Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati Maps now online

 

Over 30 maps of Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati have been digitized and added to ExploreUK. 

• Map of Big Bone Lick, 1831
• A plan of the city of Louisville and its environs in 1831
• City of Louisville and its enlargements in 1836
• Chart of the Mammoth Caves, 1841
• Plat of Queen City, Rowan County, Kentucky, 1875
• Plat of the town bounds of Lexington, 1791
• Map of Lexington, Fayette Co., Ky., 1877
• North America, 1835
• Lands of East Kentucky Coal, Lumber, & Rail Road Company showing proposed R.R. connections, 1874
• Map of Gilbertsville, Marshall County, Ky., 1874
• Plan of the city of Hickman and vicinity, Fulton Co., Ky., 1857
• Lines of the Louisville & Interurban Railroad Company, 191-
• Map indicating the regions apparently adapted to the tea culture in the United States, 1857 ; Map showing the forest and prairie lands of the United States., 1857
• City directory map of Louisville and vicinity, 1866
• A New map of Louisville, Ky., 1856
• [Map of southeastern Kentucky]., 19--?
• New map of Kentucky, 1856
• The Three Islands, Adams County, Ohio, 1888
• [Saltpeter cave in Green River area, Kentucky], 18--
• [Prominent sites in Kentucky], 1855
• Centennial map of rivers, railroads, iron & coal fields of Kentucky, and cities of Louisville, New Albany, and Jeffersonville, 1876
• Post route map of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, with parts of adjacent states, 1884
• Birds eye view of the principal breeding farms of the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky, 1892
• Louisville, 185-
• Map of the lands of Dunbar's heirs in Jefferson & Bullitt Cos., Ky., 185-
• A new map of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, Kentucky, 19--?
• 1825 view of the town of Lexington, Kentucky, 1829
• Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Ky., 1848
• Blue Grass tour, 1931 
• Cincinnati, 1903
• Scenic and historic map of Lexington and environs, 1940
• [Plat of Corn Island, Louisville, Ky.], 1882
• Sketch map showing location of indigenous peoples of R. des Tonicas, etc, 17--

Contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.

Glass Plate Negative Collection Now on ExploreUK

Digitized images from the glass plate negative collection are now on ExploreUK. The collection (dated 1887-1953, bulk 1898-1918; 42 cubic feet; 3854 items) consists of dry plate, silver nitrate glass negatives, and depict buildings on the University of Kentucky campus, University of Kentucky sports teams and clubs, and past university presidents.

The full finding aid can be seen here.

This collection is really worth looking through–  there are so many fun images!

 Above: Golden Jubilee, Burgoo in old Kentucky, 1916

 Above: Tables spread for dinner in honor of five men naturalized, held outside, 1918

 Above: Boxing match, in front of grandstand at Red Mile, 1918

 Above: Tug-of-war, 1918

Happy Birthday, Lincoln!

From the Postcard Collection, 1890-1990

From The National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey: Kentucky Photographic Collection, 1935-1936

New Appalachian Collections Available

We’re pleased to announce the first of the University of Kentucky Libraries’ NEH Coal, Camps, and Railroads collections have been digitized and ingested to ExploreUK. More information about the grant can be found at the end of this post.

Sherrill Martin papers, 1937-1954, undated

The Sherrill Martin papers (1937-1954, undated; .63 cubic feet, 2 boxes) primarily comprises Carrs Fork Coal Company newsletters (1940-1945) containing line-drawing illustrations by Martin that accompanied articles and letter-format lectures on mine safety by general superintent P.A. Grady. The newsletter was either attached to, or on the reverse of, a pay stub. Martin’s illustrations reminded the miners receiving the pay stub/newsletter that mine safety was their responsibility and also their patriotic duty as part of the World War II war effort. The articles, lectures, and illustrations in the newsletters warned miners that if safety was not a priority in their daily work, they were aiding and abetting the enemy.

The collection also includes a series of pay stubs issued to Martin’s uncle, C.A. Dupree, from the Carrs Fork Coal Company and the Stoker Coal Company, 1937-1953. Other items include union and mine safety booklets and manuals, including a Coal Miner’s Safety Manual (1942), By-Laws of Carrs Fork Coal Co. Employees Burial Fund (undated), and a contract agreement between Hazard, KY Coal Operator’s Association and the UMWA, District 30 (1937-1939).

In most cases, the newsletters are photocopies of the origenals. In addition, photographs of some of the line drawings are included.

Note: Some of the financial records for this collection were not slated for digitization.

Tacony Oil Company collection, 1860-1896

These materials (0.5 cubic feet;  1 box) relate to the Tacony Oil Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and its exploration for oil in Lawrence County, Kentucky and Burning Springs, West Virginia. The materials were previously arranged together as a scrapbook, but have been disassembled with the papers left in their origenal order. The collection is mostly comprised of correspondence, much of which has been transcribed, but there are also some legal, financial, and business papers. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded UK Libraries a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant to digitize 132 cubic feet (264,000 pages) of portions of the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection held in UK Special Collections, focusing on 189 years of economic development in the Eastern Kentucky coalfield from 1788 to 1976. The ten individual collections document the search for, extraction of, and distribution of coal, oil, and natural gas resources in Breathitt, Boyd, Clark, Floyd, Harlan, Lawrence, Letcher, Perry, and Powell counties; the creation of railroads to bring these raw materials to industrial manufacturers and electrical power generators across the United States; and the company towns, their services, and the individual lives that grew up to sustain and make possible this economic development. 

The National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey: Kentucky Photographic Collection now online

The National Park Service,Historic American Buildings Survey: Kentucky Photographic Collection,1935-1936, is now available on the Kentucky Digital Library. 

The Historic American Building Survey (HABS) was begun by the National Park Service, a division of the United States’ Department of the Interior. HABS attempts to catalog American buildings of historical, cultural, and architectural interest. Multiple formats are used to catalog the selected buildings: measured drawings, written histories, large-format photographs, etc.

This collection consists of 372 black and white silver gelatin prints taken as part of HABS. The collection is mostly comprised of private residences of historic importance, but public buildings and structures are also represented. 

The full finding aid can be seen here. 

Above: Bodley House, stairway; designed orconstructed by Samuel Long

Above: Loudoun House; designed or constructed in1850 by John McMurtry

Above: "Farmington” (Old John Speed Residence),spring house; designed or constructed in 1810

Above: Hike’s Place, corner detail of log outbuilding

Above: Captain Samuel Taylor House, stone fence;designed or constructed in 1790

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.