The Filson Historical Society · Est. 1884
Kentucky’s story,
kept in trust
since 1884.
An independent library, museum, and research center in Louisville. Two million manuscripts, fifty thousand books, and the people who built the Ohio Valley — gathered, kept, and offered to anyone who comes looking.
- 2.1M
- Manuscripts
- 50K+
- Books & journals
- 141
- Years preserving Kentucky
What we do
A library. A museum. A meeting place.
The Filson collects the materials of Ohio Valley history — and then puts them to work, in the hands of researchers, students, educators, and anyone curious about where this place came from.
Visit
The Ferguson Mansion
Our home since 1986 — a 1905 Beaux-Arts mansion in Old Louisville. Tour the building, see what's on exhibit, and step into the research library.
Plan your visitResearch
2.1 million manuscripts
Letters, diaries, business records, photographs, maps, and rare books spanning four centuries of Ohio Valley history. Open to the public, free of charge.
Search the catalogPrograms
Lectures, classes, conversation
The Holmberg Lecture Series brings leading historians to Louisville. Add seminars, exhibitions, and member-only previews throughout the year.
See what's on
The James J. Holmberg Lecture Series
Three decades of historians at the Filson.
Named for the Filson’s longtime curator of special collections, the Holmberg series brings leading scholars to Louisville for free public conversations — biographers, archivists, and the historians who shape how we understand the American interior.
Member-supported
The Filson is kept open by the people who use it.
Membership underwrites the work of preservation — climate control in the stacks, conservators at the bench, and the doors open to every researcher who needs them. Starting at $30 for educators and students.