This website features the collection of masks recently gifted to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by Dr. David M. (“Doc”) Coffey (1950 – 2014). The collection will be accessioned by the Kentucky Museum, and serve as an educational resource for the WKU and Bowling Green communities.
Dr. Coffey, a professor in the WKU Department of Agriculture for more than 35 years, travelled extensively throughout his life. As a college student and the first 4-H exchange student in Indonesia, he purchased his first mask. “Doc” passed his passion for international study on to the legions of students he brought with him on the more than twenty-five study abroad programs that he led.
David Coffey was an integral member of and was well known in many different communities, ranging from that of his WKU-area neighborhood, to the Bowling Green international community, to a state-wide network in agricultural education. Many of the masks in these cases were gifts from students, family and friends.
These masks are currently installed in the WKU Art Department Corridor Gallery in a way similar to that in which they hung, close together in a loose arrangement, “salon style” in a long, narrow hallway in David Coffey’s home. The collection totals 140 masks, which can be seen on this site. Included object labels were written by David Coffey for a 2007 exhibition of the masks.
The information included here is all that is currently written about the masks. We know there are many more stories to be told – from what culture the masks come, to why and by whom they were collected, to how the masks came to hang in David’s private collection. Dr. Coffey was an expert at creating community – and many within his broad community of family, colleagues, former students and friends are part of the story of this collection, or “faces behind the masks.”
If you have information about a mask, please help us fill in the missing details. Tell us your story, and help the memories of David, his masks, his many adventures and his enormous contributions to WKU and the Bowling Green community remain as vivid for future generations of WKU as they are now. All information will be collected and included in the archive that accompanies the Dr. David M. Coffey Mask Collection.
Submit information via the contact form or via email to [email protected]. Please include your name and your contact information. Thank you for participating in this important project!
Dr. Coffey, a professor in the WKU Department of Agriculture for more than 35 years, travelled extensively throughout his life. As a college student and the first 4-H exchange student in Indonesia, he purchased his first mask. “Doc” passed his passion for international study on to the legions of students he brought with him on the more than twenty-five study abroad programs that he led.
David Coffey was an integral member of and was well known in many different communities, ranging from that of his WKU-area neighborhood, to the Bowling Green international community, to a state-wide network in agricultural education. Many of the masks in these cases were gifts from students, family and friends.
These masks are currently installed in the WKU Art Department Corridor Gallery in a way similar to that in which they hung, close together in a loose arrangement, “salon style” in a long, narrow hallway in David Coffey’s home. The collection totals 140 masks, which can be seen on this site. Included object labels were written by David Coffey for a 2007 exhibition of the masks.
The information included here is all that is currently written about the masks. We know there are many more stories to be told – from what culture the masks come, to why and by whom they were collected, to how the masks came to hang in David’s private collection. Dr. Coffey was an expert at creating community – and many within his broad community of family, colleagues, former students and friends are part of the story of this collection, or “faces behind the masks.”
If you have information about a mask, please help us fill in the missing details. Tell us your story, and help the memories of David, his masks, his many adventures and his enormous contributions to WKU and the Bowling Green community remain as vivid for future generations of WKU as they are now. All information will be collected and included in the archive that accompanies the Dr. David M. Coffey Mask Collection.
Submit information via the contact form or via email to [email protected]. Please include your name and your contact information. Thank you for participating in this important project!