Obituary. (Historical News and Notices).

James W. Hammack Jr., professor of history at Murray State University and former president of the Oral History Association (1980-81), died at his home on July 26, 2001. Dr. Hammack had retired June 30, 2001, as professor and chair of Murray State's department of history. Born in Electric Mills, Mississippi, he received B.S. (1961) and M.A. (1962) degrees from Memphis State University and a Ph.D. (1974) from the University of Kentucky, where he studied with Holman Hamilton. In addition to his service as president of the Oral History Association, he also was elected president of the Coal Miners Research Association (1977-78). In Kentucky he was a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Kentucky Council on Higher Education and the Executive Committee and Publications Advisory Committee of the Kentucky Historical Society. He was an advisor and member of the Kentucky Oral History Commission. At Murray State University, he was the only faculty member elected to two consecutive terms on the Board of Regents (1986-89 and 1989-92), and he served as vice-chair of the Board of Regents during his last term. Dr. Hammack was a past director of the Forrest C. Pogue Oral History Institute and the author of Kentucky and the Second American Revolution: The War of 1812 (Lexington, Ky., 1976) and numerous articles in the Worm Book Encyclopedia, the Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1976, the Encyclopedia of Southern History, and the Kentucky Encyclopedia. He published reviews in the Journal of Southern History, the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, and Pennsylvania History. He served on the advisory board of the Kentucky Encyclopedia and as a consulting editor of the Journal of Kentucky Studies. Dr. Hammack made significant contributions to the study of history in Kentucky and in the South. [JAMES DUANE BOLIN, Murray State University]