The Filson Club Holdings

Metro Louisville - Jefferson County Kentucky GenWeb

The Filson Club, 1310 South 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40208

Site includes online catalog and a research request form for those not close enough to visit themselves. Note: There is a fee for this privately supported historical society. This IS one of the premier societies in the country.

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.
Saturday: 9 am. - 12 noon

The following info excerpted from the Filson Club site.

The Filson Library is a collection of some 50,000 non circulating titles of local, regional, and national interest, focusing on the Upper South and the Ohio Valley. Library holdings include a fine Civil War collection; approximately 1,500 maps, primarily of Kentucky and other southern states. Some 3,000 reels of microfilm containing Kentucky census records from 1810-1920 are available with indexes for 1810-1870 in book form. The indexes for 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 are Soundex indexes on microfilm. We also have many county abstracts of census in book form.

There are tax records, as well as the Draper and Shane collections; over 840 newspaper titles, including one of the largest 19th-century Kentucky newspaper collections in original form; a sheet-music collection of over 3,700 pieces, much of it written or published in Kentucky; over 3,500 family histories; and almost 4,000 genealogy files on Kentucky families. While Kentucky is the focus of the library collection, many titles and files concern other states. Kentucky was a migration route over which thousands of people passed during America's westward expansion, and states such as Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania are well represented in our holdings. (excerpted from site)

Cemetery & Funeral Records for Maas Funeral Home, Schildt Funeral Home, Pearson Funeral Home 1890-1920, Cave Hill Cemetery 1848, Some Eastern Cemetery in book form, McDaniel Funeral Home, and bits and pieces of several other cemeteries in various sources.

Military Service Records

Civil War--Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union/Confederate Soldiers from Kentucky for some units. INCOMPLETE
WWI--listing of Kentucky servicemen. BOOKS
Revolutionary War--Compiled Service Record Abstracts. BOOKS

County Records

Histories of many of Kentucky's major cities and 120 counties. Some include biographical sketches.

Compilations of transcribed county records for most counties. These include records of wills, marriages, court proceedings, and cemeteries.

Draper Manuscripts:

All of the Draper Manuscripts on microfilm There is an index, "Guide to the Draper Manuscripts." PAPER. We also have Book Guides to some of the series.

Kentucky Adjutant General Reports

War of 1812
Mexican War
Civil War--also have capsule histories of many units. These are rosters of volunteers who served from Kentucky.

Maps and atlases

Several county atlases - Maps of Kentucky and Louisville

Newspapers

A good collection of early Louisville and Kentucky newspapers on microfilm and in original form. Indexes to the Courier-Journal for the years 1901 to mid-August 1902.

Vital Records

        Kentucky Birth, Death, and Marriage Records, 1852-1910 on
               microfilm. These are incomplete records.
            Death Certificate Index: 1911-1989. MICROFICHE.
            Death Certificates: 1911-1938. MICROFILM.
            Directory of Births and Deaths Registerd in Kentucky
            Births: 1911-1959. PAPER (incomplete and not in good condition)
            Deaths: 1911-1969. PAPER (incomplete and not in good condition
            Births for Louisville: 1898-1910. Includes index. MICROFILM.
           Deaths for Louisville: 1866-1910. Includes index. MICROFILM.
            Kentucky Marriages. MICROFICHE
            Marriage index for brides, 1974-1989
            Marriage index for grooms, 1975-1989
            Kentucky Divorces. MICROFICHE
            Divorce index for wife, 1974-1989.
               Divorce index for husband, 1974-1989.
     Louisville and Jefferson County marriages.
            1780-1911 indexed and on microfilm.
            1912-1915 on microfilm, but not indexed.
            1916-1930 PAPER, no index.

Special Indexes and Vertical Files

Indexes to articles in some Kentucky historical and genealogical magazines
            Newspaper clipping files about Louisville and Kentucky subjects
            Family Files--correspondence folders on over 3,000 surnames
            Kentucky Biographical Index--finding aid for thousands of Biographical sketches
            Historical files on a variety of people and subjects.
            Papers read before The Filson Club
            Indexes of Kentucky Place Names
            Passenger and Immigration Indexes

Other Resources:

Many published family histories
        Indexes to Kentucky land grants
            Magazines concerning Kentucky genealogy
            State documents and Louisville city reports
            Scrapbooks prepared by individuals
            Tax Records for many of the counties (early)
            Louisville Naturalization Records

Return to County Holdings

Return to Home Page

Rootsweb.com has generously donated the web space for this site.

Volunteers are always needed to contribute information of any kind. All data remains the property of the contributor and you will be credited as such.

Copyright 2003, Donald Murphy. In keeping the policy of providing free genealogical information on the internet, this data may be freely used for personal research by non-commercial entities. These pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Anyone desiring to use this material for profit must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or their legal representative, and then contact the listed party with proof of this consent. This site may be freely linked to, but not duplicated in any form without prior consent. All rights reserved.