EKT News

Esther Kem Thomas' Old Rag Dolly
February 7, 2002 - I was delighted to see "Old Rag Dolly" mentioned on Loganberry Books - Solved Mysteries. 'Old Rag Dolly' was first featured in By the Way, Volume III (published by the Old Swimmin' Hole Press, Greenfield, Indiana, copyright 1946). However, it is best known from its inclusion in Ideals. Our family still reads the poem from an old tattered Ideals every Christmas. Ideals is still publishing EKT's poems (they have a large backlog she submitted to them) three years after her passing (in 1999).

Ready for the Scanner!
July 19, 2001 - I've just returned with 685 xeroxed pages of EKT's poems. My brother, Scott A. Morris, spent the last two years cataloging and organizing EKT's work from her files. Among the poems are a series she did for a WWII war bonds campaign, approximately 1000 short poems published in newspapers across the nation, and material for an unpublished fifth book, Living--For Goodness Sake. I hope to get them all online soon. - Ron Morris

The Archives
May 12, 2001 - My brother, Scott A. Morris of Columbus, Indiana is organizing EKT's voluminous work. EKT had hundreds of poems published in Ideals over the years (and they are still printing new ones from the backlog of submissions) as well as an untold number printed in newspapers around the country. And there is so much unpublished work, I am sure there are a few more brand new books that could be published. EKT also corresponded regularly with other Hoosier poets of her era (Scott has come across a twenty-year correspondence with Barton Rees Pogue that lasted from 1941 until a week before his death). I live in Thailand, but will be visiting Columbus this summer to obtain copies of as much as I can to post on this site. - Ron Morris

EKT FAQ

What's the story behind EKT's books?
Four volumes of By the Way were published in the 1940s by Old Swimmin' Hole Press. EKT sold them for $1.25 a volume after her speaking engagements in the United States and Canada. Local bookstores also carried the books. EKT named her Brown County log cabin By the Way.

In a November 7, 1984 letter to Ron Morris (me), Esther Kem Thomas detailed the process of publishing the books:

"At the suggestion of Barton Rees Pogue who had used these printers, I went to Greenfield to the "Old Swimmin' Hole Press", where the books are set up, printed and bound and pressed by hand. From great bolts of material I selected the leather-like binding, the contrasting backbone, and the size and kind of type, using Script for the title on the outside, and using a conversational title, "By The Way--".

"To start things off I had to put up a fourth of the cost of a thousand books which was $250 (which my mother gave me), then the second fourth was to be paid when I got the first runoff which was on long strips to be looked over and edited; the third fourth was paid when the edited material was cut into pages and sent to me again, and the last fourth when I received the books.

"This all took time and gave me the opportunity to get the money together which back in the forties was a larger amount than it may seem today. After the first batch was sold (and it takes longer than you'd think -- everybody is so eager to buy a book until they're available!), Mr. Mitchell, the printer and binder, would make up a thousand or so and let me take them out, sell them at meetings, and then pay him. After he died another printing firm took over and continued until they went out of business.

"While the books were being printed the first time, at home I took typing paper, folded sheets in half and put together enough to make a 64-page book, numbered them as I would want them, deciding what was to go on each page, and typed them. When I got the first long sheet, the first draft, I cut the poems up, pasted them on the pages as they should go, and it gave me ideas as to how they might be changed, etc.

"In my own mind, but not as divisions in the book, I had them arranged "Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter," including whatever special days or special verses would pertain to the season. The arrangement could also represent life."

What is the Old Swimmin' Hole Press? I know very little about this company. The Old Swimmin' Hole Press was named after the James Whitcomb Riley poem of the same name. The Greenfield, Indiana-based company published the works of Barton Rees Pogue as well as Rambling-Rhymes, copyright 1945 by Ottis Shirk and Verses of Long Ago and Later Years, A Souvenir, copyright 1951 by Charles S. Baker. According to EKT correspondence, at some point in the 1950's, the "printer and binder" (and owner?) Mr. Mitchell died and the business was taken over by another firm and later went out of business. Does anyone know anything more about the Old Swimmin' Hole Press? Email me.

Do you have any EKT books for sale?
No. Quite a few people have emailed asking for copies of the By the Way Books, but I don't have any for sale. It seems that most people end up missing at least one volume. If you can't find one, you'll have to refer to the links at the top of this page for the full-length internet text (Copyright ©1944-8 Esther Kem Thomas. Electronic version copyright ©1999 by Ron Morris All Rights Reserved).

What are EKT books worth?
In 2001, one By the Way volume was sold on Barnes & Noble for $79. Full sets occasionally turn up on eBay. They are getting harder to find.

EKT poems included in anthologies
A Midwestern Sampler, An Anthology of Prose and Poetry by Writers of the Midwest, New York: Harbinger House, copyright 1942 (EKT poems included are Recipe for the Bride and Fertility)
A Thousand and One Poems, The William-Frederick Press, copyright 1944 (EKT poems included are My Dad and The Sweeper)

Radio Shows
EKT had a 15-minute radio show that appeared on various stations. The stations I can verify her show appeared on are WBOW, in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1950 and WINL, in Lebanon, Indiana from May to December, 1952.

How are you related to Esther Kem Thomas?
She was my maternal grandmother.