LOUISVILLE — The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, which has had its U.S. headquarters in Louisville since 1975, plans a $3 million expansion that will enlarge its museum and its library, one of the country's most significant centers for genealogical research.

        The society — with offices, a museum and library at 1000 S. Fourth St. — plans to expand nearby, at Fifth and Zane streets, on land acquired over the past 20 years.

WHY IN KY?

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, which gets most of its revenue from dues, was housed in Washington from its founding in 1907 to the mid-1970s.     It moved to Louisville in large part because the city was near the center of its membership population, said Wayne Wiedman, the group's executive director.

        The society has about $900,000 — much of it from a bequest by an Illinois member — to pay for the first phase of the project, mostly library space.

        Ground will be broken by the end of this year, said Wayne Wiedman, the group's executive director.

        The plan features a central rotunda with two wings totaling about 8,000 square feet of library space. Later additions will provide more library and administrative space, along with an outdoor memorial garden.

        The society's existing building will be left intact for an enlarged museum.

        The goal is to complete the entire project by about 2005.

        The society intends to raise the additional $2.1 million it needs primarily from its nearly 30,000 members and from foundations, Mr. Wiedman said.

        Louisville's current city budget provides $50,000 for the project. Alderman George Unseld, whose 10th Ward includes the group's headquarters, said he was impressed that its museum depicts the importance of African-Americans and women in the Revolutionary War.

        “I'm glad to see it,” he said of the expansion. “It will bring in visitors.”

        James R. Bentley, a Louisville genealogist who was director of the Filson Club for years, described the Sons of the American Revolution's reference library as “one of the better genealogical collections in the country.”

        He said it “contains material otherwise unavailable in Kentucky, including very strong holdings” on America's Colonial period.

        The library has the entire federal census on microfilm, which he said was “remarkable.”

        “Those books and census records are fundamental” to genealogical research, he said.

        About 2,000 people used the reference library last year, and an untold number visited the museum.

        Mr. Wiedman said the society, a kindred organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution, seeks to promote fellowship among descendants of early American patriots, encouraging historical research on the Revolution, and preserving records of the Revolutionary War and Colonial America.
       

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