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Wonderful podcasts and walking tours have been created by our staff. Please enjoy!
Discover unique resources in our Digital Archives that tell the story of Fayette County. Visit cemeteries throughout Central Kentucky using our cemetery maps. Contact our resident experts in the Central Library's Kentucky Room with questions. The Lexington Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.
Celebrate Lexington, Kentucky’s 250th anniversary all year long. Join us for programs, galleries, podcasts, and more highlighting our city’s history, heritage, and legacy.
Celebrate Black History Month at LPL
Throughout February, join us as we celebrate Black history with programs, materials, podcasts, and more.
741.5 is written and designed by Lexington Public Library staff member Bill Widener. The inaugural issue came out in January 2017. Sub-titled The Comics & Graphic Novel Bulletin of the Lexington Public Library, its intent is to promote new arrivals to the Library's comics collections. 741.5 takes its name from the numeral designation within the Dewey Decimal System that covers comics and cartooning.
Celebrate Women’s History Month at LPL
Throughout March, join us as we celebrate women’s contributions in local, state, and national history through programs, books, podcasts, archive materials, and more.
Download eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more – free with your library card.
Lexington History Museum Collection
The Lexington History Museum began in 1998, and opened its doors in the Old Courthouse in 2003. Its purpose is to educate Fayette County about its rich history, and preserve pieces of that history for future generations. The Old Courthouse closed in 2012 for extensive renovations. The History Museum still creates exhibits and works on school and film collaborations to create an understanding and appreciation of local history.
The History Museum's Community Collections currently contains part of the exhibit "Our Fair City: The 1999 Lexington Fairness Ordinance," which was displayed in the summer of 2019 at the Lexington Public Library, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ordinance's passage.
All Digital Archives Collections
The first Kentucky almanacs were printed by John Bradford, on the same printing press that published the Kentucky Gazette. The Kentucky almanacs in the library's…
Fayette County's buildings contain a great deal of history about the region and its inhabitants. The earliest structure in Lexington was built in 1779, the Blockhouse. Lexington currently has over…
The collection consists of an image, homemade brochures, flyers, pamphlets, and programs covering LGBTQ+ events and places from 1983 to 1999 in both Lexington and Louisville. Subjects include…
The Bath County Memorial Library was founded in 1949 by the Owingsville Women’s Club, and opened in January, 1950. It expanded into a bookmobile in 1953, and in 1963 moved into the old Farmer’s…
The Black Community News Collection compiles searchable newspaper articles and ads for local Black community events, schools, social gatherings, church events, obituaries, and wedding…
The Brown-Hocker Collection is a community collection of photos and realia from African American events and people in Lexington and Kentucky history.
The objects in the collection are…
This collection contains materials from Lexington and Fayette County religious groups.
Compiled by Cyrus Parker Jones, a man formerly enslaved by the Parker family, these funeral notices cover 667 funerals of individuals in Lexington, including seven free blacks. The funeral notices…
The Daily Lexington Atlas ran from December 11, 1847 through November 20, 1848 and was Lexington’s first daily paper, and the first to publish information from the telegraph lines. It was…
The library has a variety of directories and yearbooks with local information. In the library's current digital collection, there is a selection of residential and street directories, yearbooks,…
Various objects found in our Duncan-Goff scrapbook collection.
Elmer L. Foote served as official photographer of the Cincinnati Public Library for many years, and produced photographs that appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune …
Letters from and/or about Father William T. Punch and the Punch family. Donated by a Lexington resident to Lexington Public Library. Father Punch was instrumental in building…
Until 1974, Lexington and Fayette County had two separate governing bodies. Lexington itself was founded in 1775 and chartered in 1782 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly,…
The St. Paul Catholic Church Collection includes materials from the Church's archive. The Roman Catholic church is over 150 years old, and is located on West Short Street, in downtown Lexington.…
Founded in 1982 by Gigi Galore (Greg Butler) and Blanche Pink (Marlon Austin), the Imperial Court of Kentucky, Inc., is a nonprofit charity that supports the LGBTQ+ community of…
The Judge Kenneth Lyons collection consists of an atlas, a journal, and letters. The atlas features copies of letters written on the blank pages of the atlas. The journal contains family and local…
The Junior League of Lexington (JLL) is a local nonprofit organization of women committed to improving community through volunteerism. The first Junior League was established in 1901…
The diary (ca. 1899) of Katherine Pettit, details her settlement work for the Kentucky Confederation of Women's Clubs, made yearly trips to Hazard during this period and was a central figure in…
The Dunn Photograph Collection contains images of Lexington, KY taken in the 1960s and 1980s. Keller J. Dunn (1917-2000) born in Lexington, KY, shot hundreds of pictures of…
The library's collection contains many event pamphlets for Lexington and Kentucky counties, including county anniversary celebrations, suffragette songs, chautauquas, and community events and…
The photographs in the library's collection are donated from a variety of individuals.
The Ashland-McDowell Collection shows an unknown gathering of friends and…
The Kentucky Progress Commission was formed in 1928 in order to draw tourism and business to Kentucky. It was formed by the Kentucky Legislature, and was a 12 person board. The “Kentucky…
The League of Women Voters of Lexington, Kentucky, was established in 1920. It is the local chapter of a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization that encourages informed and…
The Lexington History Museum began in 1998, and opened its doors in the Old Courthouse in 2003. Its purpose is to educate Fayette County about its rich history, and preserve pieces of that history…
The Lexington Public Library opened a Carnegie library in 1905. It incorporated the collections of the former subscription Lexington Library Company (est.1801) and the former…
The Lexington Weekly Press was published every Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky, and contained local, state, and foreign news. The paper focused on Central Kentucky’s “agriculture,…
The military history collection contains relevant histories and records that focus on Kentuckians involved at home and abroad, and includes a collection of United States Army Training Center…
The Micellaneous Newspaper collection combines scattered issues of various historic newspapers in our archive collection.
Scans of the Black Marriage records from the Courthouse in Greenville, Kentucky.
The collection contains various postcards featuring places in and around Kentucky and includes a selection donated by the Knowles family. The postcards in the library's collection were donated by…
This is a handwritten series of lectures detailing Samuel D. McCullough's memories of his childhood and life in Lexington, Kentucky, accompanied by letters and a photograph of his house. The…
The Schools and Yearbooks collection contains historical and modern yearbooks and other school documents owned by and donated to the Lexington Public Library.
The Daily Argonaut began in 1895 and seems to have ceased publication in 1899. This collection includes scattered issues from 1896, 1897 and 1898. The paper focuses more on sensational news and…
The Independent Gazetteer was founded and printed by James Charless in 1803, with ads appearing in the Kentucky Gazette about its upcoming…
The Kentucky Gazette was the first paper established west of the Allegheny Mountains, founded by John and Fielding Bradford. The frontier paper focused on East Coast and International news,…
The Kentucky Reporter was published from October 1817-April 1832, by William W. Worsley and Thomas Smith. It is the direct continuation of the The Reporter. Politically, it was a…
The Reporter was published from March 1808-September 1817, by William W. Worsley. It was a Republican paper (Jeffersonian Democratic Republican - liberal at the time). The paper was published…
The True American was an anti-slavery newspaper started by Cassius Marcellus Clay in June 1845. He ran the paper in Lexington until August of 1845, when he published an…
This work contains information about French Emigrants to America over the years 1789-1799, and provides a history of the French Revolution. The work was originally in French, and was translated…
These tours are guided audio walking tours with a variety of topics focused on Downtown Lexington, KY. Music will play in between each stop, and the listener can pause the track while walking between stops.
Want to learn about new tours as they become available? Subscribe to our Genealogy & Local History newsletter.
Lexington was founded in 1775, one year before the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. Discover our city during the birth year of the United States — Explore books, archives, and more at LPL.
Celebrate Lexington, Kentucky’s 250th anniversary this April with a full month dedicated to the history and heritage of music, poetry, and literature in and around Lexington with events hosted by the Lexington Public Library, the City of Lexington, 21c Museum and Hotel, the Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning, Institute 193, and the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center.
Stories of Lexington's history told through the Kentucky Room archives.
Lexington, Kentucky (February 1, 2024) – This February, Lexington Public Library is proud to join the nation in celebrating Black History Month, a time dedicated to honoring the achievements, contributions, and rich cultural heritage of African Americans.
Lexington, Kentucky (December 20, 2022) – Lexington Public Library announced today that its popular LPL After School program will return in 2023, beginning January 2.
LPL After School is a FREE drop-in program for kids aged 5-12 that takes place after regular school hours, Mondays through Fridays from 4-6pm. The Library, in partnership with God’s Pantry, will provide snacks for all participants as well as STEAM and enrichment activities, homework help, and reading recommendations. And there’s no need to register—just show up!
