The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (24 total)

  • MssBD_B661_Vol1_lowres.pdf

    An indexed membership register for the Louisville, Kentucky, B’nai B’rith Mendelssohn Lodge, a Jewish fraternal organization. The register documents members from 1860 to at least 1921. Recorded member information includes their name, place of residence, occupation, marital status, number of children, and date they were inducted.

    The Har-Moriah Lodge No. 14 (“Mt. Moriah”) opened in Louisville in October 1852 and a second B’nai B’rith lodge, the Mendelssohn Lodge No. 40, opened in Louisville in May 1860. Many of the early lodge members were recent Jewish immigrants from parts of now modern Germany who had strong bonds through neighborhood proximity, marriage, and business ventures. The Har Moriah and Mendelssohn lodges officially merged in February 1904 and became Louisville Lodge No. 14.

    Note: The PDF is 523 pages long, so please be patient while it loads.

    For the full collection finding aid, see https://filsonhistorical.org/research-doc/bnai-brith-louisville-lodge-no-14-louisville-ky-records-1860-1921/
  • Margaret Ferguson085.jpg

    Facsimile of black and white photograph of Margaret Fullerton Ferguson (d. 1928) with her Boston Terrier. Margaret was the daughter of Edwin Hite Ferguson and Sophie Fullerton Marfield. In 1928, when she was only 29, Margaret died of meningitis. Her death came just a few years after her wedding to Captain Earl E. Major, who moved into the Ferguson mansion with her family once they were married.
  • 010PC42_150.jpg

    Photograph of Clair Mills (1886-1978) posing in front of her home at 703 Alta Vista Road, Louisville, Kentucky. Mills is standing between her pug named Bob and horse named Brae King.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/003pc21_135.jpg

    Photograph of six employees posing with dog on a bench at Hazelwood Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky. Pictured on the bench holding the dog’s paw is Adele Albrecht (1888-1961). Adele met and married Dr. Lee Palmer (1897-1985) while they both worked at Hazelwood, she as a nurse and he as a resident finishing medical school at University of Louisville. After medical school the couple moved to the coal mining town of Allock, Kentucky, where he served as a mining camp doctor. Dr. Palmer went on to serve on the Jefferson County Board of Health and research polio in children, including administering some of the first polio vaccines in Louisville.
  • 022PC27 (Kyer) (3).jpg

    Two photographs of a young child standing in front of porch steps with a dog.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/004pc2_176.jpg

    Photograph of Mary Churchill Bacon (1904-1941) in the garden posing with her cat. Mary was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Ernest J. Bacon, attorney and son of prominent 19th-century attorney Byron Bacon, and Lucy Henry. In 1924, Mary was enrolled at Gulf Park College in Gulfport, Mississippi. By the spring of 1932, she was married to Gerald C. Hayes of Los Angeles. The couple later moved to Los Angeles, California, followed by Mary’s family, who relocated in the mid-1930s. By 1940, Mary was divorced and living in Oklahoma City. The next year, Mary died in Midland, Texas, while visiting friends.
  • MssBA_P738_F07_002.pdf

    The Plymouth Congregational Church of Louisville, Kentucky, Articles of Incorporation is a 4-page typescript that describes the administrative structure and functions of the church.
  • 999PC35_662.jpg

    Photographs of the exterior of Samuel Plato's (1882-1957) and Elnora Plato's (1891-1975) Tudor Revival style home at 2509 West Walnut Street in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • 999PC35_659.jpg

    Photographs of Samuel Plato (1882-1957), Elnora Plato (1891-1975), and other family members outside of the couple's Tudor Revival style home at 2509 West Walnut Street in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • 999PC35_649.jpg

    Photographs of the construction of Samuel Plato's (1882-1957) and Elnora Plato's (1891-1975) Tudor Revival style home at 2509 West Walnut Street in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • PR750_0009_b.jpg

    Advertisement for Cherokee Gardens neighborhood.
  • MssA_P718_f001_003.jpg

    $10,000 mortgage for Samuel M. Plato (1882-1957) and Elnora Plato (1891-1975) with Louisville Trust Company. The couple used the mortgage to build their home at 2509 West Walnut Street in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • 1926-christmas-seal_4797541946_o.jpg

    5 annual Christmas seals sold by the Louisville Tuberculosis Association as a fundraiser.
  • Christmas Cards001.jpg

    Sample of Christmas cards sent to Louisville, Kentucky, couple Walter and Elizabeth Shackelton over the course of several holiday seasons in the late 1920s. Cards like these could be ordered from catalogs in pre-printed sets with the sender's name or in smaller batches to sign personally.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/mssba_p738_vol11_marriages.pdf

    24-page record of marriages of members of West Louisville Evangelical Church, Louisville, Kentucky. The register lists the names of the couple, witnesses, marriage date and location, and officiating clergyman. These pages are part of a larger register for the church: https://filsonhistorical.omeka.net/items/show/6650
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/mssba_p738_vol11_deaths.pdf

    25-page record of deaths of members of West Louisville Evangelical Church, Louisville, Kentucky. The register lists the deceased person's name, death date, birthdate, date of internment and location, and officiating clergyman.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/mssba_p738_vol11_confirm.pdf

    34-page record of confirmation classes at West Louisville Evangelical Church in the Shawnee neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The register lists varied information for each confirmand, which can include their confirmation date, name, birthdate, memory verse, address, father's name, mother's name, baptism date, and class song.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/mssba_p738_vol11_baptisms.pdf

    35-page record of baptisms conducted at West Louisville Evangelical Church in the Shawnee neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The register lists the child's name, parents, birthdate, baptism date, and sponsors.
  • MssBA_P738_vol11.pdf

    Members of a Sunday school operated by the German St. Peter's Evangelical Church formed the West Louisville Evangelical Church in 1915. The congregation built a church in the Shawnee neighborhood at 245 South 41st Street in 1916. A new sanctuary was constructed circa 1926-1927. In 1957, the church changed its name to the West Louisville United Church of Christ. In 1986, the West Louisville United Church of Christ closed due to declining membership, in part because of white flight from West Louisville, and problems maintaining the property. The remaining congregation became members of the historically Black Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ.

    This register contains entries for marriages, baptisms, confirmations, attendance at communion services, and deaths from 1916-1945. Members' attendance at communion services is also recorded for 1964-1966. Loose inserts in the ledger include a 1935 license to solemnize marriages for Rev. C. T. Rausch, a 1968 request for a baptism record, undated genealogy notes, and a 1992 Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ bulletin.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/sm_976-911_j69_1782_blue-copy.jpg

    Robert Johnson traced this map from a photostat made by Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston.
    Johnson's map shows the settlement at Harrods Town, Squire Boone's station, Bryant's station, Todd's station and Martin's station, the Ohio, Kentucky, Miami and Licking rivers, the "Indian War Road", and various salt springs.
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