The Filson Historical Society, founded in 1884, is a privately supported historical society located at 1310 South 3rd Street in Louisville, Kentucky. The Filson is an organization dedicated to providing continuing adult education in the form of quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal, Ohio Valley History, a quarterly magazine, The Filson, weekly lectures, historical tours, and exhibits. The Filson's mission is to collect, preserve, and tell the stories of Kentucky and Ohio Valley history and culture. In 2017, the Filson began a new initiative to document, preserve, and study the history of Jewish life and experience in Louisville and the Ohio Valley region, establishing the Jewish Community Archive. The Filson hosts programs and exhibitions that engage critically and honestly with the past with topics such as: Commemorating Juneteenth, David Blight's talk on Frederick Douglas, Christina Snyder's discussion of Great Crossings: Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in the Age of Jackson, Alaina Roberts I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land, and Dan Gediman's presentation on reckoning with slavery in Kentucky. In the summer of 2020, the Filson published a list of historical resources on racial inequality in Louisville and issued a community response to racism. History The Filson was founded on May 15, 1884, by ten men, primarily Louisvillians, with a common love of history. The primary founder and first president was Reuben T. Durrett. The organization was named in honor of John Filson, Kentucky's first Anglophone historian, whose book, The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke, and map of Kentucky were published in 1784. In honor of Filson and the centennial of those historical publications the organization was christened The Filson Club. From that small gathering of amateur historians in Durrett's home, the institution evolved into Kentucky's premier privately supported historical society. Today, thousands of people visit annually to conduct research, attend programs, and view the rotating exhibits on the Filson's campus in historic Old Louisville. The Ferguson Mansion has been the Filson Historical Society's headquarters since 1986. Designed by the architectural firm of Dodd and Cobb and completed in 1905, the Ferguson mansion is one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in Louisville. Built for industrialist Edwin Hite Ferguson, it showcased his success and family's social status. Sold to the Pearson family in the 1920s, the mansion was a funeral home for almost half a century. After passing through two other owners - including serving