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The Kentucky Room's collections contain Lexington's residential directories going back over 200 years, and are some of the most useful resources for researchers looking for family information, neighborhood histories, and house histories.

Lexington's school system dates back to the city charter of 1831, and it first school opened in 1834. From a single building in 1834 with about 100 students, today the Fayette County Public School system has over 40,000 students and 68 schools and programs. Lexington and Fayette County combined districts in 1968, shortly before the city/county government merger in 1974.

Fayette County churches contain some of the earliest records and information preserved about central Kentucky history. The digital archive contents include church ledgers, minutes, directories, and informational brochures. 

Fayette County's buildings contain a great deal of history about the region and its inhabitants. 

The Old Kentucky Architecture book by Rexford Newcomb (1940) contains images, details, and some architectural layouts from all around Kentucky, but the Lexington properties include Llangollen (the Dr. John C. Lewis House), the Benjamin Gratz House, Rose Hill, Hopemont, Eothan, Ashland, Mansfield, Helm Place, Carrick House at Whitehall, Morrison College at Transylvania University, the tomb of Gideon Shryock's father Matthew at the Old Episcopal Burying Grounds, Ingleside (listed here as Ingelside), Loudoun House, Botherum, Walnut Hill Church, and the Sexton's Cottage at the Old Episcopal Burying Grounds. 

The Court-Houses of Lexington by J. Winston Coleman, Jr. (1937) contains photos and history of Fayette County's four courthouses.

The Illustrated Lexington (1919) has a variety of images, but included are some exterior and interior photographs of downtown Lexington businesses and houses.

Bluegrass Houses and Their Traditions by Elizabeth M. Simpson (1932) contains photos of various Fayette and surrouding county properties, with descriptions of the families, buildings, and contents. The properties include Glendower, Castleton, Eothan, Idle Hour, Maxwell Place, Winton, Elmendorf, Clingendaal, Morrison College, La Chaumiere du Prairie, Scarlet Gate, the Meadows, Lindenhouse, Belair, Mount Brilliant, Coldstream, Hopemont, Bodley House, Roberts House, Woodburn House, Botherum, Greentree, Ingleside, Loudoun, Thorn Hill, Rose Hill (Buckner), Elmwood, Sycamore Park, Walnut Hall, Edwards House, Patchen Wilkes, Hurricane Hall, Forkland, the Old Keen Place, Xalapa, the Ward Place, Calumet, Dunreath, Kilmore, Alleghan Hall, Sumner’s Forest, Stoneley, Rose Hill (Talbert), Helm Place, Castlelawn, Dixiana, Bryan Station, Poplar Hill, Mansfield, Fowler’s Garden, Mount Hope, Hollyrood, and Ashland.

Gratz Park (1983) contains illustrations and brief descriptions of the buildings and features of Gratz Park in downtown Lexington.

The Fayette County Postcard collection contains images of well-known sites in Central Kentucky, such as Keeneland, Transylvania University, Ashland, and many others. The 80 images provide an interesting perspective of Lexington architecture, industry, and culture in the early 20th Century.

While the focus of content in the digital archive is Fayette County, many other counties are represented. This list is in alphabetical order by county name for non-Fayette County content.

Anderson County

• History of the Lawrenceburg Fair by Lydia Kennedy Bond, 1956

Bath County

• Bath County Memorial Library Albert Young WWII letter Collection, 1944-45
• Bath County Memorial Library Diary Collection of Etta Evans Gilmore, 1944-1955

Boone County

• Florence Baptist Church Dedication Service, October 9, 1967

Bourbon County

• Millersburg Female College Announcement, 1895-96
• Hopewell (Paris) Historical Scrapbook, 150th Anniversary, Sept 1939
• History of the Church of the Annunciation of Paris, Kentucky by Mary T. Kelly, 1958
• Millersburg Military Institute playbill for Inherit the Wind, 6 May 1960
• Paris Historical Scrapbook, 175th Anniversary, 13 May 1961

Boyd County

• The Hi-Life Gazette, Ashland High School, 5 March 1954

Boyle County

• Catalogue, Danville Classical and Military Academy, 1877-78
• The Danville Literary and Social Club (The Anaconda), 1839-1889 by Ormond Beatty
• Fourth Reunion, Kentucky Association of the Deaf, 3-5 September 1907
• A Centennial History of the Kentucky School for the Deaf, Danville, Kentucky, 1823-1923 by Charles Fosdick

Breathitt County

• Stories of Kentucky Feuds: the Terror of Suspense by Harold Wilson Coates, 1924

Bullitt County

• United Stares Army Armor School, Fort Knox, 1959-72

Caldwell County

• Welcome to Dawson Springs, Kentucky, “The City of Health,” Centennial Celebration, 1874-1974

Calloway County

• History of Calloway County, Kentucky by E. A. Johnson, 1931

Christian County

• The Scroll: Bethel Woman's College Yearbook, 1929

Clark County

• Kentucky Wesleyan College graduates, 1906
• The Beacon: Kentucky Bible College (later Southeastern Christian College), 1955
• The Beacon: Kentucky Bible College, Winchester, Kentucky, 1960
• Southern Bell Telephone Directory for Richmond, Ky., Ford, Kirksville, Waco, Including Listings of Berea, Paint Lick, May 1966
• Kentucky Telephone Company Directory for Lancaster, Berea, Bryantsville, Paint Lick, Including Listings of Ford, Kirksville, Richmond, and Waco, Kentucky, June 1966

Clay County

• Stories of Kentucky Feuds: the Great Truce of Clay by Harold Wilson Coates, 1923
• Telephone Directory; Barbourville, Brodhead, East Bernstadt, Eubank, Faubush, Flat Lick, Livingston, London, Manchester, Mt. Vernon, Oneida, Science Hill, Shopville, White Lily, Kentucky, 1974

Floyd County

• The Pre-1800 Kentucky Tax Lists for the Counties of Fayette - 1788; Mason (later Floyd) - 1790; Mercer - 1789; Washington - 1792, compiled by Levi Todd, 1790

Franklin County

• The Fourth Annual Report of the Kentucky Colonization Society, with an Address (Delivered at the Request of the Society,) by Rev. John C. Young, 1833
• Historic Frankfort Kentucky pamphlet by Nell Whaley and Bayless Hardin, 1947
• Good Shepherd Catholic School senior class play "No Homework," 1961
• Souvenir Program, March on Frankfort, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 5 March 1964

Garrard County

• Lancaster High School Graduation Program, 1952
• Southern Bell Telephone Directory for Richmond, Ky., Ford, Kirksville, Waco, Including Listings of Berea, Paint Lick, May 1966
• Kentucky Telephone Company Directory for Lancaster, Berea, Bryantsville, Paint Lick, Including Listings of Ford, Kirksville, Richmond, and Waco, Kentucky, June 1966

Graves County

• The Mayfield Bar, by R. G. Robbins, 1911

Grayson County

• Dock Brown: the Outlaw of Grayson County by Colonel William R. Haynes, 1876

Hardin County

• United Stares Army Armor School, Fort Knox, 1959-72

Harlan County

• Harlan County, Kentucky by Elmon Middleton, 1934
• The Pine Mountain Story, 1913-1980 by Mary Rogers and the Pine Mountain Settlement School, 1980

Hopkins County

• Welcome to Dawson Springs, Kentucky, “The City of Health,” Centennial Celebration, 1874-1974

Jackson County

• Telephone Directory; McKee, Annville, Booneville, Sand Gap Ky, 1960
• Directory; McKee, Annville, Sand Gap, Booneville, 1964
• Telephone Directory; McKee, Annville, Sand Gap, Booneville, 1976

Jefferson County

• The Cadet Adjustant magazine of the Kentucky Military Institute, 1909-1918
• Photograph of Rev. James Cronin, Diocese of Louisville, circa 1920
• Charter, By-Laws and Amendments of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Widows' and Orphans' Home in the State of Kentucky, 1938
• My Memoirs of Army Nurse Corps World War II, 1943-1945 by Martha Ueltschi Penn, 1946
• Poems of Consolation: Book II by Geneva Maxey Cooper Tilford, 1947
• The Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star in Kentucky Golden Key Session 1948
• Zion Baptist Church, 1878-1953, 75th Anniversary, August 1953
• duPont Manual High School 1967 10-year reunion, class of 1957
• A New Look for Kentucky Breathitt for Governor newspaper, February 1963
• Sallie Phillips Durrett High School 1967–1968 composite class photograph
• The Louisville Community presents a Memorial Service Honoring the Late Whitney M. Young, Jr., 10 March 1974
• Handbills for Mr. Gay Kentucky, January 1983 and March 1983

Jessamine County

• Assortment of Elmer L. Foote lantern slides, including Court Day and the construction of High Bridge, circa 1900s
• Bluegrass Houses and Their Traditions by Elizabeth M. Simpson, 1932
• The Asburian Asbury College Yearbook, 1944
• Union Lodge No. 10, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Nicholasville, Kentucky, by Robert M. Suell, 1970

Johnson County

• Kentucky Mountain Club (Membership includes the following counties: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Floyd, Greenup, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, McCreary, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Wayne, Whitley, and Wolfe)

Knox County

• Telephone Directory; Barbourville, Brodhead, East Bernstadt, Eubank, Faubush, Flat Lick, Livingston, London, Manchester, Mt. Vernon, Oneida, Science Hill, Shopville, White Lily, Kentucky, 1974

Laurel County

• The Birth of a Church: 1st Presbyterian Church, London, Ky., 1959
• Telephone Directory; Barbourville, Brodhead, East Bernstadt, Eubank, Faubush, Flat Lick, Livingston, London, Manchester, Mt. Vernon, Oneida, Science Hill, Shopville, White Lily, Kentucky, 1974

Leslie County

• Thirty Years Onward, Frontier Nursing Service, Incorporated 1925-1955

Livingston County

• Lucy Jefferson Lewis, Sister of President Thomas Jefferson, Virginia 1752 - Kentucky 1811 by Martha Grassham Purcell

Madison County

• Mountain Ballads for Social Singing, by James Watt Rayne, Berea College, 1923
• Life at Eastern: Eastern Kentucky Review, Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College, May 1944
• Program Celebrating the Opening of the New Free Bridge at Clay’s Ferry, Cleveland, 17 August 1946
• Southern Bell Telephone Directory for Richmond, Ky., Ford, Kirksville, Waco, Including Listings of Berea, Paint Lick, May 1966
• Kentucky Telephone Company Directory for Lancaster, Berea, Bryantsville, Paint Lick, Including Listings of Ford, Kirksville, Richmond, and Waco, Kentucky, June 1966
• First Baptist Church Directory, Richmond, 1975

Mason County

• The Pre-1800 Kentucky Tax Lists for the Counties of Fayette - 1788; Mason (later Floyd) - 1790; Mercer - 1789; Washington - 1792, compiled by Levi Todd, 1789
• Centennial of St. Patrick’s Parish, Maysville, 1847-1947

Meade County

• United Stares Army Armor School, Fort Knox, 1959-72

Mercer County

• The Pre-1800 Kentucky Tax Lists for the Counties of Fayette - 1788; Mason (later Floyd) - 1790; Mercer - 1789; Washington - 1792, compiled by Levi Todd, 1789
• Education in Harrodsburg and Neighborhood Since 1775 by Martha Stephenson, 1910
• Shakertown by Dorothy Embry Cross, 1921
• Old Roads in Kentucky by Cecil Brown, 1929
• Old Shakertown and the Shakers by Daniel Mac-Hir Hutton, 1936
• The History of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Harrodsburg by Neva L. Williams, April 1948
• Old Taverns by Grace Stephenson Linney Hutton, 1957

Muhlenberg County

• Gibraltar Coal Mining Company Scrip, Brownie, Ky., undated
• The Oriole: Central City High School Yearbook, 1927

Nelson County

• A Chapter of Trappist History in Kentucky by Young E. Allison, 1926
• The Barton Museum of Whiskey History Brochure, 1961

Owsley County

• Telephone Directory; McKee, Annville, Booneville, Sand Gap Ky, 1960
• Directory; McKee, Annville, Sand Gap, Booneville, 1964

Pulaski County

• Telephone Directory; Barbourville, Brodhead, East Bernstadt, Eubank, Faubush, Flat Lick, Livingston, London, Manchester, Mt. Vernon, Oneida, Science Hill, Shopville, White Lily, Kentucky, 1974

Robertson County

• Echoes from the Century, Robertson County 1867-1967 by T. Ross Moore

Rockcastle County

• Telephone Directory; Barbourville, Brodhead, East Bernstadt, Eubank, Faubush, Flat Lick, Livingston, London, Manchester, Mt. Vernon, Oneida, Science Hill, Shopville, White Lily, Kentucky, 1974

Scott County

• The Co-Ed: Georgetown College, 1901
• Historical Pageant of Scott County, Kentucky 1774-1924, 31 May 1924
• Directory and History: Georgetown Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1932-1933
• Georgetown Grows: Georgetown College, 1960
• Stamping Ground’s 180th Birthday Celebration, 15-17 October 1970

​Shelby County

• Science Hill School College Preparatory School for Girls, Shelbyville, 1930-1931
• Science Hill School College Preparatory School for Girls, Shelbyville, 1937-1938
• History, Old Masons’ Home of Kentucky, Incorporated, 2nd Edition, by Alpheus E. Orton and Charles A. Keith, 1960
• Dedication Whitney M. Young, Jr., Residential Manpower Center program, 16 June 1972

Warren County

• Bowling Green Business University, 43rd Annual Catalogue, circa 1918

Washington County

• The Pre-1800 Kentucky Tax Lists for the Counties of Fayette - 1788; Mason (later Floyd) - 1790; Mercer - 1789; Washington - 1792, compiled by Levi Todd, 1792
• Early Times in Washington County, Kentucky by Orval W. Baylor, 1942
• Sesquicentennial of Saint Rose Parish, Springfield, Kentucky program, 1957

Wolfe County

• Wolfe County Centennial Celebration 1860-1960, 2 Sept 1960

Woodford County

• Kentucky Female Orphan School: A History by Harry Giovannoli, 1930
• St. Leo’s Parish, Versailles 1924-1965
• Woodford County Farm Directory, circa 1971
• A History of Troy Presbyterian Church, 1875-1975 by J. R. Wilson, Jr.
• St. Leo Catholic Church Directory, Versailles, 1979

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department had its earliest form almost as long as the city itself has existed, when the newly formed city of Lexington would appoint a local physician to investigate reports of certain diseases for quarantine. As early as 1794, Lexington's citizens were getting smallpox inoculations. The city created a Board of Health possibly as early as the 1820s, as a young Lexington experienced cholera outbreaks, typhus, smallpox, and the various growing pains created by more people living and working closer together. In 1938, the Lexington city Board of Health merged with the county’s Board to become the Fayette County Health Department.  

The board minutes for January 1904 – April 1922 provided by the Health Department show the broad range of topics impacting local citizens, and the Health Department’s role in keeping its citizens healthier. Through the decades, the Health Department has tested the local milk supply for tuberculosis, led education and vaccination programs, inspected restaurants, set quarantines to prevent the spread of disease, improved sanitation, and at one point ran the local crematory and eruptive hospital.

Fayette County's local businesses and organizations contain a wealth of information about local residents. 

Old Homes of the Blue Grass is a photographic review of historic homes in Kentucky’s Blue Grass region. Published by The Kentucky Society in 1950, the black and white photographs show various phases of Kentucky Architecture between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Homes and properties featured:  Manchester, Malvern Hill, Harkaway, Bryan Place, Highland, Rose Hill, Mount Hope, Mansfield, Welcome Hall, Old Moore Place, Old Cabin, Hartland, Alleghan Hall, Duntreath, The Larches, Cherry Grove, Hopemont, Mount Brilliant, T. Howard’s Log Cabin, Woodburn, Helm Place, White Hall, Ashland, Shady Side, Stony Point, and the Old Episcopal Burying Grounds.

Illustrated Lexington Kentucky contains photographs, demographics, commerce and financial information about Lexington up to 1919. This work appears to have been commissioned by the Lexington Board of Commerce, and features an introduction including information about Lexington’s businesses, schools, parks, climate, infrastructure, and other amenities. There is a feature on Lexington and Fayette County’s financial health, written by Board of Commerce member J. Will Stoll. Photographs in this work include street scenes, agriculture, infrastructure, horses, prominent homes, and the interiors of many Lexington businesses.

The Cyrus Parker Jones Funeral Notice collection contains 667 funeral cards of Lexington residents during the years of 1806-1886. Cyrus Parker Jones was once enslaved by the Parker family, and was emancipated upon the death of Elizabeth Parker, Mary Todd Lincoln’s grandmother, in 1849. The notices include deaths of people belonging to prominent families, infants, and at least seven free blacks.

Prior to his death in 1887, Jones donated his collection to a trustee of the Lexington Public Library, James M. Duff. Duff then donated the collection to the Library in 1900. It appears Duff added a few funeral notices to the book himself, and it ends with a notice that the library is closed for Duff's funeral, inserted later by an unknown library staff member. The physical collection is named “Duff’s Funeral Notices”, but we have renamed the digital collection to recognize Cyrus Parker Jones, and accurately reflect the collection’s origin.

The Funeral Notices are searchable by keyword.

The city reports and ordinances for Lexington contain a wide variety of information about the people, infrastructure, and businesses. 

The Lexington ordinances contain the laws and procedures for local government and departments, as well as local elections. The charter covers the incorporation of the city of Lexington.

The reports for the various city departments vary from year to year, but in general contain the mayor and city officers, and reports for the city clerk, auditor, treasurer, jailer, solicitor, attorney, assessor, license officer, health officer, city physician, fire and police departments, public works, parks, and sometimes special projects, like a temporary smallpox ward or the orphan home. Often the reports include specifics on city streets, and businesses with accounts with Lexington for goods and services.

The Morton School Number 1, Lexington’s first public city school in 1834, was originally built on the corner of Walnut (later Martin Luther King Dr.) and Short Street. William Morton, who died in 1836, established a trust to be invested and used to maintain a free public school in Lexington, and the first public school was named in his honor. It became the Morton High School in 1904 and the Morton Junior High School in 1917. The school was relocated to Tates Creek Road as a middle school in 1938.