FOREWORD `
The Inventory of County Archives of Kentucky is one of a number of bib-
liographies of historical materials prepared throughout the United States
by workers on the Historical Records Survey of the Works Progress Adminis-
tration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the archives
of Laurel County, is number 65 of the Kentucky series.
5 The Historical Records Survey was undertaken in the winter of 1955-56
for the purpose of providing useful employment to needy unemployed histori-
ans, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers. In carrying out
this objective, the project was organized to compile inventories of histori-
cal materials, particularly the unpublished government documents and records
which are basic in the administration of local government, and which provide
invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social history.
The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the requirements
of day-to-day administration by the officials of the county, and also the
needs of lawyers, business men, and other citizens who require facts from
the public records for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is
so designed that it can be used by the historian in his research in un-
printed sources in the same way he used the library card catalog for print-
ed sources.
The inventories produced by the Historical Records Survey attempt to do
more than give merely a list of records - they attempt further to sketch in
the historical background of the county or other unit of government, and to
describe precisely and in detail the organization and functions of the gov-
ernment agencies whose records they list. The county, town, and other local
inventories for the entire country will, when completed, constitute an ency-
clopedia of local government as well as a bibliography of local archives.
The successful conclusion of the work of the Historical Records Survey,
even in a single county, would not be possible without the support of public
officials, historical and legal specialists, and many other groups in the
community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged.
The Survey was organized and has been directed by Luther H. Evans, and
operates as a nation-wide project in the Division of Women*s and Profession-
al Projects, of which Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator, is in
charge.
Harry L. Hopkins
Administrator