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Extent: 1 Reel of microfilm
Ben Kelly was a native of Louisville and a resident of the West End for many years before he moved to eastern suburb of Jeffersontown, where he was elected to the town council. He was Jefferson County's first appointed purchasing agent. Kelly served as secretary for local campaign committees for the elections of James E. Grinstead as Louisville mayor, Walter Evans for Congress, and William Howard Taft for U.S. president. The microfilm reproduces two clipping scrapbooks compiled by Kelly in the 1890s, which contain poetry, documents relating to social functions sponsored by Louisville fraternal and labor organizations, a typescript recollection of the history of Kentucky's whiskey gaugers from the 1870s to the 1910s and clippings, with some correspondence concerning local Republican Party activities. Some of the latter material discusses the participation of the American Protective Association, an anti- Catholic group, in the local Republican Party. There are also loose clippings concerning local politics from the 1890s to the 1940s.
Extent: 5.5 linear feet
Formed in 1961, the non-partisan Kentucky Government Council studied various state problems, bringing the findings to the attention of the public and recommending action, based on research, to state officials. For almost fifteen years, the organization's primary interests focused on the management and fiscal problems of the commonwealth. Its projects included recommendations concerning the state's merit system for hiring employees, a study of the state highway construction program, an analysis of the state debt structure, and support for the formation of the Council on Public Higher Education. The organization disbanded in 1976. The records include legal documents, minutes, bulletins to members, correspondence, financial records, and membership lists.
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Extent: 2 linear feet
Kentucky Report was a newsletter of Kentucky business, economic, and political affairs. It was originally published bimonthly from its inception in September 1954. Two years later it became a weekly. It ceased publication in 1965. Subscribers also received KEN: A Magazine of Kentucky Affairs, a biographical supplement, from July 1955 to October 1964. KEN profiled business people with short stories about them and their companies.
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Extent: 2.376 linear feet
Arthur S. Kling was a Louisville community leader, active with the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Vocational Service, Kentucky Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Democratic Action and the Socialist Party. In 1935, Kling unsuccessfully campaigned as the Socialist Party candidate for mayor of Louisville. This collection contains correspondence, minutes, membership lists, newspaper clippings, and other papers dealing with the organizations with which Kling was involved as well as campaign buttons and posters.
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Extent: 53 linear feet
Founded in 1920, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization with two main purposes: to encourage the informed and active participation of citizens in government and to influence public policy through education and advocacy. With more than a hundred thousand members and supporters nationwide, the League of Women Voters works at the local, state, and national levels, paralleling the levels of American government. It is organized in more than one thousand communities, in all fifty states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The league's hallmark is its unique grassroots approach to study and action, with all positions taken based on nationwide study, and consensus among members. Members may join through any level of the league, and with membership comes the opportunity to work on local, state, regional, and national public policy issues. Local leagues set their local programs, priorities and dues; state leagues set the statewide agenda.
Also organized in 1920, the League of Women Voters of Louisville/Jefferson County has been an active organization throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries. This collection includes administrative material, reference files, minutes, news clippings, and publications documenting the activities of the local chapter of the League from 1920 through 1980.
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Extent: 16 linear feet
These are the records of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce and some of the other organizations that merged to form it in 1950, including Louisville Area Development Association, Louisville Board of Trade, and the Louisville Retail Merchants Association. Also included are records from the Louisville Commercial Club and the "Committee of 100," which recommended city-county merger in 1957. There is also an addition 3.75 linear feet of reports and studies dated 1944-1972.
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Extent: 13 binders
Annual reports from comptroller, Dept. of Finance, Law Dept, city hospital, mayor, police and public safety, public health, public welfare, Louisville Water Co., misc.
Extent: 8 linear feet
Clippings, instruction booklets, guides, payroll list, early record books, police bulletins
Extent: .75 linear feet
On government, education, housing, mental health care and traffic
Extent: 1.25 linear feet
This collection consists of local government publications on urban renewal, collected by the U of L Urban and Public Affairs program.
Extent: .375 linear feet
This scrapbook contains newspaper clippings on education, annexation, growth of suburbs, economic development, public policy, and neighborhoods in the Louisville metropolitan area.