Finding Aids

Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley

Altscheler, Brent. Collection of Photographs of Kentucky

The Altscheler Collection of Photographs of Kentucky primarily consists of negatives of photographs taken by Brent Altscheler of historical sites in Kentucky between 1921 and 1932. Also included in the collection are positives, manuscript notes, newspaper clippings and postcards. The bulk of the material dates between 1921and 1925.

American Paper Currency. Collection

Contains American paper currency (1748-1899), including examples from the Colonial, Continental, and Civil War periods. Includes currency that was transferred from the Reuben T. Durrett Collection.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Boggs Family Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the papers of the Boggs family of Fayette County, Kentucky. The bulk of the collection relates to the economic activities of Robert C. Boggs (1793-1863), and his brother James H. Boggs (1796-1829). Also included in the collection are several arithmetic books.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Boone Family Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the papers of the Boone family. The collection contains materials relating primarily to the economic and legal activities of Daniel Boone (1734-1820) and his brother, Squire Boone (1774-1815). The collection also contains some biographical information on Daniel and Squire Boone, composed by their descendant, Samuel Harney Boone. The collection includes correspondence, legal depositions, and bonds. The collection spans the years 1775-1898, with the bulk of the material dating between 1775 and 1795.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Broadsides, Broadsheets, Pamphlets, and Leaflets

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of Broadsides, Broadsheets, and Circulars consist primarily of broadsides relating to political issues, national and local elections, and meetings. Also contains business advertisements; announcements for the sale of lands and slaves; and posters relating to church matters, opposition to slavery, speeches, stagecoach fares, and other topics intended for public posting. Much of the material refers to events in Kentucky and Alabama.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Christopher Columbus Graham Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the papers of Christopher Columbus Graham (1784-1885), a Kentucky physician, surveyor, and author. The collection contains materials connected to his centennial birthday celebration and a small amount of correspondence pertaining to his military, civic, and scientific activities between 1860 and 1878.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Edmund Lyne Estate Records

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. Edmund Lyne (d. 1791), was an entrepreneur and operator of salt licks, a whiskey still, and a ferry service in Blue Licks, Kentucky. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the Edmund Lyne Estate Papers consists of business records from the latter part of Lyne's life and documents related to the execution of his will by Harry Innes. The collection contains account books (1786-1791), estate records (1774-1804), and papers related to the care of Lyne's slaves after his death, in preparation for their manumission. Also includes a letter (1889) that mentions that the Lyne papers were found among Harry Innes' possessions. Materials span the period 1786-1889.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. George Nicholas Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. George Nicholas (circa 1754-1799) was a Virginia politician and Kentucky pioneer, member of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention (1792), and Kentucky's first attorney general. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the George Nicholas Papers contains a brief biography of Nicholas, a small selection of correspondence, drafts of political speeches, and notes of his opinions on various political issues, some of which may have been in reference to the 1792 Kentucky Constitutional Convention. It includes two autograph letters signed by James Madison (1788).

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. George Rogers Clark Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains materials associated with soldier and surveyor George Rogers Clark (1752-1818). Clark is perhaps best known for his contributions as an officer in the Virginia Militia during the revolutionary war. The collection principally covers the period of Clark’s life between 1776 and 1818 and contains materials related to a broad range of his professional activities. These include military records, land surveys, receipts, and letters.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Government Records

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913) was a lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains county and land records from Kentucky, Virginia, and the Indiana Territory from his collection. The collection includes military and civilian commissions, land entry records, including patents, warrants and surveys, and county records, including birth, marriage, and death records, estate records, and county court records. The collection spans the years 1775-1888, with the bulk of the material dating between 1780 and 1860.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. James Wilkinson Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The collection contains the papers of James Wilkinson (1757-1825). Wilkinson was a soldier and politician in the War of Independence and War of 1812, and Governor of the Louisiana Territory (1805-1807). Over the course of his career he served as an agent of the Spanish monarchy and was court martialed in 1811 for his role in the Burr Conspiracy. The bulk of the collection is incoming and outgoing correspondence, with some receipts, financial agreements, and statements of sale. The collection spans the years 1784-1882, with the bulk of the material dated before 1823.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Joel Tanner Hart Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. Joel Tanner Hart (1810-1877) was an American sculptor, born in Kentucky. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts of Hart's poetry, a diary (1846-1848), and miscellaneous notes. Correspondents include Horace Greeley, Henry Clay, Robert Browning, Andrew Jackson, and James Polk. Materials span the period 1823-1876.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Joshua Lacy Wilson Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. Joshua Lacy Wilson (1774-1846) was a minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. The Joshua Lacy Wilson Papers contain professional and family correspondence, manuscripts, a personal memoir, reports, memoranda, notes, sermons, essays, and financial records. These materials document the life of an early nineteenth-century urban church leader, and include material on household and family matters, parishioners’ problems, religion, church elections, and polemic writings related to controversies between Wilson, Lyman, and George Beecher. The collection also includes correspondence and personal papers belonging to Wilson's son, Samuel Ramsey Wilson. Materials span the period 1799-1893, though the bulk of material is from the first half of the nineteenth century.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Lewis Family Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Lewis family were 18th century land dealers in Kentucky. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the Lewis Family Papers consists primarily of legal and business documents connected with the Kentucky land dealings of John Lewis and his sons, Gabriel and Warner Washington Lewis. It contains receipts, land grants, household accounts (including one that involves the sale of slaves), contracts, land surveys, land indentures, promissory notes, and a travel journal.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Louisville, Kentucky Board of Trustees Records

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The collection contains records of the Louisville, Kentucky Board of Trustees, from 1779 to1825. The Board of Trustees was the primary local body of government responsible for the development and administration of Louisville prior to 1828. The bulk of the collection dates to 1780-1786, and pertains to the sale, purchase, and development of land in Louisville in the first decade after its foundation. The collection includes indentures, list of lots for sale, and records of transactions with surveyors. There is also a small collection of meeting minutes from 1781 to1791.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Mann Butler Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. Edward Mann Butler (1784-1855) was a prominent author and educator. Butler wrote on the early history of Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley, headed the grammar department of the first public school in Kentucky and was the president of the Jefferson Seminary. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the Mann Butler Papers contains correspondence, research notes, manuscripts of sermons and lectures on historical and non-historical subjects, and a variety of manuscripts connected with Butler's study of the history of Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Michael Walsh Cluskey Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the correspondence of Michael Walsh Cluskey from the period between 1857 to 1871. There is a gap in the correspondence between 1860-1865. Prior to the Civil War, Cluskey served as postmaster for the national House of Representatives. Following the Civil War, he worked as a newspaper editor for the Memphis-based Avalanche and later for the Louisville Ledger.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Miscellaneous Manuscripts and Codices

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Durrett Miscellaneous Manuscripts and Codices constitute an extensive sampling of miscellaneous documents pertaining to the economic and social - and to a lesser degree, political -- history of the Ohio River Valley and the territory that became the state of Kentucky. The manuscript collection contains originals and copies of letters, military records, and business papers (including purchase and delivery orders, bills, and receipts). The codices collection contains diaries, journals, biographies, family histories, and early historical and ethnographical accounts, as well as a small selection of military, academic, and political records. Materials cover a variety of topics including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and attitudes toward slavery and abolition. The collection spans the years 1674-1911, with the bulk of the material dating between 1770 and 1900.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Portraits, Illustrations, and Cartographic Material

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Reuben Thomas Durrett Collection of Portraits, Illustrations, and Maps consists of images of individuals, locations, and events associated with Kentucky history. It contains maps and plans of Louisville, the Falls of the Ohio, and several early settlements in Kentucky and Virginia. The collection also includes drawing of the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and portraits, in various media, of prominent Kentuckians from the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Richard H. Collins Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. Richard H. Collins (1824-1889) was a lawyer and journalist who wrote on the history of Kentucky. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the Richard H. Collins Papers consists primarily of materials related to Collin's revision and expansion of his father's (Lewis Collins) work on the history of Kentucky, Historical Sketches of Kentucky. It includes correspondence with Kentuckians, manuscripts, notebooks, and information taken from Kentucky county court records. It also includes two bound volumes: a notebook on Kentucky pioneering and a scrapbook of proof sheets.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Richard Jouett Meneffee Collection on Matthew Harris Jouett

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the materials of Kentucky born businessman, Richard Jouett Menefee (1837-1893), as he sought information about the work of his grandfather, the portrait painter Matthew Harris Jouett (1788-1827). The bulk of the collection contains the correspondence of Richard Jouett Menefee in connection with his efforts to write his grandfather’s biography and produce a catalog of his paintings. The collection also contains a codex manuscript transcript of correspondence by M. H. Jouett as well as two transcripts of a catalog of his paintings.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Shelby Family Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains the papers of the Shelby family, an eighteenth and nineteenth-century military and farming family in Kentucky and Maryland. The collection contains materials relating to the economic, military, and legal activities of Evan Shelby (1719-1794) and his son, Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), a revolutionary officer and the first governor of Kentucky. The collection also contains a small amount of material pertaining to John Shelby (1748-1814) and James Shelby (1752-1786). The collection includes correspondence, business records, military papers, and land records. The collection spans the years 1742-1823, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1760-1796.

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. William and George Croghan Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. This collection contains materials associated with soldier, surveyor, and businessman William Croghan (1752-1822) and his uncle, the influential "Indian agent," George Croghan (1720?-1782). The collection consists principally of the business documents and correspondence of William Croghan from 1789 to 1812. There is also a transcript of a journal kept by George Croghan from May to October 1765.

Durrett, Reuben T. Personal Papers

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Reuben T. Durrett Personal Papers contain a small amount of correspondence, manuscripts, notes, newspaper clippings, transcripts and memorabilia. The collection includes biographical and genealogical information on numerous historical figures from Kentucky, lists of prominent Kentuckians, copies of historical letters, documents concerning Kentucky, and documents relating to the Filson Club, a historical society founded by Durrett. Papers document Durrett's interest in acquiring a variety of materials on the history of Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley.

Lincoln Collection. Robert S. Todd. Papers

The Robert S. Todd Papers consists of approximately two hundred-eighty documents from the settlement of the estate of Mary Todd Lincoln's father, Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky. The papers form part of the William E. Barton Collection of Lincolniana.

Payne, Devall. Collection

Devall Payne (1764-1830) was a major in the War of 1812, serving in Colonel R. M. Johnson’s regiment of mounted infantry and leading the pursuit of General Proctor after the Battle of Lake Erie. He was later promoted to the position of colonel in the United States military. The Collection contains six letters sent by Payne to his wife, Hannah and one letter sent to Payne by John Chambers, aide-de-camp to General Harrison.