A rich primary record of urban policing in the American South with relevance to the rise of the automobile, drunk driving, and municipal courts: An archive of nearly 50 pocket notebooks kept by a Raymond J. Schalk (b. 1909) a Patrolman with the Louisville Police Department's Accident Prevention Squad during 1937 to 1942. The notebooks record arrests with a focus on traffic accidents (usually involving drunken and/or reckless driving), incidents of disorderly conduct (often bar fights), and assaults. Each records suspect names, aliases (if applicable), physical descriptions (including age, race, height, weight, etc...) and a brief description of events leading to arrest.

A few examples:

A Calvin Robinson was arrested at 5:10AM on Christmas Day 1938 for reckless driving after he allegedly "Fell asleep and struck parked car & damaged a light pole." (Booklet No. 30)

Three African-American men were arrested at 10:30PM on April 26, 1937 for alleged involvement in a "saloon fight" near the corner of Hancock and Madison, with one "[...] found to have a loaded pistol on person." (Booklet No. 5)

A driver, James A. Priest, was arrested on a charge of manslaughter after allegedly striking a pedestrian in a crosswalk at the intersection of Wenzel and Main on November 30, 1940. (Booklet No. 44)

Those arrested appear to have been remanded to Louisville’s controversial municipal Police Court and drunk driving appears to have been a keen focus of enforcement amid a controversial "9-and-$19" (nine days in jail and a $19 fine) strategy instituted by Judge, John B. Brachey in 1936. An unusually strict sentencing standard for the era. Brachey's "9-and-$19" sentences, like all fines under $20 handed down by Louisville's Municipal Court, could not be appealed, a practice which was successfully challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1960 in Thompson vs. The City of Louisville, a rare rebuke of a system seen by many as fundamentally racist in its design and application. Writing in the HARVARD LAW REVIEW in January of 2021, leading scholar on American criminality, Alexandra Napatoff, noted an historical deficit of primary source material and scholarship regarding the methodology of these courts:

“Municipal courts are the lowest and least scrutinized echelon of the U.S. criminal system. Largely ignored by judicial theorists, municipal governance scholarship, and criminal theory alike, these city-controlled courts operate on the intellectual sidelines; even basic public information about their dockets and operations is scarce."*

A broad primary glimpse at Depression-era urban policing in the American South of value to myriad areas of research including current scholarship on municipal courts.

*NATAPOFF, Alexandra ; "Criminal Municipal Courts" ; HARVARD LAW REVIEW: Volume 134, Issue 3, January 2021.

[Crime and Policing] : [Drunk Driving] : [Kentuckiana]. [Arrest Notebook Archive of a Louisville Police Department Patrolman]. Louisville, Kentucky: (1937-1942). 47 notebooks. Each uniform volumes, approximately 6" x 4" in red card wrappers with printed black ink titles to front. Typically about 24 leaves in each with carbon or original print and cursive arrest records to printed-blank versos. Books hand-numbered 1-47 at exterior fronts. Mild to moderate handling wear. One with front cover perished, another detached. Nos. 24 and 38 not present and two numbered as a "half" (9 1/2 and 31 1/2). Entries highly legible. Group good to very good overall.