The Lexington Public Library’s Local History Index is a very selective index to newspaper articles pertaining to significant people, places, events, churches, businesses and organizations in Lexington and Fayette County. In recent years some articles relating to key issues in the state of Kentucky, such as strip mining, hazardous waste and state government have been included as well.

In recent years the Lexington Herald, the Lexington Leader, and the Lexington Herald-Leader have been issued in several editions. The index does not indicate the edition indexed, but all editions of the newspapers are generally included on the microfilmed copies of the newspapers. If you have trouble locating a citation, be sure to check all editions. Over the years, some errors in indexing have inevitably been made. It was impossible to verify all the card entries when converting them to the web version.

The selective citations included in the Lexington Public Library’s Local History Index appeared in various Lexington newspapers beginning with the Kentucky Gazette in 1787 and continuing through the current Lexington Herald-Leader. The nucleus of the database index is a card file in the Kentucky Room that has been developed over a number of years. Not all of the newspapers for all years were indexed. We are currently involved in a retrospective indexing project that focuses on the Lexington Leader in the early 1900s. As a result, we are constantly adding citations, both historical and contemporary, to the index.

The Local History Index has been compiled by the staff of the Lexington Public Library and is the property of the Lexington Public Library. However, all material from the Lexington Herald, the Lexington Leader and the Lexington Herald-Leader is copyrighted by those newspapers.

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