Chain of Wooded Mountains Remembering the Coal Town of Balkan, Kentucky

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of company coal towns proliferated across Kentucky’s eastern mountains. Established in 1912 by the Southern Mining Company, town of Balkan derived its name from the Balkans region of Southeast Europe where the company recruited many of its miners. The word Balkan, meaning “chain of wooded mountains” in Turkish, evokes a connectedness to mountain towns like it across Appalachia and around the world. Although the history of towns like Balkan are often framed as isolated and homogenous, as well as oppressed and depressed, the items in this exhibition reveal the dynamic everyday life of a tightly knit community who spoke different languages, shared divergent cultural traditions, and forged meaningful lives in the face of exploitation and adversity.

Although it is now an unincorporated community and its collective history is under threat of slipping into obscurity, this exhibition seeks to highlight the vibrant lives that animated Balkan during the 70 years of the town existence. The contents for the exhibition come from the Collection of James Walters, who bequeathed them to UK’s Special Collections in the hope that his unique community would be remembered. Curated by Dr. Miriam Kienle with the students in her Curatorial Studies seminar (Zach Hall, Abby Ratliff, Hannah Miller, and Adrianna Johnson), this exhibition remembers the town of Balkan while also asking visitors to think about parallels with other former mining communities.

The exhibition will be on view in the Great Hall of Special Collections from January 23-May 8, 2026.