Membership is not required to establish a Kentucky Colonel Branch or to be listed in the Kentucky Colonels Handbook
The primary source of information for Kentucky Colonels is the United States Library of Congress. We call it the Kentucky Colonel Library because there we can find more than 10,000 articles just about members of the Kentucky Colonel Class.
You do not need to travel to Washington, D.C. or spend weeks inside the U.S. Library of Congress to explore the documentary history of the Kentucky Colonelcy—although it is a remarkable experience if you ever have the time. Instead, this page brings together an extensive curated collection of books, newspapers, journals, recordings, films, maps, and digital archives that illuminate the civic, cultural, and historical development of the Kentucky Colonel.
The Kentucky Colonel Library now includes more than 2,500 curated resources and references drawn from over 30 world-class institutions, including the Library of Congress, Internet Archive, major Kentucky libraries, and independent collections. Collectively these materials document more than 10,000 historical exhibits, artefacts, and primary sources, all accessible to researchers, colonels, students, and the general public right here on our website.
One of the largest components of the Kentucky Colonel Library is the Historical Newspaper Clipping Collection, built from digitized holdings at:
Library of Congress Chronicling America
Newspapers.com
GenealogyBank
Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program
Historic local newspapers across Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Richmond, Paducah, Pikeville, and more
This collection is especially valuable because newspapers capture contemporaneous accounts of Kentucky Colonels, banquets, associations, gubernatorial proclamations, fraternal events, philanthropy, and public appointments.
The Kentucky Colonel Library includes:
Hundreds of verified clippings transcribed for readability
Full “run histories” of certain Colonel-relevant publications
Obituaries and profiles of historically important colonels
Articles documenting early 20th-century Colonel clubs and associations
Investigative files on corporate and cultural representations of the “Kentucky Colonel”
This archive not only preserves the public record—it provides the most complete timeline of the Kentucky Colonelcy in print media available online today.
The Kentucky Colonel Library maintains a growing corpus of digitized books, pamphlets, and manuscripts from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, sourced primarily from:
Library of Congress (loc.gov)
Internet Archive / Archive.org
HathiTrust Digital Library
Berea Digital Collections
UKnowledge (University of Kentucky)
UL ThinkIR (University of Louisville)
The book collection includes:
Early Kentucky histories and biographical compilations
Materials from the Kentucky Progress Commission (1920–1936)
Fraternal and civic association directories
Obscure pamphlets and memoirs referencing Kentucky Colonelcy
Legal, sociological, and cultural analyses of honorary titles
Most of these works are accessible through public-domain or Creative Commons licensing, allowing them to be read and studied freely. This section reinforces the Library’s purpose: to provide transparent, verifiable, non-commercial access to the historical foundations of Kentucky Colonel identity.
The Kentucky Colonel Library also recognizes and cross-indexes the holdings of Kentucky’s major archival institutions, many of which play a pivotal role in preserving Colonel-related materials, state history, genealogy, civics, and cultural memory. These include:
The Filson Historical Society (Louisville) – manuscripts, family papers, fraternal records, early Kentucky civic associations
Berea College Special Collections & Archives – Appalachian studies, regional folklore, early Kentucky civic organizations
University of Kentucky Libraries (UK) – Kentuckiana collections, newspapers, government publications, oral histories
University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections (UL) – civic clubs, municipal histories, Colonel-related civic movements
Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort) – statewide archival collections, museum artifacts, historical journals, state publications
Eastern Kentucky University & Morehead State University – regional historical collections, Appalachian materials, oral histories
Louisville Free Public Library & Lexington Public Library – among the largest public library systems in Kentucky, with extensive local history rooms and digitized materials
These institutions collectively hold the broadest documentary footprint of Kentucky civic identity, including many of the earliest references to Kentucky Colonels, Colonel clubs, Kentucky Progress Commission publications, and social patterns associated with the Colonelcy.
The Kentucky Colonel Library also incorporates multimedia sources that illuminate how Kentucky Colonel identity has appeared in culture, education, and public media. These include:
A curated YouTube historical playlist featuring Colonel stories, documentaries, oral histories, and public lectures
Digitized audio recordings from Archive.org and the Library of Congress (regional interviews, local broadcasts, early radio)
Film clips and newsreels portraying Kentucky history, gubernatorial ceremonies, and promotional materials involving Colonel figures
Independent and academic video essays on Kentucky culture, folklore, and civic traditions
Special coverage of modern colonel-related cultural references, ceremonies, and interviews
These multimedia resources help bridge historical scholarship with public-facing narratives, showing how the Kentucky Colonel emerged not only in documents but in visual and auditory media across generations.
