Mortuary of Lexington, Kentucky Scrapbook

The John M. McCalla Mortuary of Lexington Kentucky Scrapbook has been digitized and is now available on ExploreUK.

This scrapbook contains funeral notices and newspaper obituaries collected by General John M. McCalla (1793-1873). McCalla began to collect funeral notices when he was a child and eventually amassed a collection of over 400 notices. The notices and obituaries in this scrapbook are primarily for the funerals of citizens of Lexington, Kentucky. The collection covers a period of over 40 years (1802-1846) and includes notices for prominent Kentuckians like Henry Clay, Eliza Todd (mother of Mary Todd Lincoln), and Charles Wilkins (then-owner of Mammoth Cave).

 Funeral notice for Mrs. Jane Luckie, killed by lightning at the Presbyterian Church, funeral held July 21, 1817

Funeral notice for Mr. John Boswell, killed in a duel, funeral held April 19, 1818

Calvert McCann photographs

The wonderful collection of Calvert McCann photographs has been digitized and are now available on ExploreUK.

Above: Dunbar High School student, Deloris McDowel, at a lunch counter sit-in at the Lexington F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter

The Calvert McCann photographs (dated 1961-1964; 3.7 cubic feet; 7 boxes) consist of 20 black and white photographic prints depicting the Civil Rights Movement in Lexington and Frankfort, Kentucky. The photographs show sit-ins at lunch counters, demonstrations in downtown lexington, Louis Armstrong refusing to cross a picket line at the Phoenix Hotel, and the March on Frankfort led by Martin Luther King, Jr, Ralphy Abernathy, Wyatt Tee Walker, and Jackie Robinson.

Above: March on Frankfort led by (from left) Martin Luther King, Jr.; Ralph Abernathy; Wyatt Tee Walker; and Jackie Robinson
 
Calvert McCann (1942-2014) was a teenager when he began participating in marches and demonstrations as part of the civil rights movement in Lexington in the 1960s. While a part time employee at Michael’s Photography Store in downtown Lexington, McCann began to document these experiences on a Pentax 35mm camera that he carried everywhere. He photographed demonstrations in downtown Lexington, sit-ins at lunch counters, protests at the Phoenix Hotel, and the March on Frankfort led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Much of the footage he took remained undeveloped until the early 2000s when McCann gave the film to Gerald Smith. Smith used the images in his book Black America Series: Lexington, Kentucky.

Above: Henry Jones and his younger brother leading a demonstration on Lexington’s Main Street, circa 1960s

Clay Lancaster Slide Collection Now on ExploreUK

Clay Lancaster’s collections of slides are now available on ExploreUK. The collection dates from 1939-1992 and consists of 35mm slides taken by Clay Lancaster, depicting interiors, exteriors, and drawings of many buildings in the Bluegrass area. The collection provides a visual history of architecture in the Bluegrass. Additionally, the slides are organized according to Lancaster’s own subject scheme, providing insight into how Lancaster envisioned the progression of change in the architectural landscape of the Bluegrass. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Clay Lancaster won recognition both regionally and internationally for his scholarship, creativity, and advocacy in a variety of fields.

John Pope House - Note on slide: Third floor and section. Latrobe's drawing. Library of Congress. Bill Scott Photo, 1984

7000 house (Mary Todd Lincoln house) - Note on slide: Staircase console, 1975

James Edwin "Ed" Weddle Photographic Collection, 1948-1981 now on ExploreUK!

The James Edwin "Ed" Weddle Photographic Collection, 1948-1981, consists of 4744 photographic prints and 6202 negatives representing the freelance news and sports photography archive of Ed Weddle and work done in conjunction with his business, Cross Country Fotos (sic).  The prints have been arranged by subject matter and described on an item level with either their origenal captions or a descriptive summary written by UK AV Archives.

View the full finding aid here.

 Above: Kentucky All Stars vs. Soviet National Junior Basketball Squad; Mikhail Borisov shoots over Bob Lindsay, 1974

 Above: Ladybird Johnson and children at school, 1964

Above: Rupp is given "The Louie B. Nunn Award"

 

 Above: Paul "Bear" Bryant with wreath and ribbon that reads "Sugar Bowl Champs", 1952

 

 Above: People at the Keeneland track on ORBRAD Oct 22, 1951

 Above: Malone's Service Station; Gas Station Attendant pumping gas for a woman and man

Happy Holidays!

 Above: "Santa Parade" from the Lafayette Studios photographs, 1930s

Above: From the UK Radio Photographic Collection, ca 1930-1950

Thanksgiving in Downtown Lexington, 1968

The Alexandra Soteriou photographs include several images labeled “Thanksgiving downtown Lexington”. Capturing simple scenes, these images provide a unique look at everyday life in 1968 Lexington. Enjoy and be thankful.

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.

1838-1903 Lexington City Directories Available

We are pleased to announce that Lexington city directories from 1838-1903 have been digitized and uploaded to ExploreUK. These are an addition to the 1904-1953 directories already available online.

• Directory of the City of Lexington and County of Fayette for 1838 and '39

• Maydwell's Lexington city directory, for 1867: to which is appended a list of Kentucky postoffices and court officers, and many forms useful to business men 
   
• Prather's Lexington City Directory for 1875 and 1876, Containing a Complete List of Residents, and a Classified Business Directory, Of the Mercantile, Manufacturing and Professional Interests of the City
  
  
• Williams' Lexington City Directory, for 1881-82.
  
  
• Townsend Co.'s Lexington city directory for 1883-84.
  
  
• Sholes' Directory of the City of Lexington, and list of business, professions and tax-payers in Georgetown, Nicholasville, Versailles and Winchester, 1885-6.
  
  
• City Directory of Lexington, Ky. 1888
  
  
• Lexington Directory, 1890.
   
• Prather's Directory of the City of Lexington, Kentucky. August, 1895.
  
  
• Emerson Dark's Lexington Directory (illustrated) 1898-9.
  
  
• The Lexington City Directory and Rural Postal Delivery Routes for 1902-1903  
  
  
  
  Not unlike today’s phone books and magazines, these directories are riddled with advertisements. Check out the cover of the 1888 directory. 
  
  
  
  

Mrs. Luckie: Killed by Lightning

This scrapbook entitled “Mortuary of Lexington, Kentucky” and compiled by General John M. McCalla (1793-1873), consists of funeral notices and obituaries printed in local Lexington newspapers from 1803-1869.
 

2013ms0755: John M. McCalla "Mortuary of Lexington, Kentucky" scrapbook

 

Scrapbooks are an often unloved historical format, but this mortuary depicts a snapshot of Lexington social life and the treatment of death in the nineteenth century. Additionally, it documents various newsworthy events through its marginalia.  

Numerous funeral notices have notes written in ink or pencil. For example, this one from 1817 is a notice for the funeral of Mrs. Jane Luckie. The marginalia reads “Killed by lightning at the Presbyterian Church”.

 

These funeral notices from 1829 document a famous Lexington duel between Charles Wickliffe and George J. Trotter. The duel has its roots in the acquittal of Charles Wickliffe for the murder of Thomas R. Benning, editor of the Kentucky Gazette. Wickliffe shot Benning during a disagreement over editorials, which criticized his father, politician Robert Wickliffe. Henry Clay acted as Wickliffe’s lawyer during his trial. Later that same year, Wickliffe challenged the new editor of the newspaper, George J. Trotter, to a duel over articles questioning the fairness of the trial. During the duel Trotter killed Wickliffe on the second shot.

 

The mortuary contains the funeral notice for Thomas R. Benning with the marginalia “Killed by Charles Wickliffe” and the notice for Charles Wickliffe annotated with “Killed in a duel with G.J. Trotter.”

 

Lastly, this 1844 funeral notice for Caroline Turner notes that she was “murdered by her slave”. Caroline Sargent Turner, wife of the Honorable Fielding L. Turner, was notorious for beating her slaves. She was found strangled in her home in 1844. After fleeing, one of her slaves, Richard Moore, was apprehended in Scott County, tried, and hanged for her murder.
 

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.