Tales from the Kentucky Room
Listen to stories of Lexington’s history told through the Kentucky Room archives.
Listen to stories of Lexington’s history told through the Kentucky Room archives.
Attend a public event at the Farish or reserve the fully equipped theater for a private event of your own.
We believe in free and equal access to information. That's why everyone can access education and entertainment resources and technology without worrying about overdue fines.
Choose from a variety of book clubs for different ages and interests or join us for a readers and writers event.
Schedule a one-on-one consultation to learn library skills, get help with research and job searches, have a test proctored by one of our librarians, and more.
Help us make digital archives searchable, from anywhere.
When you type a keyword into the search bar in our digital archives, many of the archives’ handwritten documents do not appear in search results. This happens because several handwritten documents still need a transcription, or a typewritten version of their contents, to be searchable.
How can you help?
Human transcription, though a time-consuming process, is more accurate than machine transcription, especially for handwritten documents. Through our Community Transcription Project, volunteers can transcribe important handwritten materials from throughout Lexington and Kentucky history, making them searchable and more easily accessible for the residents of Fayette County and for researchers looking for more information on their Kentucky ancestors.
Do volunteers have to come into the library to help?
Volunteers do not have to come into the library to transcribe materials — only a computer and reliable internet connection are needed.
Click here to learn how to earn volunteer hours through the LPL Community Transcription Project.
Don’t need to record your volunteer hours? Click here to start transcribing.
In most cases, you’ll copy exactly what is written on the page in the transcription form. You can learn more about how to do that in our transcription conventions.
Names should be transcribed as written, but this Wiktionary entry provides some common abbreviations for names used in handwritten historical documents.
Steps to Record Your Hours:
Yes! You can leave a comment on the item page to ask a question and someone will get back to you ASAP.
You can mark a page as "Needs Review" when the entire page has been transcribed.