A pleasant Presidents’ Day morning to you!

Today’s Frazier Weekly takes you back to the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. Why, you may ask? Well, Grant was president when Louisville’s own Old Forester was first bottled in 1870. Old Fo’ was America’s first bottled Bourbon—and the only Bourbon bottled before, during, and after Prohibition. Today, we’re launching a history-packed program and barrel selection celebrating the brand!

Old Forester: America’s First Bottled Bourbon and barrel selection, on Wednesday, March 27, will be a one-of-a-kind experience celebrating watershed moments in Bourbon history through Old Forester’s Whiskey Row Series. George Garvin Brown descendant Mac Brown, Brown-Forman Master Distiller Chris Morris, and Tim Holz from the B-F archive will lead tastings and share stories while showing off artifacts and objects from both the Brown family and the Brown-Forman archive.

To add to this incredible experience, guests in attendance will be the only people who can purchase the Frazier’s Old Forester single barrel selection. It’s AMAZING!

Also in this Presidents’ Day issue of Frazier Weekly, Tish Boyer previews a rifle in our collection that was made for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Amanda Briede announces an incredible paid internship opportunity for college students, thanks to a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. Rachel Platt issues a final reminder about our March on Frankfort program. And Mick Sullivan sings (always a treat) after a story about Johnny Cash.

With a song in my heart, I sure do hope you enjoy!

Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

From the Collections: President Eisenhower’s Mauser Model 98 Rifle, 1959

Those of you who are long-term Frazier friends may know our collection contains items from serval US presidents. Just to give you an idea of what our collections hold, we have items representing nine different presidents. Several of these objects are currently on display, including Teddy Roosevelt’s Big Stick, a miniature portrait of Zachary Taylor, and a Thomas Jefferson peace medal. But something we haven’t had on display in over eight years is a special rifle that belonged to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

This rifle is a very specially made and engraved Mauser Model 98 which was made by gunmaker Roy Veil in 1959. The barrel of the rifle is engraved with Eisenhower’s name and a beautiful presidential seal is featured on the stock. This rifle was presented to Eisenhower in 1961 when he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer medal from West Point. Every year the Association of Graduates presents this award to individuals who exemplify West Point’s motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.” In 1961, it was awarded to President Eisenhower, who was also gifted the rifle from his West Point class of 1915.

Normally, when I write an article on an object in our collection, I include an image. But in this case, I shall leave you all in suspense! In the month of March, we will rework our Founder’s Gallery—and we have decided to add the Eisenhower rifle to it, right alongside Roosevelt’s Big Stick and Washington’s long rifle. This piece will be up and available for public view starting March 22. So, that’s something to look forward to!

But come on down to the Frazier today for Presidents’ Day and join our staff tours. They will be highlighting pieces from the collection pertaining to American Presidents in our exhibitions.

Happy Presidents’ Day, everyone!

Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement

Museum Shop: Abe Lincoln Dish Towel

Celebrate Honest Abe’s birthday with presidential swagger! Our Abe Lincoln–themed dish towel features one of his famous quotes and it adds a dash of wisdom to your kitchen decor. So, whether you’re drying dishes or running the country, remember: whatever you are, be a good one! Purchase one now in the Museum Shop or online.

Curator’s Corner: 2024 Smithsonian Leadership for Change Internship Program

Calling all rising college sophomores, juniors, and seniors: we have an exciting opportunity for you! The Frazier will be part of the Smithsonian Leadership for Change internship program this summer! That means that, as a Smithsonian affiliate, the Frazier will hire two students to work in PAID positions for an eight-week on-site and virtual hybrid internship.

Students will work with me to do research and writing for our upcoming exhibition on love and marriage, opening in 2026. They will work with me to develop the exhibition from the very beginning: doing preliminary research, developing an outline and layout, and choosing objects to be included in the exhibition. Topics will primarily be focused on women’s history and social justice, uncovering information about courtship and wedding traditions as well as legislation that can be a barrier to love. There will also be plenty of opportunities to work hands-on with the many beautiful wedding dresses in our collection.

If you are interested in women’s history, social justice, or fashion, you should consider applying! All applications go through the Smithsonian and are due on February 26. For more information and to apply, click here.

I’m really looking forward to working so closely with two incredible interns this summer, and maybe one of them can be you!

Amanda Briede
Sr. Curator of Exhibitions

Sippin’ with Stephen: Creamsicle Old Fashioneds with Casey Jones Distillery

As the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, the Frazier History Museum shares stories of the people, places, and producers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry. To learn more, visit our Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center or tour our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Today’s episode of Sippin’ with Stephen showcases Casey Jones Distillery which is located just outside Hopkinsville, Christian County, in western Kentucky. My guest is Jessica Martin, the Kentucky sales representative for the distillery. Jessica and I discuss the unique history of the distillery along with the experiences being offered to folks planning their Bourbon experience. As you plan your next Bourbon experience, make sure you visit Casey Jones Distillery, which you can learn more about here. We cap off this episode by sampling an orange creamsicle old fashioned.

Recipe for Orange Creamsicle Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. Casey Jones Total Eclipse Bourbon

• 1/2 oz. simple syrup

• 1 oz. vanilla liqueur

• 1/4 oz. Gran Grala

• 2 dashes orange bitters

• 1 wedge Cara Cara

• Sanding sugar to taste

Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager

A Song in Honor of a Wedding and a Leap Year

On Leap Day of 1968, Johnny Cash and June Carter won their first Grammy. The award was for the song “Jackson,” which begins with the lyrics “we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.” The very next day, the couple left their home of Nashville and travelled to Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky, where, in a church on the town square, they got married in real life.

At the time, in Tennessee, there was a mandatory waiting period between getting a marriage license and actually getting married. No such law existed in Kentucky, so it was fairly common for people of north Tennessee to cross the border to quickly get married in fevers of their own. This probably wasn’t the case with the Cash couple’s wedding. Their momentous country music matrimony would have a cultural impact for decades to come, but its rushed ceremony was likely a matter of necessity. They were big stars, and a life of touring, performing, and recording left little time for much else, so a quick wedding made sense in their schedule.

In honor of Johnny and June’s performance, and it being a leap year, my old friend Tory Fisher came by to sing “Jackson,” a song we first sang together twenty years ago.

I hope you enjoy!

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky Launches Website

When I heard the executive director of the newly formed Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky (ATBHK), Chaka Cummings, present at a social studies conference this past summer, I knew instantly that we’d love to partner. In the short time since then, we’ve invited ATBHK staff in for Frazier tours, presented a live performance at one of their teacher trainings, and shared our resources for their new website. Learn more in ATBHK’s program coordinator Jenna Anderson’s article below.—Megan Schanie, Sr. Manager of Educational Programs

On January 15, 2024, we at the Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky launched our new website, ATBHK.org! The website was launched at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration event at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. The event served as free Professional Development for educators on teaching Black Kentucky history. There were sessions led by the Kentucky Historical Society, the Associations Fellows, Karyn Parsons, and more. There were live musical performances by Trip J Band and a live educational performance of Thornton Blackburn by the Frazier History Museum!

The Association’s strategy is to collaborate with museums, educators, and organizations to curate materials on Black history and celebrate the effective teaching of Black history. We partner with four Governing Board Members, including the Muhammad Ali Center, Kentucky State University, Berea College, and the Thomas D. Clark Foundation. We have also developed partnerships with the Kentucky Historical Society and several museums across the state—with a mission to “support educators and schools in offering a more complete version of the history of the Commonwealth.”

Our new website allows visitors to learn about the Association and donate to its work. It also will serve as a hub of learning resources for educators and the community to dive into Black history in Kentucky. These include open source resources, lesson plans, and specific areas of research. Among these resources are several fantastic ones from the Frazier History Museum! The resources include the project The Journey: Unsung Stories of the Underground Railroad, field trip information, educational performances, videos, inquiry lesson plans, and more. Check out ATBHK.org to support the up-and-coming Association and to learn more about the Frazier’s educational resources!

Jenna Anderson
Program Coordinator, Association for Teaching Black History in Kentucky
Guest Contributor

Frazier’s March on Frankfort Program Officially Sold Out

We knew with the panel assembled folks would be anxious to hear what they had to say at our March on Frankfort program on February 22. We are officially sold out as we get closer to the sixtieth anniversary of that historic moment in the fight for civil rights in Kentucky. We want to let everyone know there’s still a chance to watch that evening when the program begins at 6 p.m. One of our partners, the Courier Journal, will stream it live on their Facebook page and their YouTube channel. Many of our panelists marched or organized the event, which included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Please join us for an opportunity to hear from many of the people who have worked for decades as change agents in Kentucky. Click here to learn more about our panelists.

Rachel Platt
VP of Mission

20th Anniversary Photo: George Washington Exhibit, 2004

In honor of Presidents’ Day, we look back at the George Washington exhibit from the museum’s first year. On November 28, 2004, Washington’s flintlock hunting rifle went on public display for the first time since 1971. The Frazier marked the occasion with several other Washington-related offerings, airing the original fifteen-minute film The Battle of Trenton and the documentary Rediscovering George Washington. The museum also offered staged costumed performances by a staff member and, on December 8, the late reenactor William Sommerfield of Mount Vernon.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

The 1950s and 1960s were a time of rapid change and modernization in America. The post-World War II economy was booming and more people had purchasing power than ever before. Meanwhile, the Space Race captivated people around the world and had an exhilarating effect on American culture. “Those early steps into space truly felt like the dawn of a new phase of humanity,” Peter Martin of Effect magazine says. “People began to imagine a new way of living—new horizons, new materials, a whole new way of existence.” Design of the time reflected this exciting new frontier; designers experimented with materials such as fiberglass and plastic and incorporated futuristic and unexpected shapes into their designs. Some iconic examples of Space Age design include Eero Saarinen’s tulip chair and the Leonard J. Malin residence also known as the “Chemosphere,” as designed by architect John Lautner. The influence of the Space Race can also be seen in the design and marketing of the Old Forester holiday decanters, which were available each year from 1950 to 1969.

At the time, several other whiskey brands offered specialty decanters for the holiday season, resulting in a stiff competition each year to create the most innovative and attractive decanter. In 1953, Old Forester partnered with famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy, who designed each Old Forester decanter and accompanying package from 1954 to 1969. While working with Loewy, Old Forester embraced mid-century Space Age design, as illustrated by the 1957 Old Forester holiday decanter.

This decanter features a twist-on cap and molded plastic base similar to Saarinen’s Tulip Chair. Due to its unique shape, the decanter had to be assembled on the bottling line and the plastic bases attached by hand. During the year-long design process, the decanter was nicknamed “the trophy decanter.” But just before it hit the shelves for the holiday season, something monumental happened: the Soviet Union successfully launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, into space on October 4, 1957. The launch of Sputnik I marked the beginning of the Space Race and was a huge news item for months. Thinking fast, the Old Forester team dubbed the decanter the Satellite decanter and developed new in-store displays to highlight this new spin. Spirited Design: Old Forester’s Mid-Century Decanters features a giant recreation of one of these in-store displays! Today, this decanter is fondly referred to as the “Sputnik decanter.”

To see these decanters in person, visit Spirited Design: Old Forester’s Mid-Century Decanters at the Frazier History Museum, on view until 2025!

Lizzy Standridge
Assistant Corporate Archivist, Brown-Forman Archives
Guest Contributor

Bridging the Divide

Frazier to Host Transformative Justice Healthy Lifestyles Program February 29

It is a new not-for-profit committed to advancing mental health care for justice-involved individuals in Louisville. You are invited to the Transformative Justice Healthy Lifestyles program for the community on Thursday, February 29, starting at 5:30 p.m. The program is being held at the Frazier History Museum and will involve a panel discussion to highlight the urgent need for mental health services within the justice system. Dr. Ida Dickie, who founded the Transformative Justice Healthy Lifestyles program, will be among the participants. Click here to learn more and sign up.

Rachel Platt
VP of Mission

Black Catholics Buried at St. Louisville Cemetery to be Honored Saturday

We want you to know about an event happening on February 24 in St. Louis Cemetery in Louisville. It aligns with work the Frazier History Museum has done in partnership with the (Un)Known Project. The gathering will be to honor the lives and read the names of 1,630 free and enslaved Black Catholics who were buried there between 1867 and 1937 in mostly unmarked graves. The names have been identified over the last year by members of the Sister Thea Bowman Society for Racial Solidarity at St. Agnes. St. Louis Cemetery is located at 1167 Barret Avenue. The event begins at 2 p.m. Ned Berghausen, who helped organize this event, says the reading of the names is a way to both honor them and restore some of the dignity denied to them in life. I hope to see you there. Click here to learn more.

Rachel Platt
VP of Mission