J. Winston Coleman (November 5, 1898 – May 4, 1983) was an American tobacco farmer, contractor, newspaper columnist, historian, book collector, and bibliographer who specialized in the study of 19th-century Kentucky, United States.[1][2] He graduated from the University of Kentucky in the 1920s with a bachelor's and master's in mechanical engineering.[2] He worked as a building contractor and started the historical work as a hobby.[2] He wrote a newspaper column on Kentucky historical topics for 20 years.[2] A lifelong resident of Lexington, Coleman owned Winburn Farm from 1936 until his death.[3]
In addition to writing several books, he published over 50 pamphlets.[4] In the late 1960s he donated "3,500 books and pamphlets," scrapbooks, photographs, "Kentucky church histories, maps, atlases, personal correspondence and manuscripts" to Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky.[2] His Slavery Times in Kentucky remains a standard reference on the topic,[2] and papers and images he collected during his research are held at the University of Kentucky libraries.[5]
He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1983 after a long illness.[2] Coleman was buried at Lexington Cemetery.[6]