The following information has been re-published as a courtesy per the request and approval of UofL Health – UofL Hospital. Kentucky Historic Institutions does not own the proceeding information and photographs; UofL Health – UofL Hospital retains ownership and all rights and privileges. If you request to use any information or photographs from this page…
Category: Hospitals
Early Treatment of Kentucky’s “Pauper Idiots and Lunatics” and the Allowance System
In 1939, E. M. Sunley published a short but comprehensive report detailing the early history of the treatment of Kentucky’s “idiots” and “lunatics.” Early on, Sunley noted that Kentucky gave “allowances” of public funds to help with the care of these individuals. After Kentucky entered the Union in the late 18th-century, provisions were made early…
The 1918 “Spanish” Influenza Pandemic
Quick Facts About Kentucky and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic Approximately 13,000-14,000 Kentuckians were casualties of the first and second waves of the pandemic. According to one newspaper report, “R.G. Potter of Louisville, who was a teenager at the time of the pandemic, drove a truck part-time at Camp Taylor” and recalled how the dead were…
Louisville’s 1902 Morgue Scandal
In 1894 the Board of Public Safety and Kentucky legislature passed sweeping changes to Kentucky’s laws regarding the morgue in Louisville, Kentucky and unclaimed bodies. The former held that the morgue shall be in charge of the janitor at the University of Louisville and shall be open at all hours of the day and night…
Kentucky Historic Institutions 