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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 in New York, and Lexington followed in 1924. Lexington’s chapter began with ten women, whose numbers grew to build the foundation of community service for which today's League is known. Its first years established the Junior League as a founding contributor for Baby Health Services in 1938 and the Lexington Children's Theatre in 1939, nonprofits which both still exist today. In the 1960’s, the JLL also founded the Opportunity Workshop of Lexington (OWL) and the Living Arts and Science Center, which are also both still in operation serving the Lexington community. The also contributed support to many local organizations, with everything from community revitalization to crisis intervention.

The event most closely associated with the Junior League is the annual Junior League Horse Show each July, which began in 1937 and was the organization’s only fundraiser for 70 years. It is the first leg of the Saddlebred Triple Crown, and attracts international attention. The event is still volunteer run and generates enormous local impact. In 2007, the JLL began its annual Holly Day Market as well, which runs in November as another fundraiser.

JLL currently resides in the historic Bodley-Bullock House downtown, and continues its tradition of community support and engagement.

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 family at the Ashland estate, taken circa 1894, which included a parade of the estate’s horses.  Thoroughbreds Impetuous, King Reine, Oratorio, Argentina, and Bracegirdle are all being proudly shown at this event.   Photos also show members of the McDowell family in attendance, including Major McDowell and his wife, and their daughters Nanette, Julia, and Madeline.  The author John Fox Jr. was a frequent guest of the McDowells at Ashland and can be seen in one image playing a banjo on the lawn.

The Lena Hart Tobey Collection contains 12 photos. Lena Hart Tobey (1869-1939) was born in Mississippi to Thomas and Susan Watson Hart. In the 1890s, she attended school in Lexington, Kentucky. She married Ellis Tobey in 1896 and died in 1939 in Arkansas. After Lena Hart Tobey's death, her daughter Myrtis inherited a collection of photographs in a scrapbook. The family donated the Lexington, Kentucky marked cabinet cards to the Lexington Public Library in 2001. Some of the young adults in the photos have been named, though most have not.

The other images are miscellaneous photos donated from different sources.

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 active participation of citizens in local, state, and national government. 

In January 1920, Lexington’s Leader reported, “The Fayette County Equal Rights Association will become the Fayette County League of Women Voters when thirty-six states have ratified the Federal suffrage amendment or the Kentucky Legislature grants presidential suffrage to women.” The 19th amendment to legalize women’s voting rights had been approved by both the House and Senate in July, 1919, and was submitted to the states for ratification, requiring 36 for adoption. Tennessee became the 36th state on August 18, 1920. On August 26, 1920, the nineteenth amendment was signed into law. 

Kentucky was the 24th state to ratify on January 6, 1920, and the local chapter of the League of Women Voters was formed, seven months before national ratification. In addition, on March 29, 1920, Kentucky passed and signed a separate bill ensuring that Kentucky women would have the right to vote, in case ratification was not reached. 

At the time, Madeline McDowell Breckinridge of Ashland was the president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association, and Mabel Sawyer McVey was the president of the Fayette County chapter. These and many other organizations had lobbied for national suffrage, and women were able to vote for the first time in the 1920 election between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox.

Since its creation, the League of Women Voters has played an active role in encouraging voter registration and civic engagement in the community.

The collection contains assorted membership rolls, photographs, and documents for the local chapter.

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 various individuals throughout the years.

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, though some local announcements can be found. Later, the paper focused on disseminating opinions on politics and issues of concern on the frontier. When political parties emerged, the paper developed a Democratic (conservative at the time) bent. John Bradford handed the reins of the paper over to his son, Daniel Bradford, in 1802.

While still owned and occasionally edited by the Bradford family, the paper had several editors and publishers through the mid-1830s, when Daniel Bradford returned to the paper’s byline as editor. Daniel Bradford edited the paper until 1840, when he sold it to Jim Cunningham. The paper shuttered in 1848, due to Cunningham’s failing health, but was revived in 1866 and published until 1910 by different publishers.

The years 1841-1910 are not digitized as of January 2020, but are viewable on microfilm and in print in the Kentucky Room at Central Library. Selected articles are indexed in the Library’s Local History Index.

The Kentucky Room’s collection of The Kentucky Gazette is not complete. Here is a list of what is missing from the digitized collection:

1788: April 5, May 31, September 20

1789: All of May

1790: August 9 – November 27, December 27

1791: April 2, July 30, All of August, September 3, 10, 24, October 1

1792: April 2, September 15 - November 17

1793: May 4, June 15, July 20

1794: May 24, June 21, August 9 – September 13

1795: March 21, August 29, September 5, 12, 26, October 17

1807: Entire Year

1808: Entire Year

1821: January 26, February 1, 9, 16, March 29, April 5, May 3, 17, 24, 31, All of June, July 5, 19, August 9, 23, 30, September 20, October 18-December 27

1822: Entire Year

1823: Entire Year

1824: Entire Year

1827: Entire Year

1828: Entire Year

1829: Entire Year

1830: Entire Year

1831: Entire Year

1832: Entire Year

1833: Entire Year

1834: Entire Year

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 article deemed so incendiary that a court injunction was issued against his printing, and his press shipped to Cincinnati. An advocate of the right to a free press, and his right of free speech, Clay continued printing the paper through 1847 in Cincinnati. The paper was distributed in Lexington. While focused on advancing the cause of emancipation, Clay also published poetry, agriculture, labor, and commercial news. There are also marriage and death notices from the surrounding area, some national.

Cassius Marcellus Clay was a fiery figure in Kentucky history. He often fought in duels and in street fights, generally in response to arguments against his emancipationist views. Later in life, he often had shootouts with the Madison County Sheriff at his home, Whitehall.

After the publication of his incendiary editorial (August 12, 1845, page 3 columns 1-4), he is said to have armed his printing shop with two brass cannons and myriad other weapons to fend off any attacks. The committee charged with removing his press did so while Clay was incapacitated with a fever, avoiding what surely would have been a deadly counterattack from Clay. In the March 18, 1846 paper, Clay addresses the attack, and continues his fiery rhetoric, finally offering a discount to non-slaveholders in slave states.

Clay is featured in an episode of the Library’s podcast "Tales from the Kentucky Room", which is linked below.

The Library only has a short run of The True American. It has been digitized from the microfilm, which can be accessed in the Kentucky Room. Several issues have significant mildew damage, so in some cases the OCR quality may be poor, though the print itself is still legible.

• Listen to our interview with Tom Eblen about Kentucky Newspapers
• Listen to our podcast episode about Cassius Marcellus Clay

Issues available in the Library's Collection:

1845:

June 3

June 10

June 17

June 24

July 1

July 8

July 15

July 22

July 29

August 5

August 12

August 19 (missing pages 3 & 4) – The printing office was sacked on August 18.


1846:

March 18

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 Progress Magazine” was used by the board to promote Kentucky, and features local interest stories, photographs of people, places, and activities. It also features ads placed by various cities around the state. It was published monthly from September 1928 through August 1932, and continued quarterly until the Spring issue of 1936.

Some issues contain material that is under copyright, but qualifies for display by libraries under Section 108(h) of US Copyright Law. It is the user's responsibility to determine the copyright status of the material they want to use.