Browse Items (102 total)
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66th Kentucky Derby Official Program, 1940
Cover of the 1940 Kentucky Derby Program. Jockey Carroll Bierman won the 66th Kentucky Derby on Gallahadion in an upset over heavily favored Bimelech. -
Patent right issued to Nathaniel Foster, 28 June 1809
Patent issued to Nathaniel Foster of Fleming County, Kentucky, for a machine for spinning hemp and flax. Signed by President James Madison, Secretary of State Robert Smith, and Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney. -
Letter from Isaac Shelby to Henry Knox, 10 February 1794
A letter from Isaac Shelby in which he informs Henry Knox that two more people have been killed by Southern Indians since his last letter. He expects attacks by the Creek and Chickamauga as soon as winter breaks. Again requesting power to raise men and defend the state, Shelby calls for a large number of influential officers to accompany the expedition. -
Letter from Barthelemi Tardiveau to St. John de Crevecoeur, 25 August 1789
In a letter to St. John de Crevecoeur, dated 25 August 1789, Tardiveau discusses his activities in Kentucky, events occurring there, the state of agriculture, manufacturing, and trade (specifically mentions Kentucky trading with the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi) the climate of Kentucky versus that of Cumberland (Tennessee) for growing certain crops, and the economic future of Kentucky and the United State in general. He also mentions frequent Native American activity along the Green River and southward. He states how surprised his brother (Pierre Tardiveau) and other friends were upon his and a fellow travelers return to Danville after a trip to Cumberland; they were three weeks overdue and those in Danville assumed they had been killed by the Indigenous peoples. -
Letter from John J. Audubon to Lucy Audubon, 19 January 1827
Written from Edinburgh to Louisiana, he talks about the influential people he's met in england and edinburgh and subscribers to his bird publications, painting and attending lectures and debates regularly, elected to several prestigious societies, reminds her to collect natural history objects for him. -
Letter from Jonathan Clark to Isaac Hite, 6 August 1804
Letter discussing money owed for rent on a plantation in 1802. Clark sends love from himself and Sarah, his wife, to Isaac and his family. -
Letter from John J. Audubon to Richard Harlan, 20 March 1833
Letter in which Audubon discusses his recent seizure that left him paralyzed in his pen hand, mouth, and lips, and the gassing of a golden eagle so he could paint it. Discusses his "Birds in America" series. -
Letter from John Breckinridge to John Coborn, 7 November 1798
Writes that he has some resolutions prepared on the unconstitutional laws of Congress that he will offer in the House tomorrow. Hopes they will go down. Whether passed or not they will be printed due to the "political truths they contain." Returned from Virginia five days ago. These were the famous Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson, Breckinridge introduced them in the Kentucky legislature and secured their passage. -
Letter from Henry Clay to Thomas Hart, 25 May 1805
Letter from Henry Clay to Thomas Hart discussing the impossibility of large vessels passing through the Falls of the Ohio. He also discusses Napoleon Bonaparte's assassination, stating that "a revolution ought not to astonish us." -
Letter of introduction for Charles Stewart Todd, 31 August 1810
Letter of introduction for Charles Stewart Todd, son of Justice Thomas Todd of the Supeme Court, and request he be entered into the recipient's law school. -
Letter from Henry Clay to William Wilkins, 18 January 1812
Letter from Henry Clay to William Wilkins anticipating the War of 1812 before the end of the session in Congress, discussing raising money for military force, and appointing officers for said milita. -
Letter from Henry Clay to William Simmons, 14 December 1813
Letter from Henry Clay to William Simmons at the War Department requesting the proper pension to be paid to the widow of Colonel John Allen, who was killed at the Battle of River Raisin. -
Letter from George Rogers Clark to Jonathan Clark, 11 May 1792
Letter from George Rogers Clark to his brother, Captain Jonathan Clark, discussing Indian troubles, war, and business affairs. -
Letter from John Drummens to Rebecca Drummens, 28 October 1811
Letter from John Drummens to his wife, Rebecca Drummens, in which he talks of marching to "Shawney's Prophets Town," a number of chiefs there are all for peace, and the general opinions between the Indians and the whites is that there will be "now" [sic] battle. He talks of how good that part of the country is and that he hopes to be home in four or five weeks. -
Letter from Alexander Edmiston to Margaret Edmiston, 28 February 1807
Letter from Alexander Edmiston to his sister, Margaret, describes the health of the people in Yarrow Green, an outbreak of the mumps, a wedding, playing card and talking at the wedding, a dancing party, and promises to attend his sister's quilting. He also refers to the number of unmarried ladies and moving them to the frontier if they are over twenty-five. -
Letter from Isaac Hite to Abraham Hite, 26 April 1783
Letter from Isaac Hite to his father relating his business interests in land speculation, salt works, and iron manufacturing. He discusses American Indian hostilities, specifically a raid at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, in which an African American fought off the Natives and saved a white family. Tells of John Floyd's death and its effect on the defense of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Mentions his business dealings with James Sodowski, Walker Daniel, George and John May, Gilbert Imlay, Isaac Kellar, Moses Kuykendall, and George Rogers Clark. -
Letter from Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 30 January 1780
The author writes of his extensive land purchase near the Falls of the Ohio and on Mulberry Hill. He describes the timber and cost of land, discusses his finances and selling enslaved people to pay for land clearing. He mentions the large influx of settlers and says the buffalo are in short supply due to cold weather. He intends to make a fortune selling lands in Kentucky he acquired via warrants. -
Moses Hall, deed of emancipation, 4 August 1800
Deed of emancipation setting free an enslaved African-American girly named Phebe once she hits 21 years of age. The original is from 4 August 1800 and a true copy made 2 December 1813. -
Letter from Richard Mentor Johnson to William Murphy, 18 January 1828
Letter from Richard Mentor Johnson discusses the school at Blue Springs, Kentucky, established by the Choctaws and other tribes, and educating the Indians with government money that belongs to them per the Treaty, and Johnson sending supplies to the school.