Happy Monday!

Get ready to party with us!

Tickets are officially on sale for our inaugural gala, Night at the Museum: Celebrating 20 Years of the Frazier, presented by Fifth Third Bank.

Join us April 12 for an evening filled with music, dancing, and fun as we celebrate this significant milestone in the museum’s history!

From the museum’s founding in 2004 to its position in 2024 as the place Where the World Meets Kentucky, we are proud to bring the community together to honor the incredible legacy of our founder, Owsley Brown Frazier.

This gala is not just an event—it’s a museum takeover!

Enjoy live, local music—including Small Time Napoleon, Carly Johnson, James Racine & Omega Latham, Tony & the Tan Lines, and an after-hours rooftop DJ!

Your Party or Late Night Party ticket includes food from a variety of local caterers, drinks featuring Brown-Forman, Heaven Hill, Lexington Brewing & Distilling, Mary Dowling Whiskey Co., and Buzzards’ Roost, and museum activations from games to photo booths, magicians, and acrobats!

This milestone event wouldn’t be possible without the tremendous support of our sponsors and the generosity of our Friends of Owsley Host committee. Their commitment to preserving and promoting the Frazier Museum has been integral to our success, and we extend our deepest gratitude to each of them for their invaluable contributions.

For the full list of 2024 gala sponsors and host committee, please click here.

We look forward to partying with you soon at this incredible event where the past and the present will converge in a night of joy, reflection, and community.

Hayley Harlow Rankin
Sr. Manager of Fundraising
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Enjoy Trivia, Puppets, and Colombian Food at Saturday Free Family Day!

I’m pretty excited about our Free Family Day next Saturday, March 9. Sponsored in part by the Fund for the Arts, this community-wide celebration will have something for everyone: Cool KY Trivia, art activities, live music, a Colombian food and coffee truck (Con Aji y Cafe), plus puppet shows from Louisville’s own Mary Shelley Electric Co.! You can find more details and a full schedule here.

Admission is free until 2 p.m. (The museum remains open until 5 p.m.)

March 9 can also be a great open house learning opportunity if you are considering attending one of our camp sessions! Spring and summer camp registration is open now.

Zach Bramel
Manager of Youth & Family Programs

Curator’s Corner: Snead Iron Works Bookshelves

To celebrate National Read Across America Day, which is Saturday, March 2, I want to highlight a part of our Cool Kentucky exhibition that some visitors may find curious.

Have you ever wondered what the bookshelves beneath the stairs in the Frazier’s Great Hall are all about?

The bookshelves themselves were made by a Louisville business, Snead & Company Iron Works. That business was located at Ninth and Market streets, right across from the building the Frazier occupies. In addition to commercial goods like spittoons and cookware, the firm manufactured the 900 stairs in the Washington Monument. Perhaps most notably, they created bookcases that allowed libraries to display a huge number of books of all sizes. Snead bookshelves are still found in the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and the Vatican. In many places, including the famed New York Public Library, Snead bookshelves do more than just hold books: rather, they are a necessary part of the building’s structure. The Snead bookshelves at the Frazier were removed from the University of Illinois rare book library.

The books we display on our Snead shelves are all written by Kentucky authors. The collection includes everything from children's books and comic books to long novels. Some of the titles are even written by people featured in Cool Kentucky, such as mystery novelist Sue Grafton and explorer Tori Murden McClure. The seating area in front of the bookshelves gives visitors a place to sit and peruse what Kentucky authors have to offer. Some of my favorites are the books on how to do simple magic tricks by Kentucky magician Mac King, who is also featured in Cool Kentucky!

I hope next time you visit the Frazier, you stop and take a moment to appreciate the wide variety of written works by Kentucky authors—and the incredible cast-iron shelves that hold them!

Amanda Briede
Sr. Curator of Exhibitions

IWRBR’s Sara Hannah on Why You Should Read to Children

This year’s Read Across America takes on special meaning at the Frazier because of our partnership with the nonprofit organization I Would Rather Be Reading. They started Lights on Main as a fundraiser for their organization and brought us into the fold this past December when they moved the temporary exhibition indoors to the Frazier. We are so grateful. As we continue to strengthen that partnership, we asked them to write about the importance of reading to your children. Keep reading for the article and click here to learn more about the impactful work they do.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

Reading to your child is like opening a treasure chest full of amazing adventures every day. It’s more than just stories; it’s a way for you and your child to share special moments and create a routine that makes your bond even stronger.

Early reading introduces your child to the intricacies of language, laying the groundwork for essential reading skills. From understanding how language functions to expanding their vocabulary, these early encounters with books shape the way your child engages with words and ideas. But the impact of reading stretches far beyond language. It becomes a training ground for concentration, teaching the art of focus and patience. Stories introduce the nuances of effective communication, a skill that seamlessly integrates into daily interactions. And the benefits don’t stop there!

Reading acts as a window to the wider world, exposing your child to diverse cultures, people, and places beyond their immediate surroundings. This exploration broadens their perspective, fostering empathy and understanding. In essence, reading is a gateway to a world filled with ideas and possibilities. It instills a love for learning and curiosity, paving the way for a future where your child not only excels academically but approaches life with an open mind and a passion to explore the limitless horizons of knowledge. So, grab a book, dive into the adventure, and watch as reading becomes a special doorway to a world full of possibilities for you and your child!

Sara Hannah
Director of Programming, I Would Rather be Reading
Guest Contributor

As part of our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit, we’re curating a list of 120 unique sites to visit: one site in each county! In 2024, once a month, we’ll share sites in ten counties, completing the list in December. For February, we’re sharing sites in these counties: Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, and Carlisle. I extend a special thank you to Kentucky Historical Society, whose Historical Marker Program has been a brilliant resource for this list!

Ephraim McDowell House. (37° 38.698′ N, 84° 46.262′ W) On Christmas in 1809, Ephraim McDowell performed the first successful ovariotomy at his house in Danville, Boyle County. His patient, Jane Todd Crawford, had rode sixty miles on horseback from her home in Greensburg. Lacking anesthesia, she sang hymns during the removal of the twenty-two-pound ovarian cyst. She recovered and lived until 1842.

Oldest Wine Cellar in Kentucky. (38° 46.137′ N, 83° 59.673′ W) In 2009, Baker-Bird Distillery opened in Augusta, Bracken County—a county that led Kentucky in wine production in the 1870s. On the grounds is a forty-by-ninety-feet wine cellar—one of the oldest and largest wine cellars in the US—that dates back to the Civil War. On September 27, 1862, women and children hid in it during a Confederate siege.

Bloody Breathitt. (37° 33.234′ N, 83° 23.034′ W) From 1870 to 1920, dozens of Kentuckians, including a doctor and a sheriff, were slain in, around, or because of decisions made at the Jackson, Breathitt County, courthouse. On May 4, 1903, an attorney, US Commissioner James B. Marcum, was assassinated on the front steps. Built here in 1889, the “Bloody Breathitt” courthouse was razed in 1963.

Site of First Coal Oil Plant. (37° 50.225′ N, 86° 38.055′ W) In 1857, the first coal oil plant of its kind was built in Cloverport, Breckinridge County. The area was chosen because of its fine beds of cannel coal. Coal was shipped from here to New Orleans then onto England for gas manufacture. However, with the emergence of petroleum as a cheaper alternative, cannel coal distillation was largely discontinued.

Bernheim Forest Fire Tower. (37°54’08.7”N, 85°37’39.5”W) In 1929, a fire tower was built at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, a 16,000-acre forest outside Clermont, Bullitt County, that German immigrant Isaac W. Bernheim dedicated. Rangers manned the tower to spot forest fires until 1980, when the US Forest Service began surveilling with small planes. The tower remains standing today.

Bluff/Suffolk. (37°12′45.1”N, 86°53′33.7”W) In 1803, where the Green River meets its Mud River tributary, Logan County Court established Bluff, now Suffolk, Butler County. The land had been granted to Jason Riddick for his service in the American Revolutionary War. When Butler County was founded in 1810, Suffolk was the only town. It is now part of Rochester, a shipping hub founded in 1839.

Site of Dotson School. (37°7.002′N, 87°52.893′W) By 1910, Dotson High School in Princeton, Caldwell County, was the only school for Black children in the area. As schools were integrated and Dotson students could transfer out, Dotson ended its high school classes in 1963 and elementary classes in 1966. The school building was destroyed by fire in 1968. In 1984, the property became Dotson Park.

Nathan Stubblefield Birthplace. (36°37.95′N, 88°18.228′W) On December 24, 1901, electrician and inventor Nathan Stubblefield (1860–1928)—who was born near here in Murray, Calloway County—first demonstrated a wireless telephone. Using ground current, he transmitted a distance of 400 meters to his home in Murray, where a party of children had been gathered to receive messages from Santa Claus.

Mary Draper Ingles Return. (39°2.222′N, 84°23.47′W) On July 8, 1755, Shawnees captured Mary Draper Ingles in Pattonsburg, Virginia. They took her to Lower Shawneetown and Big Bone Lick in Kentucky to gather salt in September. Mary and a German woman escaped to the wilderness together. A marker in Silver Grove, Campell County, marks Mary’s trek along the Ohio River. She arrived home in November.

Bardwell Station. (36°52’18.7”N, 89°00’41.1”W) In 1890, a train station and freight depot was built here in Bardwell, Carlisle County. It served the Illinois Central Railroad, which ran from Chicago to New Orleans. The station needed water, so they dug a well; however, the swampy terrain’s gumbo soil flooded it, so they boarded it up—hence “board well,” or “Bardwell.” The station closed in the 1970s.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Extremely Rare Specimen of 1876 Kentucky Meatshower Discovered!

I’m not sure if you look forward to Kentucky Meatshower Day each year, but I’ve been counting down for weeks! If you’re unclear, on March 3, 1876, mysterious pieces of meat fell from the sky in Bath County, Kentucky. The event has puzzled scientists and lovers of the bizarre ever since. In 2019, I wrote a picture book about it titled The Meatshower: The Mostly True Tale of an Odd and (somewhat) Edible Occurrence. Each year on March 3, I read the book live on YouTube. You can tune in Sunday at 5 p.m. EST for this year’s reading.

Recently, I had a conversation with Frank Reiser, a retired professor in New York and collector of antique slides, about some news he has to share in the history of the Kentucky Meatshower. A collector of antique microscope slides, Frank owns a previously non-publicized specimen of the Kentucky Meatshower—and through detailed research has an incredible amount of documentation to support it and help us learn more of the story.

Here's parts of a conversation I had with Frank recently. If you want to know more about this, or many other fascinating aspects of microscopy, his website AntiqueSlides.net is endlessly fascinating.

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

20th Anniversary Photo: Girl Scout Hayley Harlow Rankin Visits, 2005

In 2005, Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Troop 1263 came to the Frazier Museum to learn about the American Revolution and complete historical activities. Spot the shorter blond Scout? That’s a nine-year-old Hayley Harlow Rankin—whom you probably know as our senior manager of fundraising! As Hayley spearheads the effort to fill our museum with memory-making fun on April 12, 2024, it’s nice to glimpse her first visit to the Frazier some nineteen years ago.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

First Episode of LDP’s Downtown Lowdown Spotlights Frazier Museum

In case you missed it, Louisville Downtown Partnership has launched a YouTube series! Once a month, throughout the year, LDP’s Rebecca Fleischaker is leading viewers to different attractions in Downtown Louisville—from the Louisville Palace to the Frazier Museum. We’re honored to be featured in the series premiere! Catch the episode below.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Bridging the Divide

Soulful Sounds of Derbytown Comes Out March 2 at Kentucky Center

What a powerhouse group of authors who’ve come together for the new book The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown. We asked one of those authors, Michael Jones, to write an article for Frazier Weekly to give you some of the musical flavor in the book. He’s been part of powerful programming here at the Frazier. Make sure to note the book launch is March 2 at the Kentucky Center.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission

Bessie Allen (1881–1944) was one of the first African American social workers in Louisville. She ran the Booker T. Washington Community Center at Ninth and Magazine Streets in West Louisville. The center offered domestic classes for girls, while boys could learn woodworking and shoe repairing. But its main focus was on religious study.

Allen taught Sunday school, and she started a marching band to reward children who had perfect attendance. Each child received a uniform and a musical instrument. The band was directed by Lockwood Lewis, a local bandleader who had recorded with some of the Louisville jug band. Lockwood made the children learn to read music, which led to the band producing some notable professional musicians, including trumpeter Jonah Jones, singer Helen Humes, and trombonists Dicky Wells.

Allen and Lewis are among the hundreds of forgotten Louisvillians you’ll find in the new book The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown. The book explores the legacies of Black musicians and entertainers in Louisville through hundreds of biographical sketches, historical essays, information on music venues and promoters, and historical and contemporary photographs that document a wide range of genres, including gospel, jug band, blues, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, rock, and classical and theatrical music.

The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown is a collaboration between myself, Ken Clay, Wilma Westfield Clayborn, Keith Clements, Gary Falk, and Ron Lewis. Each of the six authors has each been immersed in the local music scene in some capacity for decades. The group includes a choir director, a music promoter, two musicians, and two culture writers.

The book spans Louisville’s Black music history from Cato Watts, a slave who arrived with the city’s first settlers, to the contemporary doo wop group Linkin’ Bridge. We spent eight years conducting interviews and searching archives and attics. Countless hours were spent tracking down dates, confirming spellings of names, and pairing legal names to professional monikers like “Eggeye,” “Eggie,” and “Church.” This work continued through a global pandemic, several surgeries for group members, and other major life events.

Butler Books will release The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown on March 2, 7 p.m., at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. The book launch takes this rich history from the page to the stage by showcasing some of the local talent featured in the book. Among the performers are the Jerry Tolson Quartet, Marjorie Marshall, Mark “Big Poppa” Stampley, the Walnut Street Blues Band, Toni Green, Tyrone Cotton, Tanita Gaines, Sheryl Rouse, Christopher “Chris Flow” Forehand, the Imani Dance Company, Jerry Newby, Christine Booker, Archie Dale and the Tones of Joy, Jason Clayborn, and In God’s Prescence.

The authors will be available to sign books after the show. Tickets to the event start at $49 and The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown can be purchased for an additional $50. Tickets to the book launch can be purchased at kentuckyperformingarts.org.

After the show, The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown will be available at Carmichael’s Books, area gift shops, and butlerbooks.com.

Michael Jones (pictured at back, middle)
Co-author, The Soulful Sounds of Derbytown
Guest Contributor

Muhammad Ali Center to Screen Reparations Doc The Cost of Inheritance

On February 28, for Black History Month, the World Affairs Council is hosting a special event that is worthy of your attention. It’s the screening of the film The Cost of Inheritance, a documentary that’s inspiring a new perspective on the reparations debate in the US. Following the film, there will be a panel discussion. It’s being held at the Muhammad Ali Center. Click here for more information.

Rachel Platt
VP of Mission