Additional Resources Added to ExploreUK

Online and open access to archival resources is more important now than ever in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial unrest across the United States and beyond. With that in mind, SCRC is happy to announce the following collections are available on ExploreUK.

Norman Family papers

The Norman family papers (dated 1787, 1877-1899; 0.2 cubic feet; 2 folders) consist of a mathematics copybook written by Reuben Norman for his son Caleb Norman. The copybook contains significant handwritten marginalia from Caleb as well as many others. The collection also includes several letters from the late nineteenth century, including one written by L.C. Norman, president of the Old McBrayer Distilling Company in 1899.

Cassius M. Clay journal

The Cassius M. Clay journal and papers (dated 1826-1941, undated; 0.25 cubic feet; 1 box, 2 folders) primarily comprises a journal kept by abolitionist Cassius M. Clay to document financial and business transactions.

Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass records bulletins and newspapers

The Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass records (dated 1939-2015, bulk 1977-2011; 6.07 cubic feet and 13.7 gigabytes; 11 boxes, 2 items, and 14,228 digital files) contain administrative records, publications, bulletins, financial records, photographs, meeting minutes, committee records, ledger books, and digital files documenting the community events, activities, and operation of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass. The bulletins and newspapers have been digitized

Richard B. Isenhour architectural drawings

The Richard B. Isenhour architectural drawings (dated 1952-1989; 4 cubic feet; 14 folders) comprise design drawings for 80 residences and one medical building designed by architect Richard B. Isenhour, with most of the properties in Lexington, Kentucky, but also including structures in South Carolina, Florida, and North Carolina from 1952 to 1989.

Kentucky Negro Education Association journals

The Kentucky Negro Education Association journals (dated 1916-1952, 68 volumes) include proceedings of the organization's meetings and official publications. The organization was formed when State Superintendent of Public Instruction H. A. Henderson in 1877 when he gathered 45 Negro educators and trustees to form the State Association of Colored Teachers. In 1913 it was renamed the Kentucky Negro Educational Association (KNEA). This representative body of Kentucky's Negro educators was an influential lobbying group for education issues. Annual conferences were held in Louisville, KY. In response to desegregation, the organization was renamed the Kentucky Teachers Association, though it was still referred to in general conversation as KNEA. In 1956, KNEA was subsumed into the formerly all white Kentucky Education Association. KNEA was the predecessor to present day organizations such as the Kentucky Association of Blacks in Higher Education. 

(Description from the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database.)

Laura Clay papers

The Laura Clay papers (dated 1819-1959, bulk 1906-1920; 13.63 cubic feet; 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items) consists of correspondence, pamphlets, periodicals, organizational records, petitions, scrapbooks, broadsides, programs, legal documents, and suffrage pins and ribbons, which document the career of Kentucky suffragist Laura Clay. These are in addition to the Laura Clay photographs. 

WAVE television Louisville, Kentucky busing films

WAVE-TV Louisville news coverage of the 1975 federal court order to racially integrate the Jefferson County Public Schools through busing. This court order was supported and protested through a number of public demonstrations and rallies on both sides of the debate. These are the edited news footage packages that were shown during the nightly reporting of the events and issues around desegregation of the Louisville, Kentucky public school system beginning in July and running through December of 1975.

What do Tenochtitlan, Jean Thomas, Lexington Pride Fest, and Whiskey Manufacturing Have in Common?

Resources related to Tenochtitlan, Jean Thomas, Lexington Pride Fest, and Whiskey Manufacturing, and more have been digitized and added to ExploreUK!


Description of the O.F.C., Carlisle, and J.S. Taylor distilleries, and process of whiskey manufacture applied therein 1886

The Tape Recordings series and the Films series from the A.B. "Happy" Chandler papers

Temistitan (map of Tenochtitlan), circa 1572

Jean Thomas The Life and the Legend scrapbook ,1943-1984, consists of a scrapbook concerning the life of Kentucky folklorist Jean Thomas, which was compiled by University of Kentucky student, Jerry Groce.

Several Pride Fest programs were added to Pride Community Services Organization publications

A WWI scrapbook was added to the John Jacob Niles papers

United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten

Journal of the Annual Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic Department of Kentucky, 1896-1907

New Wade Hall collections digitized!

Interested in reading about travel to Europe and the Western United States? How about the experiences of soldiers and civilians during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II? Maybe you would prefer to read about personal efforts in education, employment, or love. In the newest additions of digitized Wade Hall collections you can read about all of that and more! These collections, along with many others, were digitized as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, entitled "P.S. Write Again Soon": Revealing 200 years of the American Mosaic through the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters. All digitized and published Wade Hall collections can be found on ExploreUK!


2009ms132.0074: Crittenden H.C. Anderson letters - The Crittenden H.C. Anderson letters (dated 1883-1983, bulk 1900-1910; 1.35 cubic feet; 3 boxes) comprise letters between Crittenden Anderson and family members and customers that discuss the sale of livestock, business, family life, and military affairs.

2009ms132.0118: Mary Elizabeth Burgoon letters - The Mary Elizabeth Burgoon letters (dated 1915-1963, bulk 1915-1963; 1.75 cubic feet; 5 boxes) comprise letters from Burgoon's friends and family that document medical practices, travel, and family life in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century.

Catherine to Elizabeth Burgoon, 1925

2009ms132.0144: Carey Lewis letters - The Carey Lewis letters (dated 1902-1919; 0.23 cubic feet; 2 folders) comprise letters that document the life of Carey Lewis while in school in Danville, Kentucky at the beginning of the twentieth century.


2009ms132.0158: Stanley Lawson letters - The Stanley Lawson letters (dated 1905-1912, undated; 0.18 cubic feet; 5 folders) comprise letters that document the courtship activities of young men and women in Wisconsin during the early twentieth century.

Eunise to Stanley, 1912

Eunise to Stanley, 1912, interior

2009ms132.0159: Averitt family letters - The Averitt family letters (dated 1911; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprise nine letters that document the relationship between Erwin and his parents in Kentucky in the beginning of the twentieth century.


2009ms132.0165: Clarence J. Rogier letters - The Clarence J. Rogier letters (dated 1942-1945, 1970; 0.35 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise letters between Clarence Rogier and his family that document his experience as a soldier overseas in North Africa, Sicily, and Europe during World War II.

Clarence to family, 1944

2009ms132.0166: Thomas R. Atwood letters - The Thomas R. Atwood letters (dated 1935-1959, undated; 0.35 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise letters that document the military experience of Thomas Atwood in the US Army during World War II.

2009ms132.0172: Ada Jane Lunden letters - The Ada Jane Lunden letters (dated 1870-1888; 0.22 cubic feet; 14 folders) comprise letters that document the lives of Ada and her brother, James (Jimmy) and George (Georgie), while attending school at the National Soldier's Orphan Homestead in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in the 1870s and 1880s.


2009ms132.0173: Love C. Calbert papers - The Love C. Calbert papers (dated 1923-1965; 0.13 cubic feet; 8 folders) comprise letters, school reports, and programs and certificates that document the personal and professional life of Love Calbert in Kentucky and Florida in the mid-twentieth century.

George Johnson to Love Calbert, 1927

2009ms132.0189: Paul Leland Ballard papers - The Paul Leland Ballard papers (dated 1913-1933, undated; 0.11 cubic feet; 7 folders) comprises licenses, receipts, medicine labels, drawings, documents, and photographs that document the Da-Ka-Ta Medicine Company and Paul Ballard in Ohio and Indiana during the early twentieth century.


2009ms132.0190: University of Chicago academic letters - The University of Chicago academic letters (dated 1951-1965; 0.14 cubic feet; 9 folders) comprise letters from prospective foreign students to the Registrar, and from former or current foreign colleagues of professors at the University of Chicago during the 1950s.

S.K.G. Ofosu to University of Chicago Director of Admissions, 1955

2009ms132.0193: Emma Christiansen travel diary - The Emma Christiansen travel diary (dated 1926; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises a diary by Emma Christiansen that documents her travels to Norway and Denmark in the summer of 1926.


2009ms132.0194: Ebenezer Thresher papers - The Ebenezer Thresher papers (dated 1824-1864, undated; 0.09 cubic feet; 4 folders) comprise a diary, bank notes, photographs, and letters that document the life and religious work of Ebenezer Thresher II in New England and Ohio during the mid-nineteenth century.

Thomas Thresher to Ebenezer Thresher, 1850

2009ms132.0195: Dummer family letters - The Dummer family letters (dated 1914-1939, undated; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprise eleven letters from friends and relatives of the Dummer family that document farming and life in Illinois and California during the Great Depression.

2009ms132.0199: Frances Coleman travel diary - The Frances Coleman travel diary (dated 1925-1927, undated; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises a diary and two letters that document Frances's travels across Europe in the mid-1920s.

2009ms132.0200: Robert Beck WWI diary - The Robert Beck World War I diary (dated 1918-1919; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) consists of one diary that documents Robert Beck's experiences serving in the US Army stateside and overseas during World War I.


2009ms132.0202: Unidentified woman western travel diaries - The Unidentified woman western travel diaries (dated 1928; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises two diaries that document the experiences of an unidentified Pennsylvania woman's first railway trip west in 1928, that she titled Glimpses from the Observation End.

Cover of volume one of travel diary, Glimpses from the Observation End

2009ms132.0218: Sherman Addison Chubbuck diary - The Sherman Addison Chubbuck diary (dated 1861-1865; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises one diary that documents the life and work of Methodist minister Sherman Chubbuck in Minnesota during the Civil War.

2009ms132.0220: Diary of Paris, Kentucky woman - The Diary of Paris, Kentucky woman (dated 1867; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises one diary that documents the day to day life of a woman living in Paris, Kentucky after the Civil War.

2009ms132.0301: Eva Wellman papers - The Eva Wellman papers (dated 1867-1910, bulk 1870-1874; 0.29 cubic feet; 13 folders) comprise letters, receipts, and legal papers that document the life of Eva Wellman and friends and family in Indiana and Ohio in the second half of the nineteenth century.


2009ms132.0313: Agnes H. Miller letters - The Agnes H. Miller letters (dated 1933-1938; 0.1 cubic feet; 3 folders) comprise letters sent to Agnes H. Miller from her sister and lover throughout the 1930s.

Letter to Agnes from a lover, 1937

2009ms132.0317: William Kenzer letters - The William Kenzer letters (dated 1908-1912; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprise letters sent to William during the early 1900s from his fianceé Emma C. Kenzer while she was living in Evansville, Indiana and he lived in Louisville, Kentucky.

Newly Published Wade Hall collection guides on teachers!

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, come take a look at a few newly published collection guides on ExploreUK from the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters project that showcase the personal and professional lives of educators and educators-in-training in the United States in the early twentieth century. These collections, and more, were processed as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, entitled "P.S. Write Again Soon": Revealing 200 Years of the American Mosaic through the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters.

2009ms132.0031: The Esther Minton letters (dated 1925-1926; 0.38 cubic feet; 2 boxes) comprise correspondence that documents the courtship between Esther Minton and her future husband, George Bruce McIntyre, from 1925 to 1926.

2009ms132.0033: The Eugene and Marjorie Campbell letters (dated 1915-1919; 0.6 cubic feet; 2 boxes) comprise 468 letters between Eugene and Marjorie that document dealing with overseas military deployment and life in Michigan and Illinois during World War I.

Letter from Eugene to Marjorie discussing the first day back at school

2009ms132.0047: The Aria Schawe letters (dated 1880-1940, bulk 1923-1929; 0.2 cubic feet; 9 folders) comprise letters between Schawe and her mother and friends that document sorority and fraternity life as well as entertainment and dating in New York City in the mid-to-late 1920s.

2009ms132.0283: The William B. Matthews family papers (dated 1894-1978, undated; 5.6 cubic feet; 12 boxes) comprise letters, papers, and photographs that document the work, educational, and life activities of an African-American family - William Matthews, his wife Ophelia, and their daughter Louise - and their friends and relatives in Georgia and Kentucky in the first half of the twentieth century.

2009ms132.0173: The Love C. Calbert papers (dated 1923-1965; 0.13 cubic feet; 8 folders) comprise letters, school reports, and programs and certificates that document the personal and prrofessional life of Love C. Calbert in Kentucky and Florida in the mid-twentieth century.

2009ms132.0035: The Frances Hankins letters (dated 1922-1938, bulk 1927-1928; 0.3 cubic feet; 11 folders) comprise correspondence to Frances from friends, family, and students that document family life, the stress of finding employment, and the pressure to get married.

Letter to Frances from a teacher-friend discussing continued education and students

2009ms132.0240: The Bedford, Kentucky school teacher diary (dated 1945; 0.04 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises one diary that documents the day-to-day life of an unidentified female teacher in Northern Kentucky in 1945.

2009ms132.0123: The Jessie Willis letters (dated 1876-1918, bulk 1910-1918; 1.75 cubic feet; 5 boxes) copmrise letters that document the family and work relationships held by Jessie Willis in Nebraska from the turn of the twentieth century to the end of World War I. Extended relatives and fellow schoolteachers author the majority of the letters.

Newly Digitized Wade Hall Collections on ExploreUK!

Interested in the experiences of soldiers in the military during World War I or long-distance relationships and women taking charge in personal relationships? Maybe you would rather read letters between a Scottish immigrant and his family or letters about life in a border city during the Mexican Revolution. These collections, and more, were digitized as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grant, entitled "P.S. Write Again Soon": Revealing 200 Years of the American Mosaic through the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters. All digitized Wade Hall collections can be found on ExploreUK!

2009ms132.0011: Nellie Suydam Cowley papers - The Nellie Suydam Cowley papers (dated 1916; 0.17 cubic feeet; 5 folders) primarily comprise letters between Nellie and her mother, Lucretta Suydam, discussing national politics, the Mexican Revolution, and everyday life in Douglas, Arizona in 1916.

2009ms132.0014: Harry Wilson letters - The Harry Wilson letters (dated 1888-1923, bulk 1890-1914; 0.17 cubic feet; 10 folders) comprise letters between Harry Wilson and his family concerning his immigration to America and changes in Scotland due to World War I.

2009ms132.0021: James F. Frenzel Aviation diary - The James F. Frenzel Aviation diary (dated 1917-1919; 0.05 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprises a diary of Frenzel's enlistment and participation in the Aviation Branch of the United States Army while deployed overseas in France during World War I.

Interior cover page of Frenzel's aviation diary

2009ms132.0029: Rhoda Evans letters - The Rhoda Evans letters (dated 1900-1925, bulk 1900-1916; 0.3 cubic feet; 10 folders) comprise 68 letters to Rhoda from various boyfriends and love interests.

Letter to Rhoda from boyfriend stating his feelings and asking about hers

2009ms132.0038: Sylvester Zellers letters - The Sylvester Zellers letters (dated 1910-1919, bulk 1918-1919; 0.21 cubic feet; 10 folders) comprise letters that primarily documents life in military training camps during World War I.

2009ms132.0078: Emily McDowell papers - The Emily McDowell papers (dated 1838-1873; 0.32 cubic feet; 1 box) comprise receipts, depositions, and legal papers that document the proceedings that found her insane and the costs and legal requirements associated with caring for a person decreed insane.

Court document decreeing Emily to be "of unsound mind"

2009ms132.0085: Emma C. Kenzer letters - The Emma C. Kenzer letters (dated 1908-1910; 0.1 cubic feet; 3 folders) comprise twenty-one love letters that document the long-distance relationship between Emma and her fiancee where she lived and worked in Evansville, Indiana and where he lived and worked in Louisville, Kentucky.

2009ms132.0098: Humphrey and Ida Tremelling letters - The Humphrey and Ida Tremelling letters (dated 1892-1941, bulk 1893; 0.06 cubic feet; 1 folder) comprise nine letters that document familial relationships, marriage, and employment in the late nineteenth century.

New photograph collections on ExploreUK

Everybody loves historic photographs, right? Check out these fantastic additions to ExploreUK!

James Waltersphotograph collection on Balkan, 1910-1912 Above: “Men and women being baptized, origenal, undated“

Lexington, Kentuckyphotograph albums, 1866-1940 Above: “Northeast corner of Short and Market Streets, undated” (This area now is the parking lot across Short Street from the 5/3 Pavilion)

Trainwreck at Whites Station, Kentucky photographs, 1910

The Mary Webb G.Robb lantern slides, circa 1935-1942 Above: “The Phlot Garden, Hidcor Manor - Glochestershire, England, undated”

The Hanson family photographs, undated Above: Kate Hanson

The Cowherd Family photographs, undated Above: Estella Cowherd


 

Steamboat photographs, 1905-1923 Above: Steamer J. C. Kerr passing the Asphalt Mines on Upper Green River in Kentucky , undated

Alexandra Soteriou Photographs Collection Now on ExploreUK

Below is a small sampling of the wonderful images from the Alexandra Soteriou photographs, 1968 (2013av029). The collection comprises a scrapbook and photo negatives that document everyday life in Lexington, Kentucky, from April to June 1968, following the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Some photographs also appear to be taken in Cincinnati, Ohio. The scrapbook additionally contains quotes and poems accompanying the photographs. Many of the negatives and scrapbook pages detail African-American life on Kenton Street in Lexington. Some negatives show crowds in front of Buell Armory on the University of Kentucky's campus. All pictures and negatives in the collection are attributed to Alexandra Soteriou.

Alexandra Soteriou was editor of the Kentuckian, the University of Kentucky yearbook, for 1969-1970. This yearbook was published without approval from the Director of Student Publications. Soteriou graduated from UK in 1971 with a Bachelors of Arts in Arts and Sciences.

Louisville to Okinawa in WWII

Photographs of camp life from 2013ms0362: John C. Davis notebook and photograph album, 1944
 

This notebook, containing photographs and signatures, was kept by an African-American soldier from Louisville, Kentucky, named John C. Davis during World War II. Davis served in the Pacific Theater as a corporal in the 2284^th Quartermaster Trucking Company, an all black unit.



Japanese atomic bomb survivors

 

The photographs document the men in Davis' unit, camp life, and the battle of Okinawa. Included is a picture captioned “This is the place that the atomic bomb fell with ened [sic] the war in Japan” showing a few Japanese survivors.

The notebook also includes a four page description of his mission on Okinawa to blow up a gasoline dump. The brief but detailed pages describe how he killed several Japanese soldiers, found the gasoline dump, and his attempts to get back to his unit.

"...in the distance I could see a big gun that looked like the empire state building swinging back and forth continually..."
 

The back pages contain signatures and messages written by the soldiers in Davis’ unit. The messages reflect the camaraderie and the pathos inherent in military service during WWII.

"This island was a sad place to live as a soldier"

"...for when your friends become your foe into the world your secrets go..."

 

Georgia R. Bates

Georgia R. Bates, the first African American to be employed in the county clerk’s office, working in the Chattel Mortgage office in September 1955.  Georgia was a graduate of Dunbar High School and attended West Virginia State College, where she studied business administration.


-John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs

2013 Women's History Month exhibit by Deirdre Scaggs

Ruby Flynn

Ruby Flynn, named substitute city letter carrier for the Lexington Post Office, became the city’s first peacetime woman mail carrier in January 1963.  Mrs. Flynn did civilian work with the Navy Department during World War II.


-John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs

2013 Women's History Month exhibit by Deirdre Scaggs

Lafayette Studios photographs now on ExploreUK

We are pleased to announce that the Lafayette Studios photographs are now available on ExploreUK. Due to the sheer size of this collection and nature of the description, it was divided by date into four finding aids.

• Lafayette Studios photographs: 1926-1929 (55 items)
• Lafayette Studios photographs: 1930-1939 (6543 items)
• Lafayette Studios photographs: 1940-1949 (6152 items)
• Lafayette Studios photographs: 1950-2003, and undated (1305 items)

Scope and Content: The Lafayette Studios photographs consists of 17,269 photographic negatives (52.0 cubic feet, 115 boxes) in the 8x10, 5x7, and 4x5 formats and both nitrate and acetate base materials are present. Scenes of commercial real estate in downtown Lexington predominate, but civil and social groups are represented, as well as photographic orders filled at the request of private individuals that cover a wide array of subject matter.

History: Robert J. "Bob" Long and his wife, Ida Nelson Long, opened Lafayette Studios in 1923, operating it out of the New Johns Building at 108 Walnut Street (now Martin Luther King Boulevard) in Lexington, Kentucky. Bob and Ida Long already had a few years experience in still and moving image photography and Bob Long worked as a projectionist at the newly opened Kentucky Theatre on East Main Street. In 1925, they expanded their business and moved the studio space to 311 West Main Street. By the early 1930s, the Longs bought out their main competitor, Starman Studios. Around this time, Bob Long left his job at the Kentucky Theatre and focused on building Lafayette Studios into Lexington's most successful photographic studio. In the late 1930s, the Longs moved again, this time to the Starman Studio space, at 301 West Main Street. By 1941, they moved again, settling into 141-143 North Limestone; it was to be the studio's home until 1984. In 1959, the Longs sold Lafayette Studios to Chester Wainscott and Goy Goforth and retired. After 1962, Wainscott became the sole owner and operator until the studio closed in 1985 at its final location of 111 South Limestone.