80, 1 mi s of Jacks Ck, 100 yds w of Red Bird R, 3½ mi sw of Jacks Ck po, 2½ mi mw of Big Ck po, 4 mi e of Hector po, 5 mi s of Spurlock po. (SLR);

As can be seen, all names are underlined and post offices and suchlike are identified as such. Sources are given at the ends of entries. This is of particular note in the entry for Catts Fork of Blaine Creek, Lawrence County, Kentucky, in Rennick 2016l, which follows two entries for "Cat" and two for "Cat Creek" giving tales about wildcats. The Catts Fork of Blaine Creek entry in turn gives a lengthy story (elided here for brevity) about a William S. Catt (quotation style changed from typewriter for clarity):

CATTS FORK OF BLAINE CREEK (aka Cat Creek) (Lawrence Co., Ky)
Joins Blaine c. 1 mi. below the falls.

In several such cases, such dubious information is called out in another work. For example: Rennick 2000l then states that

Seven post offices were located on Cat Creek, the 12½ mile long stream that joins Blaine one mile below Fallsburg. Neither of the two traditional accounts of the derivation of this stream's name have been confirmed. It was either named for area wild cats (more likely panthers) or for a Virginia salt dealer named William S. Catt.[6]

Problems

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Unfortunately, little to no care has been taken in transcribing this into the GNIS, despite the attention to detail in the original. For examples:

Example AFD discussions

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References

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  1. ^ Ind 2010.
  2. ^ Cengage.
  3. ^ a b c Gasque 2014, p. 239.
  4. ^ Ward 2010.
  5. ^ von Lanken 2021.
  6. ^ Rennick 2000l, p. 12.

Reference bibliography

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