Collections · African American History Initiative
A permanent program of collecting, processing, and access.
Launched publicly in 2023 and a permanent component of the Department of Collections and Research, the AAHI dedicates staff, space, and acquisitions funding to expanding the Filson's holdings of Black Kentucky and Ohio Valley history.
Why this work
Filling a record that was never complete.
For most of the Filson’s history, the Black Kentucky and Ohio Valley experience — family papers, business records, photographs, civic and church organizational archives, the records of the people who built the Commonwealth alongside its better-known names — was under-collected. The African American History Initiative is the institutional response to that gap. It is permanent, it is staffed, and it is public-facing.
The program operates across the Filson’s manuscript, photograph, and museum collections. Acquisitions are reviewed alongside the Department of Collections and Research; processed materials enter the same finding aids and reading-room workflows as everything else in the stacks. The exhibit This… Is Black Louisville draws directly from this material.
What the initiative funds
Three lines of work.
Collecting
Acquisitions
Family papers, business and church records, photographs, civic organizational archives, and oral history projects — sourced through community partnerships across Louisville and the Commonwealth.
Processing
Cataloging & finding aids
Dedicated cataloging staff and funded annual internships, so newly acquired material moves into the public catalog and finding aids on a known timeline rather than sitting in backlog.
Access
Programs & exhibits
Public programs, the long-running exhibit This… Is Black Louisville, and partnerships with educators and community historians who use the collection in their own work.
Leadership
Jacqueline Hudson, Ph.D.
African American History Program Manager
Dr. Hudson leads the initiative day-to-day — cultivating donors of family and organizational papers, working with the cataloging team to keep the processing pipeline moving, and partnering with educators, community historians, and artists who draw on the collection.
Researchers, descendants of families with material to consider donating, educators, and partner organizations are all welcome to be in touch directly.
Endowment campaign
$3.2 million raised toward a $3.5 million goal.
The AAHI is supported by a $3.5 million campaign for operational support and a permanent endowment. To date, the Filson has received more than $3.2 million in contributions and commitments — including an $82,000 Brown-Forman Foundation grant for initial operational funding. The endowment ensures the program is permanent: a salaried program manager, dedicated cataloging staff, and funded internships, sustained year over year.
91% of $3.5M goal · source: filsonhistorical.org/collections/aahi
Inside the stacks
Black creators in the Filson’s manuscript collections.
A starting list of named manuscript collections by Black Kentuckians. Many other Filson collections include important material on Black history; this is a curated highlight from the AAHI’s public-facing list.
- Matthews Family Papers (1912–1941)
- Plato Family Papers (1924–1967)
- Charlene Hampton Holloway Papers (1935–2020)
- Carridder Jones Collection (2000–2002)
- Carridder Jones Added Papers (1916–2016)
- Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America Records (1911–1946)
- Mervin Aubespin Papers (1910–2020, bulk 1980–2015)
- Jesse Bell Papers
- Faith Pillow Papers
- Margaret Smith Papers
- Singleton Family Papers (1907–1983)
- Julian G. Brooks Letters
For African American genealogy specifically, see the Filson’s African American Genealogy research guide ↗.
Online digital collections & exhibits
Eight ways to start using the collection right now.
- Sanders-Bullitt Family Papers (collection)
- I Scream America: Enslaved People at Oxmoor Plantation (exhibit)
- The Incomparable Helen Humes — Louisville's jazz and blues legend
- Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company Records
- Mammoth Life Insurance Company exhibit
- Cecelia Larrison: A Story of Self-Liberation
- Women at Work — sections on Eliza Tevis, Dinnie Thompson, Lucie DuValle
- Plymouth Congregational Church (Louisville) records
Recorded lectures
Seven Black-history programs from the Filson’s lecture archive.
Full Black-history playlist on the Filson YouTube channel ↗.
- “The Gospel of Freedom: Black Evangelicals and the Underground Railroad”
Alicestyne Turley
- “Beyond Slavery's Shadow: Free People of Color in the South”
Warren E. Milteer Jr.
- “Kentucky Juneteenth: A Public Dialogue”
Dr. Patrick Lewis
- “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America”
Dr. Marcia Chatelain
- “A Way Forward on Race”
Dr. Teresa Reed
- “The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown”
Michael L. Jones
- “The Kentucky African American Civil War Soldiers Project”
Dan Gediman
Get involved
Donate materials, support the work, or use the collection.
The initiative grows with the people who entrust the Filson with their family’s and community’s records, and with the donors who underwrite cataloging and access. Researchers and educators are welcome at the reading room.