The Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition (CWG-K) is a freely-accessible online collection of historical documents associated with the chief executives of the state, 1860-1865. Yet CWG-K is about far more than the five governors. Uniquely positioned to view, reflect upon, and intervene in the lives of thousands of people experiencing the traumas of civil war, Kentucky’s chief executives stood at the intersection of public and private life during an era that transformed the nation. Collectively, their papers provide a multi-faceted lens through which we can recover and understand more fully the lives of countless men, women, and children who have been heretofore both historically undocumented and archivally silenced.