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Kentucky Room Digital Archives

Keeneland
Lexington, KY
Lexington Library
none
Hamburg Place
One of Kentucky's Celebrated Blue Grass Thoroughbred Farms
Main Street Lexington
Bird's Eye View, 1911

Our Digital Archives

The Lexington Public Library’s Digital Archives are intended to give open access to researchers and students to learn more about Fayette County and our rich history. This is not an exhaustive collection, though new material is continually being scanned and added. It is a very small fraction of the Library’s physical holdings, which are housed and available for reference in the Kentucky Room at the Central Library.

A keyword search is available below, and it is possible to browse the collections by subject, area, or decade. The Lexington Public Library actively reviews and labels materials in our archives with statements that indicate how you may reuse the images, and what sort of permission, if any, you need to do so. Please check the information for each image to determine its legal status. 

Archive Search

For more advanced searching options, please use the advanced search.

  • A Directory of Lexington and the Bluegrass Title Page

    Lexington Business Directories
    The Lexington Business Directories contain local directories with information about local businesses, horse farms, and professionals.

  • Kentucky Almanacs
    The Kentucky almanac collection contains old regional almanacs.
  • Dunbar High School Class of 1934

    The Dunbar Echo
    The Dunbar Echo was the magazine created by the students of Dunbar High School. Yearbook issues include students, alumni, faculty, sports, classes, photos, and clubs.
  • History of U.S. Army Base Hospital No. 40, the Barrow Unit

    Council of Defense Records
    The Council of Defense records contain information about the soldiers, sailors, marines, and nurses who served during World War I.
  • Illustrated Lexington Kentucky Front Cover

    Illustrated Lexington Kentucky
    Illustrated Lexington Kentucky contains photographs, demographics, commerce and financial information about Lexington up to 1919.
  • Page Two of The Lexington Library

    Lexington Public Library History
    The pamphlet contains information tracing the history of the Lexington Library to roughly 1902.

  • Old Homes of the Blue Grass
    A photographic collection highlighting historic homes of the Bluegrass Region.
  • Kentucky Progress Magazine, Summer 1933 cover image

    Kentucky Progress Magazine
    The “Kentucky Progress Magazine” was used by the Kentucky Progress Commission to promote Kentucky, and features local interest stories, photographs of people, places, and activities.

  • Kentucky Suffrage
    The Kentucky Rally Songs pamphlet, published circa 1914 by the WCTU, contains 42 songs advocating women’s suffrage and prohibition.

  • Knowles Postcard Collection
    Images of notable Kentucky locations, such as Ashland, Keeneland, and Mammoth Cave

  • Fayette County Directories
    The Fayette County directories contain local information regarding resident addresses, government and officials, schools, land ownership, businesses, and other local organizations.
  • The Town Branch #1

    The Town Branch
    The Town Branch was presented as a brief history of Lexington and the Town Branch, given as a speech by Maude Ward Lafferty in 1917.

  • Fayette County Postcards
    The Fayette County Postcard collection contains 55 images of sites in central Kentucky.

  • Kentucky Chautauqua
    The brochure for the Kentucky Chautauqua includes information and pictures of presenters and events.
  • Marketing a Ford; Tennessee Mountains, part of the Elmer L. Foote Colletion

    Elmer L. Foote Lantern Slide Collection
    The Elmer L. Foote Collection is a group of 190 lantern slides. They were created by Elmer L. Foote, a Cincinnati photographer and library staff member whose pictures appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.
  • "Soldier, Soldier Will You Marry Me?" from Mountain Ballads for Social Singing

    Mountain Ballads for Social Singing
    The Mountain Ballads pamphlet is 15 songs originally compiled for English Folk Songs in the Mountains of the Southern Appalachians.
  • Woodcut from the Annual Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Hamilton Female College

    Hamilton Female College Collection
    The Hamilton Female College catalogs list the school’s Board of Trustees, faculty, alumnae, graduates, directory of students, courses of study, and the members of each department.

 Browse Our Digital Archives

Community Collections
The Community Collections consist of objects shared from local community residents and organizations.
Kentucky Images
This collection contains postcards, photographs and slides of people, architecture, and locations in Kentucky and Appalachia.
Fayette County Directories
This collection contains local directories that list information regarding resident addresses, government and officials, schools, land ownership, businesses, and other local organizations.
Fayette County History
This collection contains documents about the people, places, and history of Fayette County.
Kentucky History
This collection contains documents about people, places, and history in Kentucky not specifically related to Fayette County.

Copyright Information

The Lexington Public Library has made an effort to ensure that all of our digital collections are public domain, or that we have gotten approval from the copyright holders to display their work. Most - but not all - of these collections, to the best of our knowledge, have no known US copyright restrictions. Some of the collections provided in the library's digital collections are made available under an assertion of fair use, which does not necessarily apply to an individual's use of them.

More copyright information...