City of Louisville municipal reports

The fifty-one volumes of City of Louisville Municipal Reports, 1866-1916 preserved on seventeen rolls of microfilm constitute a significant resource for urban history. Each published annual report brings together submissions from local government and government-related agencies, including some thirty messages from the mayor. A total of fifty-eight agencies submitted at least one report. The offices range widely from the Chiefs of Fire and Police and City Engineer and Smoke Inspector to Parks, Eruptive Hospital, and Public Wharves. Some reports on governmental and institutional operations are painfully laconic, while others present both enlightening narrative and/or substantial statistical detail. This unique compilation of city reports document the evolution of government bureaucracies, the challenges faced by health and social service agencies, and the influence of emerging technologies on the delivery of urban services. In addition to preserving the reports for the city of Louisville, the microfilm provides enhanced access with introductory frames charting the offices reporting in each annual volume cued to the microfilm reel.