LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) — David Yates announced Monday that the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office has partnered with the The Filson Historical Society to preserve and catalog a vast collection of historic documents, books and papers dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Officials said the materials could offer important historical context about slavery in Louisville and across Kentucky.
Yates said the records had been stored in multiple locations and were discovered shortly after he took office at the end of 2025. The documents were found at the Louisville Mega Cavern and Louisville Gardens.
He said officials are still determining exactly what the collection contains.
“There’s tens of thousands of records, and we don’t know what we don’t know, and so we are just starting piece by piece. Luckily we have some of the best professionals in the country here, and they’ll be working with us,” Yates said. “They seemed extremely optimistic about what will be discovered, and this is about the people and everything that will be done we’re gonna make sure that it’s done for research and understanding family lineage.”
The clerk’s office enlisted The Filson Historical Society to assess and inventory the extensive collection, which includes deeds, marriage licenses and wills.
Leaders at the society said the documents could reveal new details about the slave trade during that era and may even help identify enslaved individuals.
“This is absolutely going to be something where we bring in a number of project staff that are going to be working specifically on this,” said Patrick Lewis, president and CEO of The Filson Historical Society. “There’s a lot to consider here both during the archival search — there’s the preservation, making sure the books are clean and stored properly and not moldy, are bound well and can be accessed.”
As archivists process the records, they will add them to a database that will soon be made available for public access.
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