About the Filson
An independent historical society. Founded in 1884.
Ten Louisvillians, led by Reuben T. Durrett, founded the Filson on May 15, 1884 — and named it for John Filson, Kentucky's first historian. We've been collecting and keeping the story of the Ohio Valley ever since.
Our mission
Collect. Preserve. Share.
The Filson Historical Society collects, preserves, and shares the significant history and culture of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley. We are an educational institution at heart — we exist so that the past of this place is available to the people who live in it now and the researchers who come looking from elsewhere.
We are independent and member-supported. The doors are open to the public. The research room is free to use. The exhibits cost nothing to visit. That has been the working principle of the Filson since the 1880s, and it is still how we operate today.
141 years
A short history of the Filson.
1884
Founded by ten Louisvillians.
On May 15, Reuben T. Durrett gathered nine other men in his Louisville library and chartered The Filson Club — named for John Filson, the surveyor and schoolteacher whose 1784 book first introduced Kentucky to the wider world. Durrett's home library, with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, became the Filson's first headquarters.
1893
The Filson Club History Quarterly.
The Filson begins publishing its scholarly journal — one of the longest continuously published state historical journals in the country. Today it appears as Ohio Valley History, jointly produced with the Cincinnati Museum Center.
1986
Move to the Ferguson Mansion.
The Filson moves into the 1905 Beaux-Arts mansion at 1310 South Third Street, designed by Cobb & Dodd — the Louisville firm also responsible for the Seelbach Hotel and the Kentucky State Capitol. The building has been the Filson's home ever since.
2008
Renamed The Filson Historical Society.
The institution drops “Club” from its name to reflect what it had long since become: an independent historical society serving the entire Ohio Valley region, not a private club.
2025
A new chapter.
Patrick Lewis — historian, Kentuckian, and longtime steward of the Commonwealth's institutional memory — becomes the Filson's President & CEO, leading the society into its 142nd year.
Leadership
The people who keep the Filson open.
The Filson is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and led day-to-day by a small professional staff of librarians, curators, and educators.
Executive
Patrick Lewis
President & Chief Executive Officer
Board officers (2026)
Angela Edwards
Chair
James D. Kenney III
Secretary
Beth Wiseman
Treasurer
Phillip Bond
Assistant Treasurer
Selected board members
Ben Chandler · Emily Bingham · Daniel Gifford, Ph.D. · Stuart Goldberg · Alan Kamei · Michael Jones, and twenty-five additional directors representing law, medicine, scholarship, and civic life across the Commonwealth.
The Ferguson Mansion
A Beaux-Arts house in Old Louisville, repurposed as a working library.
Edwin Hite Ferguson commissioned Cobb & Dodd to design his family home in 1901. The mansion was finished in 1905 and remained a private residence for most of the twentieth century. The Filson acquired it in 1986 and adapted the interior to serve as gallery, classroom, reading room, and stacks — while preserving the public rooms much as Ferguson knew them.
Learn more about the building
Get in touch
Questions, research requests, or a visit to plan?
Call (502) 635-5083, email info@filsonhistorical.com, or stop by during open hours.