General collection

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Ms. Abney recounts her experiences working on airplanes at Curtiss-Wright, including the training she received at Ahrens Trade School. She discusses working conditions, women’s expectations with regard to the closing of the plant at the end of the war, and her perception of the influence these experiences had on women working outside home after the war.

Working for women's issues and women's rights.

Interview with bluegrass musician Berk Bryant.

Interview with bluegrass musician Berk Bryant.

Interview with bluegrass musician Berk Bryant.

Interview with bluegrass musician Berk Bryant.

Veterans History Project

Mr. Clay discusses growing up in segregated Louisville and the influence his mother, a teacher, and his father, who held several jobs, had on his life. He discusses the heyday of the black business district on Walnut Street and the activities he would engage in there as a child. Mr. Clay then discusses his education in Ohio and Louisville, where he attended Bellarmine College. He explains his involvement with the Poverty Project and other community based improvement programs in Louisville. Mr. Clay describes the shop he opened in 1967 called The Corner of Jazz which became an important local center for African American gatherings and discussions. He discusses the events leading up to the civil disturbance on May 29th 1968 and his personal experiences during that event. Summary available.

Eighty-eight year old J. W. Everett of Indianapolis, IN recalled his childhood and youth in Louisville, KY in the Black Hill and Beecher Terrace neighborhoods in the 1940s and early 1950s. At age eight, his family had moved from sub-standard housing in the area of Eleventh and Magnolia to the brand-new public housing project called Beecher Terrace, which in that era was segregated for African-Americans. Everett recalls his child there as safe and care-free with the community caring for one-another. In addition, he touches on his school years at Coleridge Taylor Elementary, Madison Junior High, and especially Central High, where he experienced lots of activities for youths as well as one especially committed teacher who led students on lengthy Saturday hikes to the Falls of the Ohio. Mr. Everett further describes the vibrant street life including parades and Derby Time along the lengthy segregated “Old Walnut”—now Muhammad Ali Boulevard—business district. He lists specific business and entertainment sites including his visit as a youth to the iconic Top Hat Nightclub. Finally, the interviewee talks of his Air Force years during the Korean War, his subsequent return and brief employment in Louisville, and his multiple jobs in Indianapolis before finally landing for a lengthy employment at Ford Motor Company.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

This is a multi-interview series with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard, discussing his life and work.

The veteran describes the difficulty of nursing patients, particularly those with tuberculosis, as a member of the Army Nurse Corps during the war. She recalls the nurses' entertainment, social lives and going on a suicide watch. Webb worked with German and Italian prisoners of war held in the United States. She describes these men, who were members of the Africa Corps under German General Erwin Rommel.

Ninety-five year old African American Carlos Lynes, son of a Seventh Day Adventist pastor and pastoral supervisor, lived in multiple Southern cities until he was in his last year in high school, expressing relief over the move to Louisville where he believed racism was not as intimidating. (Late in the interview he told of frightening Ku Klux Klan marches through his childhood neighborhood in Columbus, Georgia.) Lynes described what he felt as a newcomer that one year (ca. 1945) at Central High School. Carlos then discussed his three years at Louisville Municipal College where he practiced with the football team but was prohibited by his religion from playing games on Saturdays. He also believed his love for playing cards became an academic distraction. Leaving school, he worked as a night manager of a Black-owned service station on Eighteenth Street where he became friends with high-school classmate, Charlotte Wade, and her husband, Andrew. The friends became heavily involved in the local Progressive Party campaign for U. S. President where Carlos met left-leaning activists including Anne and Carl Braden. After the Korean War broke-out, Lynes is drafted into the U. S. Army, serving several years in a medical unit in that theater. Unable to find a good job after the conflict and moving between Louisville and Springfield, Ohio, where his parents had relocated, Carlos accompanied his friends, Charlotte and Andrew Wade, the first two frightening nights in their home in an all-white Shively neighborhood subdivision. Mr. Lynes vividly described the racist violence against the Wades those nights, indicating that he had earlier joined Andrew Wade’s father in a meeting with the Jefferson County Police Chief where they had been assured adequate patrol, which did not materialize, to prevent the attack. Lynes indicates that state authorities tried to interview him as a leftist “fellow traveler,” but he had returned to Ohio to join his parents. Again, unable to find work, he re-enlisted in the Army, met Mary during his basic training at Fort Knox, whom he married, and the family enjoyed a happy eight-year military stint, mostly in Germany. Most of the rest of the interview, Lynes described a series of jobs he held in Louisville over multiple decades, frequently being the first Black to fill the role. Starting in 1962, he sold mens clothing for Levy Brothers downtown, life insurance for both Commonwealth Life and Occidental Life, photocopy services for 3M, with a territory focused on smaller central Kentucky towns, furniture for Louisville-based Belknap Hardware Company and finally managed one of the city’s Vehicle Emissions Testing Centers. Carlos Lynes approached the end of his interview, proudly reporting that he returned to University of Louisville to earn his undergraduate degree in 1996.

Dr. Hicks describes her experience being the first African American woman to attend Dental School at the University of Louisville. She reflects on starting her own practice and working in a dental clinic on Dixie Highway during the beginning of busing in Louisville.

Meatyard discusses his family's history and then his own. However, the bulk of the interview is dedicated to his career as a photographer. He touches on exhibits, style, technique, imagery and influences.

Interview with James "Jim" King, long-time leader of the Thoroughbred Chorus.

Interview with James "Jim" King, World War II veteran and long-time leader of the Thoroughbred Chorus.

Institutional history of River Region Hospital (formerly Central State Hospital). Morrison was administrator of the hospital in 1975.

Jack Trawick served as Director of the Louisville Community Design Center and later as head of the Center for Neighborhoods until his retirement in 2013. A Louisville native, Trawick was raised in the Indian Hills neighborhood and attended Louisville Country Day School for both his elementary and secondary education. In the late 1970s, he was an events coordinator for the Louisville Central Area, a downtown promotional organization. He is a graduate of Kenyon College (BA) and Bellarmine University (MBA). He is married to Patti Clare and has two grown children. Trawick, an Episcopalian, discusses his family roots especially on his paternal grandmother�s side�the Kendrick family-- reaching back two centuries in Louisville. Their Methodist faith led both his Grandfather Trawick--from a line of physicians from Nashville--and his Grandmother Kendrick to serve as Christian missionaries in China in the early 1900s. The narrator emphasizes the liberal social conscience that his mother, who was raised in Southern California in the WWII era, instilled in him. He spoke specifically of her strong distaste at the wartime detention of a close friend of Japanese descent and later of her personal friendship in Louisville with her African-American domestic servants. His Mmother involved him at an early age in support of Democratic political candidates. Trawick recalls neighborhood play in the woods near his childhood home, his relationship with his three siblings, preparation for college, and his college interest in biblical studies and utopian communities. Finally, he describes his role in downtown promotion at Louisville Central Area and chronicles the early days of Louisville�s preservation movement focusing especially on the epic struggle to save the Will Sales Building from demolition for the Galleria Project. Trawick vividly describes his climbing among the ruins of the almost fully demolished building to salvage stoneware floor pavers. In the second interview, Trawick describes how he salvaged 19th century ceramic floor tiles from the ruins of the Will Sales Building which was demolished for the downtown Galleria complex after a bitter preservation fight. He follows with his discovery that the English tiles were likely used in both the U. S. Capitol and Louisville�s City Hall. Trawick then discusses his discontent at the Louisville Central Area and how he was hired to direct the Louisville Community Design Center (LCDC), an agency rooted in architectural design that ultimately broadened its scope under Trawick to include neighborhood-based planning. He narrates the LCDC�s funding over the decades mentioning various grants and funding sources that enabled work with the Louisville School of Art�s move to the Cloister, housing revitalization in the Limerick neighborhood, and commercial development in the California area. The interviewee then describes the relationship after 1985 between city government�s Department of Neighborhoods and LCDC\Center for Neighborhoods including strategies to �serve� both the executive and legislative branches. Specifically, he elaborates on projects involving affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. Finally, Trawick discusses his work on an Olmsted memorial that led to the establishment of the Louisville�s Olmsted Conservancy and closes with a description of the financial hard times at the Center for Neighborhoods that prompted his retirement.

Jack Trawick served as Director of the Louisville Community Design Center and later as head of the Center for Neighborhoods until his retirement in 2013. A Louisville native, Trawick was raised in the Indian Hills neighborhood and attended Louisville Country Day School for both his elementary and secondary education. In the late 1970s, he was an events coordinator for the Louisville Central Area, a downtown promotional organization. He is a graduate of Kenyon College (BA) and Bellarmine University (MBA). He is married to Patti Clare and has two grown children. Trawick, an Episcopalian, discusses his family roots especially on his paternal grandmother�s side�the Kendrick family-- reaching back two centuries in Louisville. Their Methodist faith led both his Grandfather Trawick--from a line of physicians from Nashville--and his Grandmother Kendrick to serve as Christian missionaries in China in the early 1900s. The narrator emphasizes the liberal social conscience that his mother, who was raised in Southern California in the WWII era, instilled in him. He spoke specifically of her strong distaste at the wartime detention of a close friend of Japanese descent and later of her personal friendship in Louisville with her African-American domestic servants. His Mmother involved him at an early age in support of Democratic political candidates. Trawick recalls neighborhood play in the woods near his childhood home, his relationship with his three siblings, preparation for college, and his college interest in biblical studies and utopian communities. Finally, he describes his role in downtown promotion at Louisville Central Area and chronicles the early days of Louisville�s preservation movement focusing especially on the epic struggle to save the Will Sales Building from demolition for the Galleria Project. Trawick vividly describes his climbing among the ruins of the almost fully demolished building to salvage stoneware floor pavers. In the second interview, Trawick describes how he salvaged 19th century ceramic floor tiles from the ruins of the Will Sales Building which was demolished for the downtown Galleria complex after a bitter preservation fight. He follows with his discovery that the English tiles were likely used in both the U. S. Capitol and Louisville�s City Hall. Trawick then discusses his discontent at the Louisville Central Area and how he was hired to direct the Louisville Community Design Center (LCDC), an agency rooted in architectural design that ultimately broadened its scope under Trawick to include neighborhood-based planning. He narrates the LCDC�s funding over the decades mentioning various grants and funding sources that enabled work with the Louisville School of Art�s move to the Cloister, housing revitalization in the Limerick neighborhood, and commercial development in the California area. The interviewee then describes the relationship after 1985 between city government�s Department of Neighborhoods and LCDC\Center for Neighborhoods including strategies to �serve� both the executive and legislative branches. Specifically, he elaborates on projects involving affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. Finally, Trawick discusses his work on an Olmsted memorial that led to the establishment of the Louisville�s Olmsted Conservancy and closes with a description of the financial hard times at the Center for Neighborhoods that prompted his retirement.

Louisvillian Pat Updegraff recalls her family history, childhood and education in Louisville�s Highlands, and her father, Frank Ropke, a local judge and Commonwealth�s Attorney. She also discusses an extended trip to visit relatives in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the blossoming of her love for modern languages at the University of Louisville (Class of 1942), her involvement in the formative years of the Louisville Youth Orchestra (1960s), her role in the fight to save the Women�s Club houses in Old Louisville (1970s), and a family fire brick business in Grahn and Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisvillian Pat Updegraff recalls her family history, childhood and education in Louisville�s Highlands, and her father, Frank Ropke, a local judge and Commonwealth�s Attorney. She also discusses an extended trip to visit relatives in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the blossoming of her love for modern languages at the University of Louisville (Class of 1942), her involvement in the formative years of the Louisville Youth Orchestra (1960s), her role in the fight to save the Women�s Club houses in Old Louisville (1970s), and a family fire brick business in Grahn and Louisville, Kentucky.

Mr. Wang, a native of China, discusses his life in Louisville, including the Chinese community, his leisure time activities, and his opinion of American television. He also talks about his wife's life in Louisville. He gives his opinion on China, and the relationship between China and the United States, and offers advice to Chinese students. Wang was a student and a computer center worker.