The Filson Manuscripts & Photographs

The Special Collections of The Filson include manuscripts, photographs and prints.

Manuscripts:

The manuscript department contains approximately 1.5 million items. Shortly after its founding, the society began collecting Kentucky historical material when no other institution was doing so. With many of its early members belonging to Kentucky's oldest and most prominent families, The Filson was able to assemble an important manuscript collection. Its holdings for the late 18th through mid 19th centuries are unrivaled in the state. The collection focuses on Kentucky, the Ohio Valley, and the Upper South, but is national and even international in scope, with researchers from across the nation and abroad visiting each year. Our unique holdings are an essential primary source for scholars and include our Pleasant Hill Shaker records, Lewis and Clark Expedition letters, Henry Clay letters, George Rogers Clark's Mason letter, and the two earliest known documents written and signed by Daniel Boone. To these must be added hundreds of other collections documenting America's economic, military, political, and social history which give The Filson Historical Society the finest collection of pioneer, antebellum, and Civil War manuscripts in Kentucky. In addition, excellent collections containing information on women's studies, African-Americans, and Louisville journalism are also available to the research community.

Anyone wishing additional information about our collections should contact the department between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The department is open the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Queries by phone, letter, or e-mail are accepted, but the latter two are preferred.

If you have a question about our manuscript collection which includes original correspondence, diaries, business papers, and other primary sources, please contact either:

Jim Holmberg, Curator of Special Collections
Jacob Lee, Special Collections Assistant
Mike Veach, Special Collections Assistant
Suzanne Maggard, Special Collections Assistant
Sarah-Jane Poindexter, Special Collections Assistant

Photographs and Prints:

The photograph collection contains approximately 50,000 photographic prints, film, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and slides. The collection dates from the 1840s to the present. Several thousand photographs are in the General Subject File, and approximately 3,000 photographs of individuals are in an Individuals File. Access to the General Subject File is gained through files of photocopied photographs divided into approximately 200 subject headings and subheadings. A guide to the photocopy files is available in the department. Some of the subjects included are agriculture, boats and steamboats, bridges, bridge construction, churches, floods (especially the flood of 1937), historic buildings, industry, Kentucky houses, Kentucky counties, mining, parks, politics, railroads, rivers, schools, sports, streetcars and interurbans, and street scenes. Access to the Individuals File is through a printed index using surnames. Still other photographs are in separate collections, including family collections, institutional collections, such as the Cave Hill Cemetery Collection, business collections, such as the Louisville Railway Company and United Distillers collections, and collections by a particular photographer such as the Robert A. Campbell Collection and the Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston Collection.

The print collection includes engravings, lithographs, chromolithographs, and posters. Subjects include individuals, city views, architecture, the Civil War, steamboats, and the Southern Exposition. Also included are lithographs of Henry Clay, John Cabell Breckinridge, Cassius Marcellus Clay, and Zachary Taylor; views of Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky; a plan of the grounds and buildings of the Southern Exposition; a Battle of New Orleans lithograph; and a lithograph in color of Daniel Boone leading settlers through Cumberland Gap. An index to prints of individuals and some inventory lists of subjects have been compiled.

If you have a question pertaining to photographs or prints, please contact:
Robin Wallace, Special Collections Assistant

We want to preserve your history!

If you have business papers, personal papers, published material or images that you would like to contribute to The Filson, we want to hear from you. Please contact Special Collections Curator James J. Holmberg at (502) 635-5083 for more information on how to contribute to The Filson’s collections.

Search our Online Catalog
(Current Collections)

The Filson's Virtual Card Catalog

View The Guide to Manuscripts and Photos
(1996 Publication with Collections up to that point, we recommend using the Online Catalog for your search.)

The Filson Historical Society
1310 South Third Street - Louisville, KY 40208
Phone: (502) 635-5083 Fax: (502) 635-5086

Hours
The Ferguson Mansion and Office
Monday - Friday: 9 am. - 5 pm.
Saturday and Sunday closed
Library
Monday - Friday: 9 am. - 5 pm.
First Saturday of every month: 9 am - 4 pm.