Carter-Hodges Family Papers, 1820-1896
Collection held by the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Creator: Carter-Hodges family
Title: Papers, 1820-1896
Rights: For more information regarding literary and copyright interest for this collection, contact the Collections Department at gro.l1777440532aciro1777440532tsihn1777440532oslif1777440532@hcra1777440532eser1777440532.
Size of Collection: 0.46 cubic feet and 1 ovsz. fld.
Location Number: Mss. A C323
Finding aid created by: Lynn Pohl
Date finding aid created: 16 April 2026
Date finding aid last updated: 16 April 2026
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of papers relating to members of the Carter and Hodges families of Greensburg, Kentucky. Included are a memory book of Catherine Carter Hodges (1830-1917), a medical student notebook and certificate of Dr. Thomas P. Hodges (1828-1872), and receipts and accounts of Carter and Hodges family members.
Folder 1 holds a memory and autograph book of Catherine Carter while she was a student at Science Hill Female Academy in the early 1850s. The book contains verse, inscriptions, and short remembrances from fellow students and the academy’s founder Julia Tevis. There are newspaper clippings pasted into the book over the following decades, including ones marking the deaths of Dr. Thomas Hodges in 1872 and Catherine Carter Hodges in 1917.
Folders 2 and 12 hold Dr. Thomas Hodges’s medical notes from 1851-1853 while he was a student at the Kentucky School of Medicine and an 1850 certificate in Latin recognizing Hodges’s membership in the school’s Medical Surgical Society. The notes were taken during lectures primarily given by Dr. Samuel M. Letcher Sr. They describe the process of medical examination and diagnosis, different illnesses and medical conditions, women’s health matters such as pregnancy and childbirth, and remedies and treatments.
Folders 3-11 hold receipts and accounts dating from the 1820s-1890s relating primarily to Catherine Carter Hodges’s father James T. Carter. Some of the receipts relate to Thomas and Catherine Hodges and Catherine’s sibling Daniel S. Carter. They document business transactions, the purchase of consumer goods, and taxes.
Processing Note: A processing archivist removed the receipts and accounts from their original cloth holder, where they were organized in pockets labeled A-B, C-D, E-G, H-J, K-M, N-P, Q-R, S-T, and U-W, and transferred them to folders.
Related collections
Wooden stethoscope of Dr. Thomas P. Hodges [2022.13.1].
Historical Note
Dr. Thomas Pleasant Hodges (1828-1872) was born in Hart County, Kentucky, and practiced medicine in Green County until his death from tuberculosis.
Catherine F. Carter Hodges (1830-1917) was born near Greensburg, Kentucky, to James and Ann “Annie” Carter. James T. Carter (d. ca. 1858) owned 400 acres on Pittman Creek and owned a Federal-style house built between 1815 and 1825. In 1857, the house and farm passed to Catherine and Thomas Hodges, who had married that year. Catherine and Thomas had two children: Mattie Hobson and John Hodges.
Folder/Item/Box List
Box 1
Folder 1: Catherine Carter memory book from Science Hill Female Academy, 1851
Folder 2: Dr. Thomas Hodges medical student notebook, 1851-1853
Folder 3: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets A-B, ca. 1820-1858
Folder 4: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets C-G, ca. 1839-1859
Folder 5: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets H-J, ca. 1822-1850
Folder 6: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets K-M, ca. 1844-1856
Folder 7: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets N-P, ca. 1832-1895
Folder 8: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets Q-R, ca. 1822-1896
Folder 9: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets S-T, ca. 1825-1859
Folder 10: Carter and Hodges receipts and accounts from pockets U-W, ca. 1831-1855
Folder 11: Miscellaneous information and cloth holder for receipts and accounts
Folder 12 (ovsz.): Dr. Thomas Hodges Kentucky School of Medicine certificate, 1850
Subject Headings
For details on how the below subjects appear in this collection, search the subject in the manuscript database at https://filsonhistorical.org/collections/manuscript-database/.
Carter, James T., d. ca. 1858.
Business – Kentucky – Greensburg.
Hodges, Catherine Carter, 1830-1917.
Hodges, Thomas Pleasant, 1828-1872.
Medical education – Kentucky.
Physicians – Kentucky.
Science Hill Female Academy (Shelbyville, Ky.)