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Upon Durrett’s death in 1913, arrangements were made for his collection to be sold to the University of Chicago, due to the lack of a fireproof vault for document storage in Louisville. Unfortunately, many of the Filson Club’s collections were incorporated into Durrett’s personal collection, meaning a portion of it left the state. 

The Filson Club’s collections that remained after the sale were transferred to the library of Filson vice president, soon to be second president, Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston (1858-1946), located in the Columbia Building at Fourth and Main Streets in Louisville. Prior to his work with the Filson, Thruston was hired as a geological assistant under Albert Rogers Crandall (1840-1926) of the Kentucky Geological Survey. The Survey’s goal was to explore and record the natural resources in Appalachian counties. See the photographs here.

On March 27, 1890, a massive tornado tore across downtown Louisville, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The storm hit at 8:30 p.m. and lasted only about five minutes, but it nonetheless levelled homes and businesses, destroying warehouses, churches, and the railroad station. One hundred people were killed and at least 55 were injured. 

On April 14, 1890, recognizing the historic nature of this catastrophic event, Filson Club president, Reuben T. Durrett issued a call for Club member’s responses to this event to document the human response and experience. These written experiences were compiled into “an authentic and permanent narrative for publication as one of the Filson Club monographs.” 

This action by Durrett set a precedent for the Filson to collect and preserve personal narrative responses to historic events throughout our history as an organization. Continue exploring the timeline to learn about the future of documenting the past!  

John Filson was Kentucky’s first well documented historian. He was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania around the year 1747. He worked as a schoolteacher for some time, then eventually purchased 12,000 acres worth of land in the region that would soon become the commonwealth of Kentucky. He worked in the area as a surveyor, arriving in 1783 and publishing his book and accompanying map a year later. Filson’s book published the first biographical information, lore, and legend of explorer Daniel Boone, whom Filson encountered and interviewed during his time in Kentucky. Filson’s publication also widely circulated the myth of the area as a “Dark and Bloody Ground,” benefitting colonial settlers’ claims to territory and encouraging European settlement of the area.