Berea College was recently featured on PBS NewsHour in a segment titled “How this Kentucky College Offers Education Without Financial Burden” as part of the public television network’s “Rethinking College” series. The special explains how the college was founded by an abolitionist minister in 1855 to give all people in the Appalachian area educational opportunities.

“We are very lucky that we have a very I would call it a courageous, brave history behind us. Pre-Civil War, when Kentucky was still a slave-owning state, that emerged and was successful and said we need to serve students in the region,” Berea College President Cheryl Nixon told PBS. Today, Berea not only offers free tuition but also provides students with free laptops as well as medical and dental care on campus. After seeing the PBS segment, Ian said, “THIS is why I’ve donated my archives to Berea College!”

Ian’s archives will open to the public in Fall, 2024, and will serve as a unique resource for music history research. Among the thousands of items in the collection are contracts of all types (i.e., recording, publishing, touring, etc.) beginning in 1964 with Ian’s first contract when she was just 13 years old, paperwork about the House Un-American Archives Committee and copies of her family’s FBI files (including one kept on Ian, then age 15!), song notebooks, personal diaries, works in progress, and correspondence with fellow artists, famous friends, and collaborators including Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Willie Nelson, Mel Torme, and Chick Corea,.

 

Adds Ian, “I thought that if you really want to educate people about a career in the music industry, or in the arts, let them see what’s behind the scenes, too – show them contracts for records, albums, movies, licenses, all 60 years’ worth of negotiations!”