The Frazier is entering adulthood!

From left, Royal Armouries chair Ann Green, Frazier Museum founder Owsley Brown Frazier, and Mayor of Louisville Jerry Abramson cut the ribbon to open the Frazier History Museum, May 22, 2004. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

Opened eighteen years ago this week, May 22, 2004, the Frazier History Museum has had a few stages in its evolution to a Kentucky history museum. (Who can forget the collection of 300 European artifacts borrowed from the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds and the blockbuster traveling exhibitions like Da Vinci: The Genius and Diana: A Celebration?)

But since the 2010s, we’ve set our sights on the great state of Kentucky. Our exhibitions reflect that: The Lewis and Clark Experience, Pappy Van Winkle, The Spirit of Kentucky®, The Stewart Historic Miniatures Collection, Tyler Gerth, West of Ninth, and Cool Kentucky. As for our next permanent exhibition—The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, opening June 1—I can’t recall an exhibition in the five years I’ve worked here whose opening I’ve anticipated more.

Speaking of aging, in today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, Hayley Rankin sheds light on a fossil in The Commonwealth that is surely one of the oldest objects the museum has ever had: a 300-million-year-old fern plant leaf from Leslie County, Kentucky. Steve Rockhold shares the history of “blind tigers” ahead of our June 23 Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier, Stephen Yates sips Bardstown Bourbon Vieux Carrés, and Megan Schanie offers testimonials from Central High School Genealogy Club members who took the Frazier’s audio/driving tour The Journey. Plus, we announce the details of our June 18 Into the Vault: Father’s Day at the Frazier experience.

If you’re enjoying what you learn in Frazier Weekly and what you see at the Frazier, vote for us for “Best Museum” in Kentucky Living’s 2022 Best in Kentucky awards. Consider it a birthday gift!

Thanks for reading.

This Week in the Museum

Museum Store: Happy Birthday to . . . Us!

Cheers to the Frazier History Museum on eighteen years! We love celebrating birthdays, particularly since Louisville is the home of “Happy Birthday to You,” a song that, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, is the most widely sung song in the world! Check out our online store for some unique birthday-themed items.

Countdown to The Commonwealth: Neuropteris Fern Plant Leaf, Carboniferous Period

Logo for The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

Each week leading up to the opening of the Frazier History Museum’s next permanent exhibition The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, manager of collection impact Hayley Rankin will highlight an object or objects to be included in the exhibition.

Opening with a private reception May 19 and to the public June 1, 2022, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall will tell the story of Kentucky’s rich history, including, among other topics, its native peoples, the Civil War, and the early nineteenth century, when cities such as Louisville gained prominence due to their important locations along the Ohio River. It will expand viewers’ personal connection to history by pairing historic figures like Henry Clay, emancipationist Cassius Clay, and Abraham Lincoln with diverse narratives from lesser-known figures in Kentucky history.

In partnership with artist Ché Rhodes and the (Un)Known Project, led by artist-run nonprofit IDEAS xLab, the exhibition will include a space for visitors to reflect on the stories, both known and unknown, of the enslaved that lived in Kentucky. This interactive exhibition is designed to engage visitors of all ages and will feature objects related to Kentucky’s diverse history as a border state on the banks of the Ohio, including the clock face from the top of the Town Clock Church in New Albany, Indiana, an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and the Bloedner Monument, the oldest surviving memorial to the Civil War.

The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.—Amanda Briede, Curator

Neuropteris fern plant leaf, Leslie County, Kentucky, c. 358 to 298 million years old. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

We have shared several artifacts from the nineteenth century in our countdown to The Commonwealth; now, we want to take you back a bit further in time to explore remnants of Kentucky’s natural history.

The Neuropteris is an extinct species of seed fern known only from its fossilized imprints. It existed during the Carboniferous period, which is broken into the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian periods in North America. Found in Leslie County, Kentucky, this fossil could date anywhere from 358 to 298 million years old.

The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall will display many fossils, rocks, and minerals to tell the history of the land we know as Kentucky.

Brief History of “Blind Tigers,” or Speakeasies

On the third floor of the Frazier, there’s a secret door that conceals a speakeasy: a dark lounge with a Jazz Age bar, a cabaret stage, a checkers board, and flapper dresses. To see it brought to life in all its glory, come to our June 23 after-hours program Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier! Our first speakeasy event since 2018, this 1920s shindig will feature food, dancing, Black Manhattans, toe-tapping jazz music by Billy Goat Strut Revue, and swanky prize packages for the best-dressed couple and individual. The tasting lineup will incorporate three Michter’s expressions: Bourbon, Rye, and Barrel Strength Bourbon. Need I say more?—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Speak easily, and carry a stiff drink?

The speakeasy is an iconic, lasting image of the tangled mess that was the Prohibition Era. In recent years, it has enjoyed a nostalgia-fueled resurgence throughout the United States. In reality, the Roaring Twenties, or Jazz Age, was often a period of conflicting ideals. Art and culture flourished in the post-war West, including great strides in women’s suffrage, yet a conservative Progressive movement in the US successfully lobbied for a ban on alcohol.

This ban of course led to the proliferation of your favorite secret watering hole, the speakeasy. Potentially derived from the British phrase “speak softly shop,” speakeasies in the US were commonly referred to as “blind pigs” or “blind tigers” due to the practice of charging customers to see an attraction while providing a “complimentary” cocktail. From the sparsest of small hidden rooms to glamorous, full-service gambling halls, all facets of American life were represented in these establishments: Politics, crime, art, music, even family. In a sense, the rise of nostalgia for the speakeasy is simply a perpetual nostalgia for people coming together to have a good time.

Oh, and speaking easily of having a good time: have you ever knocked on the Frazier’s secret door? The upcoming Michter’s event is your perfect opportunity to have a drink with Al Capone at the hippest “blind tiger” in the city, the Frazier Speakeasy.

Sippin’ With Stephen: Bardstown Bourbon Vieux Carrés With Dan Callaway

This month’s episode of Sippin’ With Stephen highlights the Bardstown Bourbon Company and features Dan Callaway, the director of beverage operations and Bourbon education. Dan and I discuss the unique offerings for Bourbon tourists at this modern distillery located in Bardstown. In keeping with Sippin’ With Stephen tradition, we make a cocktail that utilizes a fine product produced at the Bardstown Bourbon Company: the Bardstown Bourbon Vieux Carré.

Cheers!

Recipe for Vieux Carré

3/4 oz. Bardstown Bourbon Company Ferrand Collaboration
3/4 oz. Pierre Ferrand Cognac
3/4 oz. Dolin Sweet Vermouth
1 tsp. Benedictine
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
Garnish with a lemon twist

May 22 Reading, Q & A, and Book Signing With My Old Kentucky Home Author Emily Bingham

Singing the state song “My Old Kentucky Home” before the big race on Kentucky Derby Day has been a tradition dating back by some accounts to 1921. However, in recent years, the song has been performed rather than sung, perhaps due to its complicated history. Originally titled “Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night,” the song was written in the 1850s by Stephen Foster, a white man, about a Black man being sold downriver.

Author Emily Bingham and the front cover of *My Old Kentucky Home*. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

In a new book released on May 3, just days before Kentucky Derby 148 took place, author Emily Bingham explores the song’s history. On May 22, Bingham will be at the Frazier to read, answer questions, and sign copies of her book, which is titled My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song.

The event is free and open to the public, but limited seating remains!

The book was also designated to be the inaugural selection in the Frazier’s Summer Book Club, which is only open to museum members.

Sunday, May 22, 2022
2:00–3:30 p.m.

Public Event With Reading and Q & A, 2 p.m. (Free and Open to Public, Second Floor Classroom)
Book Signing in Museum Store, 2:45 p.m. (Free and Open to Public)

Click here to reserve your spot for the reading, Q & A, and signing before they are gone!

Copies of Bingham’s book will be on sale at the Frazier’s Museum Store that day during the signing portion of the program.

Around the Frazier in Five Days Summer Camp to Spotlight Galleries

There are nine days left in the school year for many districts. You know what that means: time to make plans for summer camp!

We’re kicking off our camp season with a new favorite, Around the Frazier in Five Days. In this camp, we’ll spend each day deep-diving into a specific gallery—and by the end of the week, your camper will be an expert on the Frazier!

This first week of camp is available by the week or by the day, so it’s ideal for those busy early-summer schedules and to get a feel for what Frazier camps are like! Our camps serve kids who have just finished kindergarten through those who have just finished sixth grade. We pride ourselves on the fast-paced, active environment, one that strikes a balance between arts and crafts, games, and free play.

You can sign up or find more information here.

Refresh at the Frazier Teacher Appreciation Day Set for June 18

The education team members at the Frazier Museum have the utmost respect for our local educators, so we want to show our appreciation for all they do, seen and unseen, for our students, families, and community. On June 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., teachers are invited to visit the museum for our inaugural Refresh at the Frazier Teacher Appreciation Day.

Our goal is to offer a relaxing day of fun and self-care with opportunities to join museum tours, view screenings of KentuckyShow!, enter prize drawings, enjoy refreshments, and participate in engaging and restorative music sessions offered by local music therapist Allison Cross. Best of all, local educators will receive FREE admission, along with one guest of their choice!

Reservations are not required. Please direct any questions to education@fraziermuseum.org.

Into the Vault: Father’s Day at the Frazier

The Frazier’s collections team is extremely excited to launch our first behind-the-scenes collections tour! On Saturday, June 18, as part of a special Father’s Day weekend package, we’re offering a guided tour of The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall and a create-your-own Bourbon cocktail experience!

This exclusive, two-part tour and tasting will first take you “into the vault” to see highlights and new acquisitions from the Frazier’s permanent collection up close with opportunity for Q & A with our collections staff. You will then journey through our new exhibition, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, before finishing with an expert-led Old Forester Old Fashioned cocktail–making experience in the Knight’s Owl, our 1900s-themed bar.

Give your Dad something special this year and be among the first to experience the “Into the Vault” private collections tour, a curated tour of a new permanent exhibition of Kentucky history and a brand-new Bourbon offering—all in one day at the Frazier!

Into the Vault: Father’s Day at the Frazier will be offered Saturday, June 18, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Due to the maximum capacity of the Frazier’s collection storage room, availability is limited. So act quick!

Purchase tickets here.

Hayley Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact

Staff Picks

West of Ninth Eats: Summa Dis, Summa Dat & More

As part of our West of Ninth exhibition, we wanted to go west and explore, taking time to visit local restaurants, coffee shops, and breweries. Each month, we will showcase a place our staff members have visited. We hope you will visit, too!

Down the street aways, at the corner of Jefferson and Twenty-sixth Streets, there’s a Black-owned take-out restaurant called Summa Dis, Summa Dat & More. The restaurant is the idea of George A. Pumphrey.

A cook who had worked for some years at a local Golden Corral, Pumphrey got sidelined from his job by a rotator cuff injury. In 2019, while on the mend, he was approached by a friend to go into business for himself. That year, Pumphrey opened his own take-out restaurant behind a barber shop at Forty-fourth and Muhammad Ali in the Shawnee neighborhood.

However, in 2020, Summa Dis had to weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic by becoming a contactless delivery service, while continuing to provide take-out to its everyday customers. But even with that adjustment, Pumphrey, along with his daughter and associate Risha, realized he had to make a move in order to keep the business operating.

About a year and a half ago, George was made aware that a property at 2536 West Jefferson Street had been put on the market. With the location being situated at a major corridor between Downtown and West Louisville, Pumphrey saw an opportunity to get closer to the action and to businesses within West Louisville and the business district downtown. So, in 2021, he and Risha made the jump to their current location in the Russell neighborhood and haven't looked back since.

There’s a little bit of everything at Summa Dis, Summa Dat & More. For lunch, I bought myself a chicken quesadilla, which George fixed from scratch with chicken, onions, tomato, peppers, and real cheese (no cheese-like product here, like the quesadillas you might find at one major taco chain). For dinner, I bought one of the Summa Dis standards: the turkey leg dinner with two sides. The leg was humongous, and had enough meat on the bone to last for dinner, then for breakfast and lunch the following day.

I will be back here again.

Summa Dis, Summa Dat & More is open Monday–Thursday, 12–7 p.m., Friday–Saturday, 12–9 p.m., and the first Sunday of each month, 12–5 p.m.

Bridging the Divide

Keisha Combs on Cancer Support Community Gilda’s West

It’s a beautiful space that is helping to bridge divides in our community, this one involving health and those who are living with cancer. That space is Gilda’s West, and the open house last month gave us an inside look at a wonderful collaboration of agencies providing services and artists who decorated the space. Elmer Lucille Allen was one of those artists welcoming guests as they arrived to take a look, and I have to say, it is a beautiful space offering hope and healing. You can read all about it.—Rachel Platt, Director of Community Engagement

Community is stronger than cancer! Together with Kentucky African Americans Against Cancer, the Kentucky Cancer Program, and U of L Brown Cancer Center, Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana is working to reduce health disparities in areas where residents face a higher incidence of cancer and mortality rates. The groups recently celebrated the grand opening of Gilda’s West, located inside the Republic Bank YMCA at 1720 West Broadway.

Meeting at Gilda’s West, April 11, 2022. Credit: Suzanne Goldring, Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana.

Gilda’s West is a shining example of how partnerships can create good for the community: in this case, a multi-dimensional resource for families living with cancer! Gilda’s West is on the second floor of the YMCA in a beautifully appointed, home-like space with state-of-the-art technology. Professionals from both KAAAC and Gilda’s Club are on site Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Evening and weekend hours vary depending on program offerings.

Gilda’s Club provides a free program of emotional and social support. Together with Gilda’s Grinstead Drive location, more than 150 free monthly programs treat the other symptoms of cancer—fear, uncertainty, and hopelessness. Gilda’s Club believes that living with cancer isn’t a choice, but how you live with it is. Support groups; social events; educational workshops and lectures; resources and referrals; short-term, individual counseling; and healthy lifestyle offerings such as yoga, Zumba, and tai chi help people live life while cancer is a part of it.

KCP and KAAAC are long-time leaders in creating initiatives around cancer health inequities. With U of L Brown Cancer Center, they offer research, education, outreach, and screening programs. Their mission is to reduce cancer incidence and mortality rates for at-risk populations, particularly African Americans.

Collaborating and sharing office space with these highly regarded groups is a substantial step in helping to provide needed services to west Louisville. Community is stronger than cancer.

If you would like more information, or would like a tour, please email keisha@gck.org or call (502) 371-3040.

Keisha Combs, CSW
Program Manager, Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana
Guest Contributor

History All Around Us

Central High School Genealogy Club Members on The Journey Audio Tour

In early 2022, the Frazier Museum education team was pleased to complete phase one of a long-term project titled The Journey. The walkable/drivable audio tour takes participants to significant locations and landmarks along both sides of the Ohio River that reveal local connections to slavery and the Underground Railroad. Woven into the experience is the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn who escaped their enslavers in Louisville in the 1830s and went on to have international impact.

We were thrilled to learn that students from the Central High School genealogy club were going on The Journey and willing to share their thoughts with us afterwards. Hear what these bright, inquisitive students had to say below.

Student Testimonials on The Journey

“The Journey shows how others viewed enslaved people as voiceless and uneducated. They were underestimated. I feel as though they were very smart and also misunderstood.”—Law’Ren Warren, Central High School

“The Journey was very interesting, and I learned a lot from this experience. Listening to the audio, I wondered what other struggles enslaved people went through that we don’t know much about.”—Ja’Miyha Crowley, Central High School

“I love how the unveiling of this hidden story in our history has come to light.”—Layla Robinson, Central High School

“Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn had to work together and use expert strategy to pull off their escape, especially since they moved during the day and could not always wait for the cover of nightfall.”—Deja Vaughn, Coleridge Taylor Elementary School (instructor’s granddaughter)

“Their only choice was to succeed.”—Kourtney Pimpleton, Central High School

“The area surrounding the Freedom Benches looks kind of bleak right now, which parallels the current conditions of the underrepresented communities; however, the Blackburns looked out and saw endless possibilities of freedom. I hope this area will one day mirror their vision.”—Rosemary Lin, Central High School

Thank you to the students for their time and insights. And thank you to Janet Stephens, top-notch educator at Central High School and member of the Frazier Teacher Advisory Board, for arranging this experience for her students.

Thanks to our generous funders, the public is invited to experience The Journey at no charge. To get started or learn more, click here.

Frazier Turns 18, Fossilized Leslie County Neuropteris Fern Plant Leaf, Bardstown Bourbon Vieux Carrés, and More

Ché Rhodes Glass Art, 1900s Jellico Mining Co. Scrip Coin, 1968 Louisville Rebellion “Hurricane’s Eye” Relic, and More

1870 Mary Todd Lincoln Cameo Brooch, Elmer Lucille Allen Fiber Art Exhibit Closing, Country Singer Naomi Judd Honored, and More