Kentucky Archives and Libraries: Difference between revisions

:National Archives at Atlanta has records from over 100 federal agencies and courts in '''Kentucky''', Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Also includes Vice Admiralty Courts of SC, evolution of federal courts, Revolutionary War, Civil War, reconstruction, World Wars I and II, and space exploration. Microfilms for censuses, diplomatic missions, military service records, bounty-land applications, passenger arrivals, naturalizations, American Indians, and African Americans.<ref name="DB127">William Dollarhide, and Ronald A. Bremer, ''America's Best Genealogy Resource Centers'' (Bountiful, UT: Heritage Quest, 1988), 127-28. {{WorldCat|39493985}}; {{FSC|728550|item|disp=FS Library Book 973 J54d}}.</ref>

:The Department for Libraries and Archives is the central repository for original city-, county-, and state-level records.<ref name="DB49">Dollarhide and Bremer, 49.</ref> It has two facilities of particular interest to genealogists.<br>

:*The state '''library''' has printed materials. <br>

:*The state '''archives''' maintains original Kentucky government records and other historical documents. Many of these repositories’ records are being microfilmed, and copies are being sent to the FamilySearch Library.<br>

:The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives responds to genealogical requests but prefers that requests be sent on a form available on its website or through the mail.<br>

:''"They have more family folders than any other library in Kentucky, as well as all known printed genealogies and histories for Kentucky. They have the state's best genealogical collection including newspapers, maps, and city directories."''<ref name="DB49" />

:Located on the second floor of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History. The Library, which provides access to both the General Stacks and Archival Collections, is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission to the library is free for KHS members, or $8.00 per day for non-members. (Included as part of general campus admission.) (Check the main website for current hours of operation) [http://history.ky.gov/research-services/ Research Services] are available via mail order. 

:The [http://history.ky.gov/catalog/ Library Collections Catalog] for the Martin F. Schmidt library is available online, as is the Society's [http://www.kyhistory.com/ Digital Collections Catalog], which includes over 20,000 images of original manuscripts, maps, photographs and finding aids for a portion of the Archival collections at the Kentucky Historical Society. Images of over 85,000 museum artifacts can be accessed via the [http://kyhistory.pastperfectonline.com/ Objects Catalog]. 

:Located on the second floor of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library holds the largest genealogical collection in the state. This beautiful research facility features more than 16,000 rolls of microfilm, 90,000 books and periodicals, and 30,000 vertical files focused primarily on [[Kentucky, United States Genealogy|Kentucky history]] and genealogy. The Society's Archival Collections of 1,900 cubic feet of manuscripts, 2,000 maps, 8,000 oral histories, 200,000 historic photographs, and 9,100 rare books provide unique resources to researchers of the Commonwealth.

:Formerly known as the '''Filson Club''', they have a good collection of early Kentucky history and genealogy manuscripts. Their specialty is migration, especially via Ohio River traffic and steamboats.<ref name="DB49" /><br>

:Near where Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia come together, this library has many sources about West Virginia people, including family folders, biographies, genealogies, and pedigrees.<ref name="DB117">Dollarhide and Bremer, 117.</ref><br><br>

:They have one of the best [http://www.dcplibrary.org/genealogy genealogy] collections in Kentucky.<ref name="DB49" /><br><br>

:This university library has many records about Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, with an emphasis on Kentucky records.<br><br>

:The Kenton County Public Library has extensive statewide, local, and family history materials and in-depth collections for northern Kentucky. It has a local newspaper index for the years 1835 to 1931 and 1984 to the present. This includes an obituary index. The catalog of the Kenton library is available on its web site. You can also access the Kenton County Historical Society from the Library’s web site.<br><br>

:The [https://www.lexpublib.org/kyroom Kentucky Room] of the Lexington Public Library houses many sources on state and local history and genealogy, family histories, census indexes, and some census microfilm. It also has an excellent collection of Lexington newspapers and the Local History Index, an extensive index to newspapers. More detailed information on the collection can be found on the library’s web site.<br><br>

:The Pogue library has records on all areas of Kentucky, with an emphasis on the western portion of the state.<br><br>

:While the Margaret I. King Library does not specialize in genealogical records, the Department of Special Collections and Archives maintains many items that lend themselves to the study of family and local history. The materials include an Appalachian collection, newspapers, church records; genealogical collections; historical manuscript collections; the Draper manuscripts, described in [[Kentucky History]]; county and local histories; county, state, and federal records; and a biographical file.<ref name="DB49" /><br><br>

:The Kentucky Library has significant genealogical records, church histories, oral histories, and biographical files relating to south central Kentucky, early settlers, and Shakers.<ref name="DB49" /><br><br>

:This is the second-largest genealogy collection in the United States<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_County_Public_Library Allen County Public Library] in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'' (accessed 28 April 2010).</ref> and the largest genealogy collection in a public library. Its holdings include more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items on microfilm and microfiche.<ref name="ACPLGC">[http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/ Genealogy Center] in ''Allen County Public Library'' (accessed 28 April 2010).</ref> It has a premier genealogical periodical collection, local histories, genealogies, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic sources, and Canadians. They have a great eastern seaboard and '''Kentucky''' collection.<ref>[http://www.genealogycenter.org/docs/default-source/resources/aboutusbrochure.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Genealogy Center Collections] in ''Genealogy Center'' (accessed 27 February 2015).</ref> <br><br>

:They have a relatively small family folder collection. Nevertheless, it is an important resource for settlers coming from '''''Pennsylvania, Maryland''''', and northern '''''Virginia'''''  along the [[Great Valley Road]] into '''''Tennessee, Kentucky''''', and '''''North Carolina'''''.<ref>Dollarhide and Bremer, 105.</ref><br><br>

:A small library with a good name index to nearly every history book published in '''''Virginia ''''' or '''''Kentucky''''', including court records from 1651, indexes and abstracts, Virginia vital records, census records, county histories, biographies, church and cemetery records, family histories, newspapers, obituaries, vertical files, militia records, and fraternal organizations.<ref name="DB113" /> <ref>[http://www.mbwm.org/genealogy.asp Genealogy and History Library] in ''Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

:Holds the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County's library, including the '''''[http://scgensoc.org/special-collections-tina-brayton-collection/ Tina Brayton Collection]''''' which is equivalent to the ''[[Draper Manuscript Collection]] '' but larger and with a better index, and many compiled genealogies of '''''Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia''''', and '''''West Virginia ''''' families.<ref name="DB113">Dollarhide and Bremer, 113.</ref> <ref>[http://scgensoc.org/special-collections-tina-brayton-collection/ The Tina Brayton Collection] in ''Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County'' (accessed 3 January 2014).</ref><br><br>

:The '''Durrett Collection''' consists of historical '''Kentucky''' and Ohio River Valley manuscripts. The size and content of this collection is comparable to the '''[[Draper Manuscript Collection]]'''. It includes the earliest people in the Ohio Valley.<ref name="DB39">Dollarhide and Bremer,  39 and 49.</ref><br><br>

:County records such as marriages, county court records, wills, censuses, land, militia lists, bounty lands, passenger lists, tax lists, poll lists, genealogies, newspapers, family Bibles, and African American genealogy. They have a card index to 10 million documents of the Old Dominion, that is '''''Virginia, West Virginia''''', and '''''Kentucky'''''. <ref name="DB97">Dollarhide and Bremer, 97.</ref> <ref>[https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections Virginia Historical Society Collections], accessed 5 December 2020.</ref><br><br>

:The '''[[Draper Manuscript Collection|Draper Collection]]''', consists of 491 volumes of manuscripts, papers, and books collected by '''''Lyman Copeland Draper ''''' about the history of the trans-Allegheny West in the United States, a region including the western areas of the Carolinas and Virginia, all the Ohio River Valley, and part of the upper Mississippi Valley from the 1740s to 1830. This includes New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, '''Kentucky''', Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin.<br><br>