Business History in Louisville: Manuscript Collections

Aluminum Home Products Records, 1958-1960
.75 linear foot
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Aluminum Home Products, or Alhom, was a successor to an aluminum distributorship named ALSCO, established in Louisville in 1946. Created in 1953 with the addition of a manufacturing plant, the company sold aluminum screens, windows, doors, awnings, porch enclosures and siding. The collection contains sales records, product specifications, customer orders, price lists, and sample books. There are also forms used for home improvement loans from Louisville banks and photographs of the manufacturing process at the Alhom factory. The sales records and other material were generated by Alhom salesman John Ward.

 

Associated Cooperage Industries of America Records, 1929-1974
25.75 linear feet, 1760 slides
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The Tight Stave Association, the Tight Barrel Stave Manufacturers, the National Coopers Association, and the National Slack Cooperage Manufacturers Association merged in 1915 and 1916 to form the Associated Cooperage Industries of America. This collection includes correspondence, reports, and reference materials generated or compiled by the association. There are also many photographs, primarily created in the 1930s. In addition to the printed photographs, the collection contains 1760 photographic slides depicting barrel-making and associated subjects. A nearly complete run of the industry's monthly publication The Wooden Barrel, dating from 1932 to 1974, is also present. Other printed material includes the association's weekly bulletin and miscellaneous booklets and pamphlets. Scrapbooks comprise the final series of the collection.

 

Avery Insurance Inc. Records, 1889-1948
9.75 linear feet
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Avery Insurance was an offshoot of the B. F. Avery and Sons Company, one of the foremost manufacturers of plows and other farm implements in the United States. B. F. Avery also managed the Avery Savings and Loan Association. This collection contains account ledgers and packets of correspondence. The account ledgers cover the time from 1889 to 1936. The correspondence dates from the 1930s and 1940s and reflects the work of W. H. Williamson, an agent for Avery’s in the 1930s and general correspondence of the 1940s.

 

Belknap, Inc. Records, 1847-1985 (bulk 1880-1970)
25 linear feet
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Belknap was a large national hardware distribution company headquartered in Louisville from 1840 to its closing in 1985. The company was a leading Louisville firm from the 1880s to the 1970s. Included in this collection are minutes of the board of directors, stockholder ledgers, annual reports, financial records, newsletters, photographs, employee manuals, and catalogs. Among the photographs are images of periodic Ohio River floods taken near the company's riverside plant.

 

Isaac W. Bernheim Papers, 1852-1971
6.5 linear feet
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Isaac Bernheim, a native of Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1867, followed within two years by his brother, Bernard. Isaac and Bernard established the Bernheim Brothers Distillery in Paducah, Kentucky. In 1888 they moved the company to Louisville. Isaac became known as a civic leader in the local Jewish community and in the city of Louisville. His philanthropic works included the donation of statues of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to the city and the establishment of Bernheim Forest, a nature preserve south of Louisville.

 

Blue Grass Cooperage Co. Records, 1948-1971 (bulk 1948)
.5 linear foot
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Blue Grass Cooperage Company was a subsidiary of Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation. This collection consists of two volumes of job analyses compiled in 1948 (job descriptions and areas of responsibility) for all employees and a folder of company photographs mostly dating in the 1970s.

 

Bourbon Stockyards Records, 1887-1962
30.325 linear feet
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Bourbon Stockyards was the oldest stockyards in the United States, having its start in 1834 as an offshoot of the Bourbon House, a hotel for farmers bringing livestock to town for slaughter. In 1864, the owner built a new facility, and in 1875 incorporated as Bourbon Stock Yard Company. Ownership passed to the Lincoln Finance Company in 1968, and closed in 1999. These records include general correspondence, records of cattle shows, shipping records, American Stockyard Association material, cattle sales and other business records.

 

Brown Bros. & Walker Distillery Records, 1893-1896
.25 linear foot
Account book maintained by William H. Willett, a Bardstown accountant, for a local distillery includes a record of whiskey made, sold, purchasers, and expenses. Other significant records are the business settlement statement and a copy of a portion of a contract between F. G. Walker, C. Brown and John J. Brown.

 

William Little Brown Papers, 1810-1957
.25 linear foot
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William Brown was a Kentucky grist mill operator, Transylvania University student, and early 19th century attorney. Brown's materials were collected by Randle Truett, a historian, lecturer, restorationist and philatelist who served as chief historian for the National Park Service in the Washington, D. C. area. From 1805-1814 Brown kept a diary where he discussed his youth in Tennessee, mill operations, student days at Transylvania, the books he read, his trips, and monetary matters. Only the second volume of the Brown diary is in the collection; a typescript copy of both volumes is included in the collection; along with Truett's biographical and historical notes.

 

Business and Professional Women of Kentucky Records, 1921-2000
23.25 linear feet
The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs was founded in 1919 as an outgrowth of wartime organizing in 1917. Throughout the years, three major issues shaped BPW's legislative agenda: elimination of sex discrimination in employment, the principle of equal pay, and the need for a comprehensive equal rights amendment. The BPW Ky is a state federation of the national group that promotes equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information. The Kentucky federation is divided into 5 regions and the local organizations are the basic units of the state federation and BPW/USA. This collection of 23.25 linear feet documents the history and work of the BPW Ky and many of its regional and local chapters, as well as the organization’s foundation, from its founding in 1920 to 2007. There are notes and minutes, financial records, and membership records covering the annual meetings, the work of the Executive Committee of the statewide organization, and reports from local affiliates. The publication series contains most issues of the state magazine, The Cardinal, from 1927 through 1992, along with other of the organizations manuals and published reports.

 

Business First Collection 1984-1999
.375 linear foot
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Business First: The Top 25 list, 1984-1991; Business First: The Lists, 1992-1994; Business First: The Book of Lists, 1995-1998; Business First supplements: The Metro 100, [1992], 1998; 5th Anniversary Section, August 1989; Minority Enterprise: February 1999

 

M.J. Carnahan Company Records, 1905-1913
.10 linear foot
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M.J. Carnahan Company began as a sawmill in 1881 and was incorporated as Carnahan Manufacturing Company of Loogootee and Shoals, Indiana, in 1904. This collection consists of a small amount of miscellaneous incoming and outgoing business correspondence, including orders and invoices, the overwhelming bulk of which relates to orders placed with Louisville’s Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company. A few items concern the Reynolds-Brooks Hardware Company of Loogootee, a retailer, as well as other wholesale suppliers. These records complement the records of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company.

 

Carrollton (KY) Business and Professional Women’s Club Records, 1982-1984
.375 linear foot
This is one scrapbook documenting the activities the Carrollton Business and Professional Women’s Club for a two-year period.

 

B.F. Cawthon Papers, 1875
1 item (.10 linear foot)
Ben F. Cawthon was a manufacturer of wholesale furniture. This one item is a letterpress book of business correspondence of Cawthon.

 

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company Records, 1921
4 volumes
Collection contains organization record; Plan and agreement dated March 31, 1921; Kuhn, Loeb & Company reorganization managers; Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railway Company to the Equitable Trust Company of New York, trustee; prior lien mortgage, dated, May 1, 1921; Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railway Company to United States Mortgage and Trust Company, trustee. General mortgage dated, May 1, 1921.

 

Commerce, Business & Labor Publications Collection, 1888-c.1954 (bulk 1900-1954)
5.5 linear feet
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The collection consists of pamphlets and publications concerning commerce, business, labor, and international relations. Included are titles such as Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union Report of Proceedings, Illinois State Federation Labor Proceeding of Annual Convention, and United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America: Proceedings.

 

Consumers' League of Kentucky Records, 1901-1951
2 reels microfilm
Two reels of microfilm from the Consumers' League of Kentucky: it includes records of the league's activities. Originals and copyright held by Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

 

Cooperative Welfare Association Records, 1920-1944
.25 linear foot
The Cooperative Welfare Association served as the "company" union for the Louisville Railway Company, a private holder of Louisville's major street rail franchise. These records are minutes kept by that association. The Louisville Railway Company was renamed the Louisville Transit Company in 1950. The private company was succeeded by the Transit Authority of River City (TARC), a public agency, in 1974. An incomplete series of company annual reports are found in the ephemera collection under "annual reports." Other reports and some material on rate hearings are in the city municipal reference file. Other transit company records are housed at the University Archives in the Elmer G. Sulzer Collection and at The Filson Club Historical Society.

 

H.W. Coyte, “History of Kentucky Distilleries,” 1987
1 item, 151 pages
Louisville native Henry W. Coyte (1907-1987) graduated from Male High School and worked for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, but his hobby was the history of distilling. This is a typescript, researched and written by Coyte from the 1940s-1987, on the history of more than 180 distilling operations in thirty-one counties in Kentucky.

 

Craik-Lord-Stitzel Family Papers, 1818-1950s
10 linear feet
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The collection contains letters, business and legal documents, genealogies and clippings, which document the lives of descendants of eighteenth century physician James Craik, and nineteenth century president of Dartmouth College Nathan Lord. Most of the collection concerns Craik's grandson James Craik, who served as rector of Christ Church in Louisville from 1844 to 1881. Another series relates to Nathan S. Lord (1831-1885), the son of the Dartmouth president. A later series contains rail fan publications issued from the 1940s to the 1970s, collected by the donor. The Lord-Stitzel subgroup contains materials relating to phosphate mining in Tennessee and World War I. Some of the records concern activities of the Lord and Stitzel families in operating the Stitzel Distillery.

 

James N. Cunningham Papers, 1918-1968
1 linear foot
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This is a collection of personal papers which include correspondence, financial material, photographs, and news clippings. Cunningham was a member of the Louisville city police and owner of Cunningham's restaurant and a small amount of the collection pertains to this business.

 

Delta Pi Epsilon, Gamma Mu Chapter Records, 1980-2001
1.25 linear feet
Records of the University of Louisville’s chapter (minutes, newsletters, photographs, miscellaneous reports) of a national honorary fraternity for business educators. The UofL chapter became inactive in 2001.

 

Doe-Anderson Scrapbooks, 1919-1928
3 linear feet
Elmer Doe was a recognized and successful figure in the field of advertising and gained many of the leading firms in his region as clients. Doe, formerly creative director for the J. Walter Thompson agency in New York, opened his independent firm in Louisville in 1915. The firm, ultimately known as Doe-Anderson, is the seventh oldest continuously operating advertising agency in the United States. The nine Doe advertising scrapbooks contain ad copy generated by the Doe firm for mostly Louisville area clients during the 1920s and 1930s.

 

LaVal T. Duncan Papers, 1957-1965
.25 linear foot
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LaVal T. Duncan was born in Louisville on October 2, 1907. After attending Simmons University and Ohio State he joined the staff of Mammoth Life Insurance Company in 1934. Through the years he held the positions of field auditor, cashier, assistant Treasurer, Treasurer and Vice President-Treasurer. He also served on the Board of the Red Cross, later Community Hospital and as its chair for three years. This collection of personal papers contains correspondence, board minutes, and other material relating to Red Cross Hospital. Also included are miscellaneous materials gathered from other organizations.

 

Falls City Brewing Company Records, 1905-1990
13.5 linear feet
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Falls City Brewing Company was started in 1905, with a small brewery and ice house. Within a year the company began to produce bottled beer. The company continued with modest growth even through Prohibition, when it sold ice and soft drinks. After Prohibition the company resumed its sales of beer in the Midwest. The company closed in the late 1980s. The collection consists of corporate minute books, annual reports, financial, personnel records, scrapbooks and photographs.

 

Arthur Younger Ford Papers, 1876-1983 (bulk 1883-1926)
2.125 linear feet
Arthur Younger Ford was the seventh president of the University of Louisville, serving from 1914 to 1926. This collection contains the letters, clippings, scrapbooks, speeches, and diaries concerning the life of Ford, beginning with his student days at Brown University (circa 1883), and covers primarily his work as a Louisville journalist, businessman, and university president.

 

Green Farms Records, 1831-1965 (bulk 1890-1960)
61 linear feet
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What started as a small farm developed into a major mercantile enterprise with the Green Farms involved in farming, lumbering, milling, banking, and stock breeding enterprises in Grayson County, Kentucky. Its records are a microcosm of marketing and distribution methods and other developments in Kentucky agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Chiefly business correspondence, account books and other administrative records, and legal documents relating to loans, investments, and land purchases; together with personal correspondence and photos of the Green family.

 

S.A. Griffin Papers, 1971
.25 linear foot
S.A. Griffin was a native of Castalian Springs, Summer County, in rural Tennessee. This is a typescript autobiography by Griffin written in two parts: A Country Bo, and My Fifty Year Service with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company (1910-1960), also named Working on the Railroad.

 

H.C. Griswold Papers, 1889-1931
5.125 linear feet
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H.C. Griswold was an employee of the Louisville and Nashville railroad engineering department and later a steel rail salesman. The collection includes iron and steel publications, coal industry material, and trackman's manuals. There is also personal correspondence and materials relating to Griswold's brother-in-law, Henry Clay Bretney, and Bretney's father, Captain Henry C. Bretney, who served in the Dakota Territory from 1863 to 1865.

 

Maurice Grossman Papers, 1917-1972
1.75 linear feet
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Maurice Grossman was born in Louisville on December 23, 1903. After graduating from high school in 1920 he went to work for YMHA, now the Jewish Community Center. In 1935 he opened a department store in Lexington. In 1937 he returned to Louisville for health reason and opened a department store in Louisville in 1943, which he operated until 1965. From 1965 until his retirement in 1970 he worked for the county government. He was active in the Boy Scouts, and in B'nai B'rith. The papers include material relating to Grossman's work with B'nai B'rith, the Boy Scouts of America, and newspaper clippings and pamphlets written about his career, his son's career, important historical events, and Middletown, Kentucky, the location of his business.

 

William L. Grubbs L&N Railroad Collection, 1869-1975
2.625 linear feet
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William L. Grubbs was a Vice President and General Counsel of the L&N Railroad. He joined the Law Department in 1919 and retired from the railroad in 1970. The collection includes publications, reports, and articles collected by Grubbs during his tenure at the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and most relate to the L&N Railroad.

 

Christine Hesse Papers, 1932-1989
.375 linear foot
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Christine Hesse worked as a secretary for Dun and Bradstreet for forty-five years. The collection contains diaries, photographs, literary productions, and incoming correspondence. The latter was written by soldiers serving during World War II.

 

International Association of Administrative Professionals Records, 1943-1996
25.5 linear feet
This record group includes secretaries' records for the organization from 1943 to 1979; membership files dating from 1946 to 1981; presidents' files, 1973-1974; newsletters, 1975-1982; board minutes, 1974-1978; Secretaries' Week records, 1965-1980; and financial records, 1978-1982. The organization was formerly known as the Professional Secretaries Association and the National Secretaries Association. The group changed its name to Professional Secretaries International in 1981 and became the IAAP in the 1990s. Local members formed the Louisville chapter in 1952.

 

Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, Sigma Chapter, Records, 1932-1993
.25 linear foot
Membership lists, agendas, bylaw, newsletters, Journal, and workbook of local chapter of an African American women’s business and professional organization.

 

Jennings Family Papers, 1855-1884
.867 linear foot
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The records of the Jennings family of Oldham County, Kentucky, consist largely of business records from various family enterprises in the town of Westport. Spanning the years 1855-1884, most of the ledgers, account books and receipts belonged to T. W. Jennings, proprietor of the Westport Wharf Boat and a large grocery and dry goods store. One of the ledgers records merchandise received by Jennings from 1878 to 1884 via river packet. The steamer Maggie Harper of the Madison and Louisville Packet Company appeared to carry the most goods to Jennings, but he occasionally dealt with other boats. There are also two books, covering the period 1863-1864, which list the receipts of Anchor Mills, apparently a local grist mill in which Jennings was involved. A scrapbook, presumably kept in the 1870s by one of Jennings' children, was fashioned from a used receipt book.

 

Kentucky Child Labor Association Records, 1899-1925
.75 linear foot
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A group of concerned citizens formed the Kentucky Child Labor Association as a corporation, in Louisville, in 1906. Membership was comprised of citizens from throughout Kentucky who were elected by the executive committee and who paid the annual fee of one dollar. The purposes of the KCLA were to promote the welfare of society with respect to the employment of children in money-making occupations, to investigate facts concerning child labor, to educate the public, and to protect children by promoting suitable legislation. The KCLA also wanted to aid in enforcing these laws and to secure for children opportunities for elementary education. The records collection includes a bound volume of the articles and minutes of the KCLA, dating from December 12, 1906 through November 18, 1925 (this providing the most detailed account of the KCLA of all the material); by-laws of the Juvenile Court, including an "Adult Responsibility Law"; and addresses on the topic of child labor by various individuals.

 

Kentucky Federation of Business and Professional Women Records, 1920-1987
16.5 linear feet
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When representatives from local Business and Professional Women’s clubs around the state met in 1921, the Kentucky Federation of Business and Professional Women was formed. The objectives of the Federation were to elevate standards and promote interests of all business and professional women. They did this by providing opportunities for women through education in industrial, scientific, and vocational activities. These records document the activities of the federation and include legal and financial records, organizational records, membership information, publications, public relations materials, and memorabilia.

 

Kentucky Report and KEN, 1954-1965
2 linear feet
Kentucky Report was a newsletter of Kentucky business, economic and political affairs, originally published bimonthly. In 1956 it became a weekly, then ceased publication in 1965. Many issues included a special quotation sheet of Louisville over-the-counter stocks.

 

Walton King Papers, 1930s-1970s (bulk 1961-1979s)
9 linear feet
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These papers include studies, reports (some involving King or generated by King), to improve L&N operations, as well as proposals made by railroad equipment suppliers.

 

Douglas Krawczyk Papers, 1978
1.25 linear feet
The papers consist of research materials gathered by Krawczyk for his master's thesis, "The City of Louisville and the L & N RR Co." Included are photocopies of laws, charters, railroad annual reports, and excerpts from L & N histories. There are also copies of meeting minutes created by city government and the railroad.

 

Sara Landau Papers 1893-1986 (bulk 1910-1986)
38 linear feet
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Sara Landau was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1890, the daughter of Polish immigrants. She attended high school in Louisiana, and moved to Louisville with her family around 1914. She received her bachelor's degree (1920) and master’s degree (1921) from the University of Louisville, both in economics. She helped found and served as the first president for the university’s chapter of Pi Beta Phi. She joined the faculty as an undergraduate, then became an Assistant Professor of Economics in 1926, and also served as Assistant Dean of Women. She pursued doctoral studies at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago, and taught at several other institutions, including Berea College in Eastern Kentucky. She retired from Berea in 1964, at the age of 72, and died in 1986. The collection documents Sara Landau's life as a teacher, world traveler, economist, and enthusiast for life. It includes research and reference materials focusing on economics, as well as materials relating to her teaching. There are also diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and two audio recordings, including an oral history.

 

Levy Brothers Records, 1883-1950
.15 linear foot
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Bills, correspondence, and photographs concerning M. Levy and Brothers, Men’s and Boys Furnishings store, Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Louisville Bridge and Iron Co. Records, 1865-1986 (bulk 1920-1970s)
50 linear feet
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This collection contains a sampling of the records of the Louisville Bridge and Iron Company, including photographs, books, papers, and blueprint drawings. The records are technical, financial, and legal.

 

Louisville Chamber of Commerce Records, 1862-1991
16 linear feet
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This collection contains the records of the Chamber of Commerce and some of the organizations that merged to form it in 1950. It includes the Louisville Area Development Association, the Louisville Board of Trade, and the Louisville Retail Merchants Association. This collection also contains the records of the Louisville Commercial Club and the "Committee of 100" which recommended merger of Louisville and Jefferson County in 1957. Also contains pamphlets.

 

Louisville & Nashville Railroad Records, 1829-1981
255 linear feet
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Chartered in 1850 and also known as the L & N Railroad, it was a small regional railroad until after the Civil War when it underwent expansion into a major Midwestern and Southern area railroad stretching from Louisville, to Atlanta, to Louisiana and northward to Chicago. The railroad played a major role in the rise of Southern industry. The growth of the steel industry and the development of the eastern Kentucky coal fields were dependent upon the services and financial support of the railroads. Since the 1960s it has undergone a series of mergers until finally becoming part of the CSX Transportation system. The collection contains executive correspondence (1902-1961); board minutes (1859-1976) of the railroad and its subsidiaries; annual and other company reports (1856-1980); leases, deeds, equipment trust contracts, and other records (19th century) of the law department; financial records; indexed company magazines (1925-1981); timetables, brochures, scrapbooks, architectural and mechanical drawings, maps, audio discs, films, land photos. There are also minutes, annual reports, and legal documents from nearly 100 early Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other southern railroads. Topics covered include real estate transactions in southern and midwestern states, construction and maintenance of track, bridges, and terminals, relations with shippers, suppliers, and financiers, manufacture of locomotives and rolling stock, state and national regulation, wartime nationalization, transition from steam to diesel power, decline of passenger service The collection documents the relationship between the railroad and the city of Louisville, and industrialization of the New South, including north Alabama steel manufacture and eastern Kentucky coal mining.

 

Louisville Board of Realtors Records
Meeting Minutes, 1910-1975, 6 reels microfilm
Reference Collection, 1979, .25 linear foot
The Louisville Board of Realtors, formerly named the Louisville Real Estate Board, came into being in 1913 with the merger of the Real Estate Exchange of Louisville and the Louisville Real Estate Association. The board assumed its present name in 1966. The microfilm contains the meeting minutes of the Real Estate Exchange of Louisville from 1910 to 1914, and the meeting minutes of the Louisville Real Estate Board, later the Louisville Board of Realtors. Included are both the board's regular meeting minutes and the minutes of the special meetings of its board of directors. A brief history of the board is included in the introduction to reel one. The reference collection contains materials use for researching a history of the Board of Realtors in 1979.

 

Louisville Gas & Electric Company Records, 1954-1966
.25 linear foot
The collection contains copies of a newsletter, "Light, Heat, Power," issued by LG&E for consumers. The newsletters documented technological developments, provided employee news, promoted new appliances, and included household hints and recipes.

 

Louisville, Henderson, & St. Louis Railway Records, 1887-1891
.25 linear foot
The Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis was chartered in 1882 and became a subsidiary of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1905. It was sometimes called the Texas line as its original name was Louisville, Henderson and Texas. The collection contains 2 folders of business correspondence for the period 1887-1891 between W.V. McCracken, builder of the Louisville, Henderson, & St. Louis Railroad Co., and James P. Helm, an attorney for the company.

 

Louisville Jr. Board of Trade Scrapbooks, 1946-1947
The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings and photographs of activities of the Louisville Junior Board of Trade.

 

Louisville Paint and Varnish Production Club Records, 1917-1953
.25 linear feet
The club was founded in 1917 as the Louisville Superintendents Club and was known from 1929 to 1932 as the Louisville Production Men's Club. The group met bi-monthly to socialize and hear a paper concerning some aspect of coatings production. The papers were to offer practical technical information and experience and to discuss technical research aimed to solve problems in the area.

 

Louisville Railway Company (TARC) Records, 1920-1970
.25 linear foot
Annual reports from the Louisville Railway Company. The Louisville Railway Company was a private holder of Louisville's major street rail franchise. Founded in 1890 as a merger between Louisville City Railway and the Central Passenger Railway, the company changed its name to the Louisville Transit Company in 1950. In 1974, public transit became the purview of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC), a public agency. This collection contains reports for 1920, 1929, 1935-1939, 1940-1941, 1943, 1947-1957, 1964, 1966, 1968-1970 only (a total of 26 reports).

 

John Manning Papers, circa 1940s-1977
3.5 linear feet
Manning's teaching career spanned forty years from the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s. He taught at the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Vanderbilt University during his career. The collection includes Manning's master's thesis and doctoral dissertation as well as his lecture notes for classes in American economic history, public finance, and political science.

 

John Marshall, Jr. Papers, 1810-1977, bulk 1930-1960
3.75 linear feet
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John Marshall was the son of John Marshall, a former lieutenant governor of Kentucky. A native of Anchorage, Kentucky, the younger Marshall attended Williams College, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1922. He went into practicing law and in 1934 he was appointed standing master in the chancery of the U.S. District Court for Western Kentucky. From 1945 to 1947 he served as special judge for the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Marshall died on September 12, 1977. The collection documents his sports interests and his extensive business interests which included the First National Bank in Louisville. Also included are papers relating to the Marshall family; personal correspondence, diaries, logs and clippings.

 

Monon Railroad Records, 1863-1953
8.85 linear feet
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The Monon's earliest predecessor, the New Albany and Salem Railroad Company, was organized in 1847, making it one of the pioneer lines of the Midwest. In 1859 the line was reorganized as the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railroad. The line developed into a distinctive x-shaped pattern across Indiana. In 1897 it reorganized again as the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway Company. The line changed its name to Monon in 1956. In 1902 the Louisville and Nashville acquired a controlling portion of the line's stock and finally absorbed the line in 1971. The collection includes 14 scrapbooks of company circulars and news clippings (1880-1953); miscellaneous business ledgers and journals (1864-1901); and a centennial song (sheet music - 1947).

 

Frank L. Moorman, Sr. Scrapbook, 1879-1976
1 reel of microfilm
Frank L. Moorman, Sr., grandson of a slave, was born in Daviess County, Kentucky. He established the Central Drug Company at the corner of Sixth and Walnut (now Muhammad Ali Boulevard) in Louisville with Dr. J.C. McDonald in 1932. They also opened the F&M Service Station at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets in 1937. The station eventually became Frank’s Super Station as a franchise of Standard Oil Company.
The microfilm is of an eighty-seven page scrapbook that included photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. The bulk of the material concerns Moorman’s business career and property ownership in Louisville, African American life in Louisville from the 1930s to the 1970s, and the Urban Renewal Project for the West Walnut St. area in the early 1960s. There is also some family information and correspondence about Moorman's grandmother, Dora Moorman, who claimed to be the founder of the Buckhorn Community in Daviess County.

 

Nashville, Chattanooga, & St. Louis Railway Records, 1845-1960
9.5 linear feet
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This historically important railroad was chartered by Tennessee in 1845 as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company and was known popularly as "The Nashville". It was reorganized only once in 1873, renamed the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway and operated successfully thereafter in an era when many railroads failed. It never reached St. Louis, but stretched from Paducah, Kentucky, to Atlanta, with branches crisscrossing Tennessee. The railway was bought by the Louisville and Nashville in 1880 and was finally merged with that company in 1956. The collection includes charters, bylaws and financing records of the early company; legal records, annual reports, and company magazines from the late 1890s until 1956. Also included are collections of historical files and files relating to other rail lines.

 

Professional Secretaries International SEE International Association of Administrative Assistants

 

Proof, Joseph E. Seagrams and Sons, 1941-1952
1 linear foot
Proof was a monthly newsletter published by the Louisville-based distilling company, Joseph E. Seagrams and Sons from at least 1941-1952. Initially it was only a four-page publication, but later issues were expanded and some are much as thirty pages in length. Contents include articles about the company’s production and sales and the beverage alcohol industry and related industries, as well as general interest stories of general interest. This set of bound issues of Proof includes Volumes 1–9 and 11-12.

 

Purchasing Agents Association Records, 1956-1962
.10 linear foot
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The association was affiliated with the National Association of Purchasing Agents. It was organized in 1924. The association was affiliated with the National Association of Purchasing Agents. It was organized in 1924. Four volumes of pictorial rosters for the years 1956-1957; 1959-1960; 1960-1961; and 1961-1962. Included are the organization's constitution and the standards for the profession.

 

Archie M. Quarrier Letterbooks, 1841-1900
2.5 linear feet
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Archie M. Quarrier, a native of West Virginia, moved to Louisville during his adolescence. He joined the L&N in 1858 and became second vice president for finance in 1884, holding that position until his death in 1900. When the railroad’s corporate headquarters relocated to New York City in 1891, Quarrier moved there. These are four letterbooks of Quarrier's letters spanning the years 1891 to 1900 during his tenure as second vice president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Most of the letters discuss personal and family matters but some letters especially to his brother Cushman, who was the L&N's controller, mention railroad business.

 

Rebecca and Mary Shoppe Records, 1942-1947
.5 linear feet
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These papers contain the business records of the Rebecca and Mary Shoppe, a women's clothing store.

 

Smith-McGill Family Papers, 1897-1978
9.25 linear feet
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James Edward Smith (1883-1969) and his family were influential members of Louisville’s African American community. Smith co-founded the Domestic Life and Accident Company in 1920 and served as president of the National Negro Insurance Association; upon retiring in 1962, he founded a loan company, the Fidelity Industrial Plan. He was a member of the Falls City Chamber of Commerce, the Urban League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Politically active, he served on the Jefferson County Kentucky Democratic executive committee, as a delegate to the 1964 Democratic national convention, and as State Representative from Kentucky’s 42nd District (in Louisville) from 1964 to 1968. Like her husband, Verna Smith (1889-1966), was an active in the Democratic Party on the local and national levels. Charlotte Smith McGill ([1919]-1988) shared her parents’ participation in government and politics, filling out a term in the state legislature upon the death of her husband, Hughes McGill, and consequently being elected to her own three full terms. For many years she was vice-chair of the Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee. This collection of family papers includes personal and business correspondence, financial and legal documents, printed material, scrapbooks, and photographs dating from 1879 to 1978 that document the family’s commitment to their church and community. James Edward Smith’s papers are the strongest portion of the collection, with information about his personal and business interests.

 

Frank L. Stanley Papers, 1936-1974
41.75 linear feet
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Frank L. Stanley, Sr. (1906-1974) was editor, general manager, and publisher of the African American newspaper, the Louisville Defender for thirty-eight years. He was also involved with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the Kentucky Human Rights Commission, and twice inspected troop conditions overseas for the U.S. government. This collection consists of Stanley’s personal papers while he was editor of the Defender, as well as the office records of the newspaper, including his correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia. The 25,000 photographic images from this collection are preserved at the Photographic Archives.

 

Elmer Sulzer Papers, 1839-1978
110 linear feet
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Elmer Griffith Sulzer had a distinguished career as a college professor at the University of Kentucky and Indiana University. He was a multifaceted individual with interests from jazz to geology. As he grew older his writing more and more reflected his life-long love of trains and their history. Sulzer collected railroadiana everywhere he went, both domestically and internationally, and wrote five books and more than fifty articles on rail topics for railroad specialized journals. He was a leading expert on abandoned rail lines. This collection consists of both the reference library on the subject of American and foreign railroads he assembled and work he himself generated. The collection contains: correspondence, literary productions, photographs and illustrations, railroad business records including pay books, ledgers, rule books, reports, timetables, maps, diagrams, surveys and other operating records, books, railroad periodicals, reprints of articles and excerpts from books, pamphlets and brochures, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia. Some of the railroads included are: Monon; Illinois Central; Louisville and Nashville; Louisville Railway Company; Southern Railway; Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific; Penn Central; Pennsylvania; and Chesapeake and Ohio.

 

A.L.M. Wiggins Papers, 1833-1973 (bulk 1948-1973)
36.125 linear feet
A.L.M. Wiggins was the fourth person to hold the dual positions of chairman of the board of directors of the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company (L&N) since the companies' affiliation in 1902. This collection contains railroad annual reports, correspondence, and board of directors’ documents, along with financial and legal records, department reports, and reference materials for the ACL and the L&N along with some materials from other railroads,, including the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, the Clinchfield, the Charleston & Western Carolina, the Western Railroad of Alabama, the Georgia Railroad, and the Seaboard Coast Line.