Floyd Smith Carpenter papers
Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 1980_050-UA
The personal papers of Floyd Smith Carpenter contain approximately 600 letters to him from his family concerning events going on in the neighborhood, high school, and Rose Polytechnic Institute, predominately in the period 1912-1922. Additional correspondence relates to birds and birding. The collection also includes published material, news clippings, broadsides, photographs, and artifacts which belonged to Carpenter. One set of portrait photographs appears to be of Carpenter in his military dress uniform. The collection also includes nine boxes of (mainly) glass slides, arranged by Carpenter into general locations, including "Western" (i.e., the Western United States), Knobs, and Oldham County, Kentucky. Slides of scenes from Louisville sometimes show up in boxes from other areas. The photographs were taken in the late 1930s-early 1940s. A single folder containing a pamphlet describing early airplanes (published 1910), along with scale drawings of these planes, was added in 2009.
English
3 linear feet (2 manuscript boxes, 1 half-manuscript box, 1 flat, and 9 small slide boxes)
Floyd Carpenter was born around 1896 and grew up in Pewee Valley, Kentucky. He attended Male High School in Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated in 1917 from Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana. He served in the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C. during World War I. He worked as an engineer for Louisville Gas and Electric Company. He was active in Boy Scouting, serving as a scoutmaster in adulthood. He was also an avid birder, helping to found the Beckham Bird Club and serving as president for several terms.
Part of the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections Repository