As we enter March, we’ve got one thing on our minds: basketball!

There’s something about the sounds of it—shoes squeaking, fans cheering, buzzers buzzing—that nurtures our competitive side: we get the urge to pick winners, root for them, and talk trash. (Look no further than the Frazier’s Kentucky Rivalries exhibition.)

So, to feed that competitive spirit, we’re excited to announce the return of Membership Madness!

Join us for the 2nd Annual Membership Madness, a members-only NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket Pool, sponsored by Assured Partners. Whether you play for the prize, bragging rights, or just for fun, we know you’ll enjoy. The prize is a brand new 70-inch TV!

Remember, this is a member exclusive: if you’re a Frazier member, you’re eligible to compete; if you’re not, become a member to compete.

Here’s how it works: you fill out a bracket with your picks. Depending on which level of membership you hold, you can submit multiple brackets: an Individual Member ($20) gets one, a Family Member ($50) gets two, a Contributor Member ($106) gets three, and so on. Last year’s winner was a Contributor Member (meaning they got to submit three brackets, tripling their odds). Membership at any level gets you free admission to the museum for a year.

If you get your membership now, we’ll send you a bracket the evening of Selection Sunday, March 12. Fill it out and return it by the deadline: tipoff of the first game played on Thursday, March 16.

Do you still have questions? Then join us March 14 for the kickoff party. Frazier president Andy Treinen will answer questions, make his picks, and talk strategies. For details or to RSVP, click here.

Also in today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, Haley Hicky announces a big change at Bourbon Limited, Tish Boyer introduces two lovebird miniatures, Simon Meiners shares the next “Musical Kentucky” listicle, Heather Gotlib teases summer camp themes, and the Stories in Mind team recaps the great work they’re doing with seniors.

Plus, Rachel Platt previews the next Ed Hamilton sculpture and Twany Beckham plugs the Journey to Wellness Conference.

Play ball, y’all!

Word to the wise: if you purchase a membership at the Contributor level or above, use promo code SWEET16 for $16 off!

Amanda Egan
Membership & Database Administrator
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Bourbon Limited Club Lowers Cost, Boosts Value

“I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”—Abraham Lincoln, Former Bartender Turned US President

The members of Bourbon Limited spoke, and we listened.

Now we’re excited to announce that we’re taking membership to the next level. Without sacrificing even an ounce of quality, Bourbon Limited is reducing cost, increasing value, and hosting an event to celebrate its members!

Here’s how we’re making the club an even better place to discover the world’s finest, rarest Bourbons:

1) THE ADDED VALUE. With each shipment, we will now send an additional tasting bottle of that exclusive Bourbon Limited product, allowing you to taste the great whiskey and, if you choose, keep the unopened bottle as a collectible.

2) THE LOWER PRICE. In working with our distiller partners and our fulfillment center, we’ve found a way to lower the cost of each expression to just $150 per bottle, plus taxes and shipping.

3) THE EXCLUSIVE EVENT. In March, we’re hosting an event for Bourbon Limited members here at the Frazier Museum. We’ll taste our exclusive Peerless and Wilderness Trail selections that influencers are raving about, enjoy appetizers, and hang out with other Bourbon lovers.

What that all adds up to is more great Bourbon, at a greater value, for a lower price. If you’d like to become a member, click here and get signed up before next month’s event. We hope to see you there!

For more information, contact me at hhicky@fraziermuseum.org.

Haley Hicky
CMO & Unicorn Wrangler, Bourbon Limited

From the Collections: 1930 Bride and Groom Dimestore Miniatures

Dimestore historic miniatures are American-made figures that were sold in five and dime stores between the 1930s and 1950s. These hollow cast figures are roughly three inches tall and were minimally painted. Perhaps the most unique thing about the dimestore figures is that you didn’t purchase them as a set but rather individually. This meant that a child could collect and build their own set how they wanted over time. These figures featured soldiers, civilians, and even some scenery. By the 1970s, though, dimestore figures were replaced by the much cheaper to produce plastic army men.

Here at the Frazier, we have quite the collection of dimestore figures in the Stewart Historic Miniatures Gallery. If you will remember a month ago, we did some extensive work in the Stewart Gallery—and that gave us a chance to switch out a few sets on display for ones that had never been out before. In doing so, we found a fun pair that is on view for the first time: a bride and groom, c. 1930!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, and leading up to what is typically known as wedding season, we thought it would be fun to highlight these unique figures. So come on down to the museum and see if you can spot the bride and groom in the gallery.

Tish Boyer
Collections Manager

As a supplement to the Musical Kentucky section of our Cool Kentucky exhibition, we’re curating a Spotify playlist of 120 songs: one song from each county in Kentucky. In 2023, once a month, we’ll share songs from ten counties, completing the playlist in December. For February, we’re sharing songs from these counties: Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, and Carlisle.

“How Excellent is Thy Name” by Larnelle Harris. (Released 1985.) Larnelle Harris began singing in his Danville, Boyle County, church at six then majored in music at WKU. He later settled in Okolona, where in February 1986 his family threw a party celebrating his two latest Grammys—including one, the Best Gospel Performance (Male), for “How Excellent is Thy Name.”

“Sweet Kentucky Ham” by Rosemary Clooney. (Released 1992.) In 1980, Maysville-native actress and singer Rosemary Clooney (1928–2002) purchased a home in Augusta, Bracken County. On a 1992 piano ballad, she’s a hungry traveler hankering for food from back home. “You’ve got to take what little pleasures you can find / When you’ve got sweet Kentucky ham on your mind.”

“Ol’ Dood (Part II)” by Sturgill Simpson. (Released August 20, 2021.) Jackson, Breathitt County’s Sturgill Simpson is the first male on his mother’s side not to work in a mine. Set in Eastern Kentucky in 1862, his album The Ballad of Dood and Juanita follows a homesteader named Dood—“son of a mountain miner and a Shawnee maid”—on his quest to save his love Juanita from her outlaw captor Seamus.

“Locust Hill Rag” by Jenks “Tex” Carman. (Released 1953.) Born to farmer Alford Carman in Locust Hill, Breckinridge County, Jenkins Carman (1903–68) was a California-based radio star who combined western showmanship with staccato vocals and Hawaiian steel guitar. “Went down in old Kentucky, down to Locust Hill,” he sings on “Locust Hill Rag.” “Sweet little Cherokee maiden waiting o’er the hill.”

“Chinqui Pin Hunting” by Art Stamper. (Released 1982.) Born in Knott County, Art Stamper (1933–2005) lived with his wife on a quiet farm on Proctor Lane between Shepherdsville and Mount Washington, Bullitt County, from 1960 on. In 1982, he recorded an old-time fiddle tune from the Upland South about scavenging for the sweet and edible nuts of the chinquapin tree.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Register Now for 2023 Summer Camps Unseen and Unsolved and YourStory!

For us, like many of our colleagues in Louisville who also run summer camps, February has been a record month for camp signups! The reason why is a mystery—we’ll have to think about covering it for our Unseen and Unsolved camp later this summer. All we know is, if you know you want to participate in summer camps at the Frazier, you should probably hustle, especially if you have multiple children you’d like to register for the same week.

We’re thrilled that camps are filling up so fast because we have an incredible amount of fun planned. Whether it’s collaborating for YourStory! camp with cake artist Deepa Karande, whose Croc-inspired work of art should be on Netflix’s Is it Cake?, to catching up with our friends on Main Street (we are excited to get to see Superpower Dogs this summer at the Science Center during Unseen and Unsolved!), every day is different and every day is a blast!

You can learn more about our summer camps and sign up here.

Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth & Family Programs

Barrels of Heart Exhibition Run Halfway Over

Just a quick reminder that our most recent exhibition is halfway through its short run!

Barrels of Heart is Louisville’s first Bourbon-barrel art exhibition.

Curated by Morgan Hancock, founder of the nonprofit Bourbon with Heart, Barrels of Heart features twenty custom Bourbon barrels designed by local artists of varying ages from eighteen to sixty-five and varying levels of experience—from award-winning professionals to hobbyists. Open February 2 to March 30, Barrels of Heart is on display in The Spirit of Kentucky®, a permanent exhibition about Bourbon located on the third floor of the Frazier History Museum.

Come down and visit while you still can!

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Stories in Mind Invites Nursing Home Residents to Tour Frazier

Hey y’all!

The Stories in Mind team has been out in the field providing enriching educational content to area nursing homes. Over the past few months, we’ve developed amazing relationships and received so much positive feedback. We set out to deliver programming to alleviate the loneliness, isolation, and depression that many in this demographic have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic—but we’re far exceeding our original expectations.

Since the beginning of the program, we have been guests in the residents’ homes. So last week, we wanted to return the favor.

We invited one group of residents to the Frazier for a personalized and private tour of our museum. Curator of guest experience Mick Sullivan took our guests through our Cool Kentucky exhibition, ending with a story of Lily May Ledford that included a sing-a-long, which the residents absolutely loved and couldn’t stop talking about. We had anticipated providing a tour of one or two exhibitions, but after one, the group said they couldn’t get enough—so we ended up going through the entire museum! I even played a game of pop-a-shot in the Kentucky Rivalries exhibition with a resident, and I’m sad to say I lost horribly (I am a historian, not an athlete). One resident said several times that she could spend weeks here because of all of the content. The residents were amazed by our extensive collection and were surprised by the size of the museum.

Stories in Mind is such a rewarding program. The relationships we’ve developed and positive impact we’ve made is why we do what we do.

For more information on Stories in Mind, contact me at kbradley@fraziermuseum.org or (502) 412-2280.

Kevin Bradley
Stories in Mind Administrator

MLK-Inspired Seniors Share Dreams for Nation with Frazier

“I have a dream”: those are four words Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t intend to include in his speech at the Washington Monument until urged to “tell them about the dream, Martin.” In that moment, those words caught fire and lifted up not only those at the Washington rally, but also those listening on the radio and watching on television. King’s vision of a more righteous and just America has continued to light the way forward for the generations of Americans who followed.

The facilitators in the Stories in Mind program here at the Frazier Museum referenced King’s words when working with area nursing homes in presenting programs on MLK in January. As residents responded with their own memories of King and his times in Kentucky, our conversations turned to the “I Have a Dream” speech and King’s aspirations for our country. As facilitators for the program, we then asked the residents to share what “dreams” they thought were worthy for our nation to pursue.

The responses ranged from the prosaic to the insightful and the sublime. The following points are paraphrased from the responses we heard from residents in four of the sites at which the Stories in Mind staff have worked since the program launched in October.

Foundational “dream” responses from those residents recognized that “people are people” and a wish for “everyone to get along well as it is God’s will to do so.” Residents expressed a desire for peace and for there to be equality, equity, and opportunity for everyone. They agreed with Dr. King that we should all be judged by the content of our character and not by our color, and to do unto others as we would have done to us. This was spoken most effectively by one resident who said he “wanted to erase his childhood memory of Black children having to wait for White children to leave the swimming hole so they could swim, and wished we could all swim together.” It is here at the intersection of memory and aspiration that we see opportunities for much-needed empowerment and increased agency through our program.

Other comments branched off more critical observations about currents in our contemporary American culture such as issues of parenting, a perceived overreach of government, the role of faith, and the state of our school system. However, even those comments led back to their dreams of Americans believing in themselves and the ability for us all to change ourselves and the country in the face of its challenges. Those dreams were for us to build homes for the homeless—especially vets—helping the poor, ending bullying; they were dreams that “we all get to know each other, live in a peaceful world, [and] not live in fear.”

Martin Rollins
Stories in Mind Facilitator

Bridging the Divide

Sculptor Ed Hamilton to Honor Writer Paul Laurence Dunbar

Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton is at it again. This time he will make his artistic mark to honor poet and writer Paul Laurence Dunbar in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

That project is in part being headed up by noted African American artist Bing Davis, who came to the Frazier History Museum last year to honor Ed Hamilton in a special program here. Hamilton will create a life-sized statue of Dunbar to be erected on the plaza of the newly constructed West Dayton Branch of the Dayton Metro Library.

Dunbar was born in Dayton in 1872 to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War. He wrote his first poem at the age of six, and he gave his first public recital at just sixteen. He would publish a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, four novels, lyrics for a musical, and a play in his relatively short career. Dunbar died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-three.

If you would like to contribute to the project, here is the address. We can’t wait to see Ed’s personal touch on this latest creation.

The Paul Laurence Dunbar Statue Fund
The Dayton Foundation
1401 S. Main Street, Suite 100
Dayton, Ohio 45409

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Twany Beckham on the Journey to Wellness Conference

My name is Twany Beckham and I am from Louisville, Kentucky. I grew up in the Beecher Terrace and Village West communities. I view myself as someone who has overcome a tremendous amount of adversity and someone who has cultivated a life that I love and fully enjoy.

I am a National Champion, a five-time published author, a motivational speaker, a consultant, the owner of Ivisionpress Publishing, and the founder of Better Lifestyle Events. My mission and purpose are to uplift others towards having a positive outlook on life and to create a fulfilling lifestyle for themselves. In life, we face hardship and things that are out of our control. I believe how we respond to challenges is what truly makes us who we are.

I have always had an interest in wellness and an eagerness to understand how to take better care of my health. Once I overcame two hip surgeries and a career-ending back surgery, I had no choice but to seek tools, information, and resources on how to sustain a peaceful mind and body going forward. I believe the greatest gift in life is the sharing and passing down of knowledge. Haley Bastin and I teamed up to form Better Lifestyle Events, which will host the Journey to Wellness Conference Presented by KDL Services on March 9–10 at the Muhammad Ali Center. This Conference will engage, educate, and empower individuals to establish a healthy lifestyle for themselves.

For more information and to register, visit the event web page.

Twany Beckham
Founder, Better Lifestyle Events
Guest Contributor