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The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects
The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (20 total)

  • French stock certificate for one share in the Compagnie de Colonisation Americaine (American Colonization Company). Share is for 100 acres of land in Virginia and Kentucky for an investment of 1300 francs. Yields six percent annual interest. Dividends paid annually over thirty years using the attached coupons.
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  • Raised embroidery whitework (also known as candle wicking) coverlet with a tufted basket and grape design. The family narrative states the coverlet was homespun from cotton grown on the farm of James Nicholls and Margaret Randolph Nicholls in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Whitework textiles were most prevalent in Kentucky between 1800 and the 1830s, and typically made by teenage girls. Elizabeth Randolph Nicholls Godman was aged fifteen when she made this coverlet. Likely the fiber for this coverlet was cultivated on the family farm. Elizabeth may have spun the fiber or taken it to a spinner (free or enslaved person), and then turned it over to a professional weaver in her community. Elizabeth would have then hand stitched the elaborate embroidered design.
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  • Hand-woven linen sheet credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this sheet. It is made from two thirty-eight-inch-wide panels that were hand-sewn together. The edges are unfinished. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Hand-woven cotton coverlet credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this coverlet. As cotton wasn’t generally grown in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Eliza likely acquired cotton yarn or raw cotton from a local merchant. She and/or enslaved laborers would have processed raw cotton and spun it into yarn for weaving. Two 36-inch-wide woven panels were sewn together by hand to make a textile large enough for a bed. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Unfinished cotton counterpane credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this counterpane. As cotton wasn’t generally grown in Jefferson County, Kentucky, Eliza likely acquired already-made cotton fabric, cotton yarn, or raw unspun cotton from a local merchant. Eliza drew a floral design onto the cloth using a pencil, and she attached a very coarse, loosely woven fiber onto the back. She then hand-stitched around the penciled design. This work was never finished as the stems would have been stuffed with yarn to give them dimension, and all the flowers would have been stuffed with cotton or wool batting in a style known as trapunto. Either she or someone else cut a rectangular piece out of the unfinished work. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Household linen, hand-woven in a huckaback pattern, credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this household linen. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Household linen, hand-woven in a huckaback pattern, credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this household linen. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Replace Description with text below:

    Household linen, hand-woven in a huckaback pattern, credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this household linen. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Household linen, hand-woven in a huckaback pattern, credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this household linen. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen.
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  • Linen towel, hand-woven in a huckaback pattern, credited to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816. After he died in 1823, she managed their farm and raised three young sons. Her father, Edward Tyler II, enslaved up to fourteen people. Elizabeth herself enslaved seven people whose labor sustained both the household and the farm. This forced labor enabled the production of textiles like this towel. Eliza and/or enslaved laborers cultivated and processed flax into yarn for weaving. Historical records suggest that an unidentified enslaved woman played a key role in managing the household and supervising other enslaved laborers after Thomas’s death. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving behind three children under the age of eighteen. 
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  • Title page of the History of Kentucky and its present state.
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  • A history of Kentucky.
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  • Daniel Smith writes to Campbell discussing Smith's necessary trip to Kentucky, his attempts to raise soldiers and officers, and his belief that "assistance ought to be given to Kentuckie at this critical time."
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  • Map of the Falls of the Ohio, from actual survey, adapted to the low water of 1819. Shows both Baker's route for a canal on the Kentucky side of the river and Flint's route for a canal on the Indiana side.
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  • Tardiveau discusses his activities in Kentucky, including in Danville, events occurring there, the state of agriculture and climate for certain crops, especially as compared to Cumberland (Tennessee), Society for Kentucky Manufacturers, and the economic future of Kentucky and the United State in general. Tardiveau also writes that he has learned that John Brown is held in great esteem by the people of Kentucky. His friends want him to take on a political career and competent people believe he is inferior only to James Madison in his legal ability. He reminds Crevecoeur that living in Kentucky they are "banished to the other end of the earth," and that no dependable news reaches them. He therefore asks Crevecoeur to go into heavy detail about what is happening in Europe, specifically France.
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  • A Congressional resolution dated 3 July 1788, stating that the district of Kentucky should be made into a "sovereign and independent state."
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  • Correspondence between George Nicholas, Esq. of Kentucky, and the Hon. Robert G. Harper, member of Congress from the district of 96, state of South Carolina.
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  • Title page of the Journal of the Senate at the first session of the General Assembly of the state of Kentucky.
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  • Julius Price, Sr., president of Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company, surrounded by three African-American Boy Scouts and two African-American Cub Scouts from the Shawnee District in Louisville, Kentucky.

    Please note that the Filson Historical Society does not have insurance policy records for Mammoth Life. Requests for their insurance policy records should be made to Kemper Life Insurance Company at 1-800-777-8467.
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  • Photograph of the facade of the Mammoth Life & Accident Insurance Company Louisville district office on 38th and Broadway.

    Please note that the Filson Historical Society does not have insurance policy records for Mammoth Life. Requests for their insurance policy records should be made to Kemper Life Insurance Company at 1-800-777-8467.
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