THE DURRETT COLLECTION, NOW IN THE
      LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
                     CHICAGO
                  1. ITS NEWSPAPERS
                BY EDWARD A. HENRY
   Colonel Reuben T. Durrett was born January 24,
i824, and lived to the ripe age of eighty-nine years. He
graduated from Georgetown (Kentucky) College in I846,
from Brown University in i849, and from the Law De-
partment of the University of Louisville in i85o, and
at once entered upon the practice of his profession, in
which he early attained an eminence that brought him
wealth and fame and honor. In i857 he bought a half
interest in the Louisville Courier and for two years was
its editor-in-chief. Always a writer of much ability, this
two years' experience seems to have given him a special
interest in newspapers, a large collection of which is found
in his library.
   This library seems to be the growth of many years of
careful collecting. His avowed purpose was to secure
everything ever printed in Kentucky or about Kentucky,
written by a Kentuckian or about a Kentuckian. The
library was purchased by the University of Chicago only
a few months before his death. As it reached our campus
it consisted of one series of boxes numbered from i to
269, another series lettered from A to R, four portraits,
and one large wall map. Recognizing the importance
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