Allan and Anna Weiss collection on Kentucky businesses and institutions, circa 1830s-1940s
Collection held by the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Creator: Weiss, Allan and Anna
Title: Collection on Kentucky businesses and institutions, ca. 1830s-1940s
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for this collection, contact the Collections Department at gro.lacirotsihnoslif@hcraeser.
Size of Collection: 1.74 cubic feet (1 records center box, 2 document boxes)
Location Number: Mss. A W431a
Finding aid created by: Hannah O’Daniel McCallon
Date finding aid last updated: 9/18/2025
Scope and Content Note
Collection of ephemeral documents printed for or mailed by Kentucky businesses and institutions, from the 1830s-1940s, with the bulk from the 1860s-1920s. Most of the organizations represented were in Louisville, Kentucky, but there is also documentation of other organizations from throughout the state. Materials include envelopes with or without contents, receipts, invoices, postcards, business cards, catalogs, pamphlets, posters, and letters.
The collection is relevant for studying trade, manufacturing, financial transactions, and marketing by Kentucky businesses and institutions, as well as their reach within and outside of the state during the industrial boom of the New South and progressive era. Other areas of study are material culture as represented in marketing for home furnishings and appliances, clothing, agricultural supplies, equine equipment, and construction supplies; printed engravings of buildings, steamboats, and railroads; and general Kentucky postal history.
The collectors, Allan and Anna Weiss, organized most of the Louisville material by profession or industry. Materials originally grouped as miscellaneous or Kentucky were filed into relevant existing folders, or foldered by geographic region or city. Supplemental research on individual people and businesses was separated and added to the Filson’s Historical Files (https://filsonhistorical.org/research-doc/historical-files/).
Businesses and professions represented include attorneys, doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, opticians, jewelers, pharmacies, whiskey distilleries, breweries, alcohol distributors, tobacco warehouses and manufacturing, equestrian goods suppliers and manufacturing, musical instrument manufacturing, construction supplies, home furnishings, wholesale trade, dry goods, clothing manufacturing and retail, food processing, meat packing, grocers, livestock yards, publishing and printing, banking, financial institutions, government offices, and educational institutions.
A portion of the collection has been digitized and is available online at: https://filsonhistorical.omeka.net/items/browse?collection=152 .
Related collections:
Historical Files
Louisville City Directories
Greeting Cards. Collection, ca. 1850-1940. 0.66 cu. ft. [Mss. A G816]
The Courier – Journal Job Printing Company Scrapbooks, 1914 – 1935. 1.5 cu. ft. [Mss. BB C858]
Ohio River Valley Business Collection, 1788-1961. [Mss. BB O36]
Bosquet, Caroline, collector, 1856-1933. Victorian era advertisements and cards, ca. 1880s. 9 items. [Mss. C B]
Envelopes (Stationery) Patriotic covers, 1861-1865. [Mss. C E]
Patriotic Stationery, 1861-1865. [Mss. C P]
Biographical Note
Allan Weiss was born on August 7, 1940, to Morris M. Weiss and Evalyn Brown Weiss of Louisville, Kentucky. He studied law at the University of Louisville, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Law in 1962 and Juris Doctor in 1964. Weiss practiced as a workers’ compensation insurance lawyer. He has served on a variety of boards in the Louisville area. Anna P. Weiss (1939-2025) was born to Mable Pullen and Renford Carew Pierce in Middletown, Kentucky. Anna was an accomplished artist, working in watercolors, oils, and off-loom weaving, and co-owned a business called Earth Jewelry. The Weisses actively collected Kentucky art and artifacts.
Folder List
Louisville, Kentucky
Box 1
Folder 1: Medicine, 1833-1948
Folder 2: Law, 1840-1940
Folder 3: Leather, saddlery, and stables, 1866-1923
Folder 4a: Whiskey, ca. 1870s-1910
Folder 4b: Beer and wine, ca. 1880s-1917
Folder 5: Bourbon Stock Yards, ca. 1900-1930
Folder 6: Hotels and lodging, ca. 1850s-1948
Folder 7: Stoves, ca. 1860s-1916
Folder 8: Hair, wigs, and grooming, 1870-1873
Folder 9: Boots and shoes, 1867-1912
Folder 10: Insurance, ca. 1860s-1913
Folder 11: Trunks, 1884-1941
Folder 12a-b: Groceries and food, ca. 1860s-1929
Folder 13: Agriculture, 1844-1929
Folder 14: Clothing, accessories, cleaners, dry goods, 1857-1930s
Folder 15: Societies, clubs, and fraternal lodges, 1874-1955
Folder 16: Newspapers and publishing, 1843-1930
Folder 17: Hardware, 1836-1922
Folder 18: Furniture and home goods, 1874-1923
Folder 19: Tobacco, ca. 1850s-1913
Box 2
Folder 20: Florists, 1881-1904
Folder 21: Schools, colleges, and education, 1871-1929
Folder 22: Steamboats and ships, 1857-1938
Folder 23: Trains and railways, 1883-1918
Folder 24: Music and theater, 1866-1912
Folder 25: Banks and finance, 1833-1900
Folder 26: Religious, 1887-1926
Folder 27: Lime and cement, 1878-1896
Folder 28: Publishers, printers, and books, 1836-1928
Folder 29: Manufacturing and coal, 1853-1929
Folder 30: Jewelers and opticians, ca. 1870s-1924
Box 3
Folder 31: General, 1837-1945
Folder 32: Government and politics, 1887-1916
Folder 33: Louisville Industrial Exposition, 1872-1900
Folder 34: Military, circa 1860s
Folder 35: Postal history, circa 1850s-1949
Folder 36: Kentucky State Fair, 1907-1927
Kentucky
Folder 37: Central Kentucky, 1837-1940
Folder 38: Eastern Kentucky, 1880-1946
Folder 39: Frankfort, Kentucky, circa 1850s-1905
Folder 40: Illustrated envelopes, 1932-1950
Folder 41: Jefferson County, Kentucky, 1857-1891
Folder 42: Lexington, Kentucky, 1853-1946
Folder 43: Northern Kentucky, 1840-1927
Folder 44: Southcentral Kentucky, 1886-circa 1952
Folder 45: Western Kentucky, 1857-1918
United States
Folder 46: Ohio, circa 1880s
Folder 47: Patriotic, 1862-1866
Folder 48: United States general, 1893-1925
Subject Headings
Advertising – Kentucky.
Agricultural implement industry – Kentucky.
Building materials – Kentucky.
Business enterprises – Kentucky.
Distilling industries – Kentucky.
Energy industries – Kentucky.
Factories – Kentucky.
Financial institutions – Kentucky.
Food industry and trade – Kentucky.
Hardware industry – Kentucky.
Hotels – Kentucky.
House furnishings industry and trade – Kentucky.
Manufacturing industries – Kentucky.
Medical care – Kentucky.
Patriotism in art – United States.
Publishers and publishing – Kentucky.
Railroads – Kentucky.
Ratliff, Charles, 1854-1940.
Stores, Retail – Kentucky.
Textile industry – Kentucky.
Tobacco industry – Kentucky.
Universities and colleges – Kentucky.
Women – Education – Kentucky.