California Genealogical Society blog: CGS Library Collections: Kentucky

The Filson Historical Quarterly

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of our books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog. Our catalog is also included in WorldCat.

Anyone who happened to be in the library the day I was doing my research for this post would have heard my exclamations as I scanned our shelves looking for the start and end points of our Kentucky books. It just kept going, and going, and going. In total there are 17 shelf lengths of books and journals for Kentucky – who woulda’ thought we’d have such an extensive assemblage for this southern state? It made me think that we should approach the Oakland Visitors Bureau and suggest that they promote our library to entice tourists from every state in the nation.

There are sixteen boxes of The Filson Club Historical Quarterly journals from 1936 to 2002. The cover of volume 76 from the Winter of 2002 features a photo of Robert Kennedy. Within is an article that also discusses his father, Joseph Kennedy. The same issue has an article about Joe McCarthy - but not the one you might first think of. This article, "Colonia Cousins," is about Joe McCarthy and Izzy Goodman – two notable Kentucky sports figures.

The Filson Historical Society has a large photo
collection

We also have a Guide to Selected Manuscript and Photographic Collections of The Filson Club Historical Society. The introduction of this source book tells us that the Filson Club has been collecting manuscripts since soon after its founding in 1884, and that it has amassed “a large and important collection of historical manuscripts.” They claim to “possess the finest collection of pioneer, antebellum, and Civil War manuscripts in Kentucky.” They also have information on women’s studies and African Americans.

Stockading Up offers comprehensive
information about Kentucky's frontier
defense system

What stands out on our Kentucky shelves are 57 volumes of the Register of Kentucky State Historical Society starting with volume one in 1903 and continuing right up to 2018. It is an impressive mostly hard-cover collection.

The last book I looked at was Stockading Up: A Study of Pioneer Stations in the Inner Bluegrass Region of Kentucky by Nancy O’Malley. This is an archaeological report published in 1987. It appears to be an exhaustive study of frontier defense sites, organized by county. In Bourbon County alone there were eighteen stations that are described in the book. Many of the stations include a topographical map. For anyone with Kentucky ancestors this could be a valuable source book.