Good Monday morning,

Hey all! I know it is a Monday, but the first day of the work week before a holiday weekend is always a little easier to stomach. Add the announcement of our first in-person Bourbon event since before the pandemic and today may have you saying “T.G.I.M.!”

First up, we’re excited to present a Masters Series, barrel selection, and leather making event all wrapped into one. On Thursday, July 22, we’ll welcome Masters from Wilderness Trail, Kentucky Peerless, 3rd Turn Brewing, and Clayton & Crume to the Frazier. I can’t wait to host, and I hope to see you in the audience for our event’s opening toast. Secure your tickets and barrel selection bottles here.

In this week’s Virtual Frazier Magazine, our Megan Schanie shares how our education team got creative to serve 20,144 families, students, and educators in fun and creative ways during the pandemic. You’ll learn why engaged couples are burying Bourbon bottles at the Frazier and get two sweet Bourbon cocktail recipes from Heaven Hill’s Jeff Crowe in Sippin’ With Stephen.

In our Bridging the Divide conversation, Rachel Platt talks to State Representative Nima Kulkarni about the recent spike in attacks on Asian Americans and her message to find light in darkness.

We’ve got Louisville’s history with baseball and new features to Slugger Field, we’re shuffling some playing cards, we’ve got puppeteers and historical miniatures on deck, and before long you’ll be saying “Hello Monday, bring it on!”

I hope you enjoy,

Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Sippin’ With Stephen: Evan Williams Summer Cocktails With Jeff Crowe

This week’s Sippin’ With Stephen features my good friend Jeff Crowe, who is Director of Kentucky Experiences for Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Louisville.

Jeff and I will be discussing Square 6 — the new artisanal expression being produced at Evan Williams Bourbon Experience — and the new and improved Kentucky and Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown.

With the warm weather approaching, we also decided to prepare two refreshing and easy-to-make summer cocktails: Evan Williams Apple Lemonade and Evan Williams Peach Iced Tea.

Evan Williams Apple Lemonade

• Glass of ice

• 50% of glass capacity of Evan Williams Apple Whiskey

• 50% of glass capacity of Lemonade

Stir and enjoy.

Evan Williams Peach Iced Tea

• Glass of ice

• 50% of glass capacity of Evan Williams Peach Whiskey

• 50% of glass capacity of unsweet tea

Stir and enjoy.

Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager

Curator’s Corner: Squallis Puppeteers’ Anne Braden Puppet Show

A few weeks ago, I came across Squallis Puppeteers’ newest project and was surprised to find that it starred a puppet version of Anne Braden! A civil rights icon from Louisville was not exactly who I was expecting to see in puppet form, but I was delighted to learn Squallis is using such an interesting medium to tell Braden’s important story. I have learned a lot about Anne Braden over the past few years, and even had the opportunity to look through her papers at the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections. Braden and the important work that she did to advance social justice in Louisville are featured in both What is a Vote Worth? Suffrage Then and Now and Cool Kentucky.

Squallis’ production, The Other America: An Anne Braden Story, is inspired by Braden’s 1958 memoir The Wall Between Us. It uses tabletop puppetry, shadow puppetry, and a “crankie” scroll to tell the story of the time Anne and her husband purchased a home for a Black family, Andrew and Charlotte Wade, in an all-white neighborhood. In their new residence, the Wades were subjected to white supremacist violence and the eventual bombing of their home. Instead of punishing the perpetrators, a Jefferson County grand jury charged the Bradens with sedition for inciting a race riot.

To see this incredible story unfold in puppet form, you can watch through Vimeo for a $10 donation to Squallis Puppeteers. The donation will help support their mission to use the art of puppetry to free imaginations, create fantastic characters, and tell the stories that are important to our community.

Amanda Briede
Curator

Miniatures Monday: Mercury Treatment of Charles VI, Part of the House of Valois

On Miniatures Mondays, we take a figure or set of figures in The Stewart Collection, the Frazier’s vast collection of toy soldiers and historic miniatures, and use it to illustrate a battle or event from history.

About the Set

(Maker) Vertunni, (origin) France, (set) Charles VI, (date) 20th c.

About the Event

On May 23, 1384, physician and surgeon Thomas of Bologna received a royal grant to send medicine to King Charles VI of France — also known as “Charles the Beloved” and “Charles the Mad.” Thomas also served as an astrologer and alchemist for Charles, who would rule France from 1380 until his death 1422. For Charles’ afflictions, Thomas prescribed a “philosopher’s stone” — an elixir of gold with some mercury. In a letter to Bernard of Treves, Thomas expressed concern that the king’s brothers suspected Thomas of deliberately poisoning the king; in response, Bernard wrote mercury in its crude form could indeed be poisonous, but in its liquid form [quicksilver] constituted a gift from God, Christ, and the Virgin, owing to its properties as medicine. Later, beginning in 1392, Charles’ mental health would deteriorate rapidly — marked by periodic delusions he was made of glass — possibly due in part to mercury poisoning. (Hughes 145)

For more information about The Stewart Collection, check its web page.

Sources

Hughes, Jonathan. The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth Century England: Plantagenet Kings and the Search for the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2012.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Museum Store: Kentucky to the World Playing Cards

Kentucky to the World (KTW) is a non-profit dedicated to telling a new story of Kentucky’s accomplishments on the world stage. A community partner of the Frazier’s, KTW has just released its first deck of illustrated playing cards — and you can purchase it in the Frazier’s Museum Store.

This deck is the first in a series that features illustrated portraits of extraordinary people whose Kentucky roots have fostered their success.

“We are excited to take the artistic renderings of these exceptional individuals and create a deck of playing cards,” KTW President and CEO Shelly Zegart said. “Not only can they be used to play games, but also to educate students and enthusiasts about the artists, writers, thinkers, and game changers that are elevating the narrative of Kentucky throughout the world.”

Card features include:

• Limited edition of 1,000 decks; first deck in an ongoing series

• 52 illustrated cards highlighting individual portraits of people you know and people you should know

• 16 royal cards showcasing past KTW Speaker Series program presenters

• Created by artist and Kentucky to the World team member August Northcut

• Conceived, designed, and manufactured in Kentucky

• Printed in the USA by USPCC/Bicycle Cards

Educators and enthusiasts interested in learning more can visit Kentucky to the World’s website and learn about the 52 influential contemporary figures highlighted on the cards.

“KTW inspires Kentuckians to realize their own potential through sharing stories that boost the value of our state’s positive impact across the country and around the world,” Zegart added. “Those featured on the cards are doing just that and making these stories happen one feat at a time.”

All proceeds from the sales of the playing cards support the ongoing work of Kentucky to the World. To order cards, go to kentuckytotheworld.org/shop or visit the Frazier’s Museum Store during its hours of operation.

Melissa Zoeller
PR and Marketing, Kentucky to the World
Guest Contributor

Education by the Numbers: Getting Creative During COVID

The day after the Frazier Museum closed its doors due to the pandemic, the Frazier’s President Andy Treinen called a Zoom meeting to begin planning how we would continue serving our community virtually. That call to action has come to fruition in many formats, including this publication, our virtual webinar series, Let’s Talk: Bridging the Divide, and the Coronavirus Capsule, a place for members of the community to process, share, and archive their thoughts and feelings related to COVID-19.

Simultaneously, our Education Team was searching for creative solutions to continue engaging with families, students, and educators in safe ways. It took time, energy, and some mishaps along the way — but ultimately, we developed a menu of Virtual Field Trips for teachers to book live or as prerecorded experience with students; offered camps in person with limited capacity and virtually, depending on restrictions at the time; designed the Great Louisville Hunt and hands-on family kits, ran an NTI hub for students to complete their online school work, and presented to educators during virtual conferences.

As the school year draws to a close, and things slowly shift towards normalcy, we’d like to pause and take a moment to celebrate that, from the start of the pandemic through today, we have worked with 20,144 families, students, and educators in fun and creative ways!

Best of all, our virtual programming is here to stay! We’ve found that going virtual allows us to reach further into the state and engage in ways that weren’t possible for us before. Please feel free to reach out with any questions about our virtual educational programming by emailing education@fraziermuseum.org.

Megan Schanie
Manager of School and Teacher Programs

Camps: Cool Story, Y’all

Tales of a lost silver mine, a zoo that never was, and a frozen river. What do these stories have in common? They all took place in Kentucky!

Our Cool Kentucky exhibition has endless possibilities for fascination and investigation. Local history is always a captivating topic, and we’ll get to hear some staff favorites as well as tales from guests who are experts in storytelling (more on that as we get closer to go time!)

Frazier camps are taught by educators who believe kids can learn by looking, asking, and getting up and moving! Our active, story-based learning approach has kids engaging deeply, exploring the galleries, and letting some energy loose — often in the same lesson.

Cool Story, Y’all starts June 28! Sign up here, or click here for more dates and information.

Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth and Family Programs

Bridging the Divide

Nima Kulkarni on Asian American Hate Crimes

She is the first Indian immigrant and the first Asian American to be elected to the Kentucky legislature.

State Representative Nima Kulkarni has something to say about the recent spike in hate crimes toward Asian Americans in light of the COVID crisis.

She applauds President Biden for signing a bill to combat anti-Asian hate crimes.

Rep. Kulkarni came to Louisville from India when she was just six years old, as her parents were in search of better educational opportunities for their two children.

She was the perfect person to interview as we commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

I talked with her about her journey, her public service, and how we find ourselves in the midst of such hate.

And despite the darkness, she still has hope.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Professional Baseball Parks of Louisville, 1882 – Present

Louisville has had a love affair with baseball for nearly 140 years. Since its introduction to the game in 1882, the city has welcomed baseball with open arms, in one form or another. From 1882 to 1900, it was home to major baseball teams. From 1922 to the present, however, the city has hosted minor league teams — teams that hail from the farm systems of numerous major league franchises, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, and more recently the Cincinnati Reds.

Fans have been able to follow the action in a variety of venues over the years. From 1882 to 1922, there were the three wooden baseball parks that were used as home fields, all of which went under the name of Eclipse Park, named after one of the earliest major league ball clubs to play in Louisville.

Afterwards, the steel and concrete baseball park Parkway Field, located off of Eastern Parkway, became the park of choice for minor league games hosted in the city. That was until 1956, when Cardinal Stadium opened at the Kentucky fairgrounds, hosting the home games of various minor league affiliates, including the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Since 2000, the home field for minor league baseball has been Louisville Slugger Field, situated at the corner of Preston and Washington Streets. Named after the famous baseball bat factory here in town, the park is the home to the Cincinnati Reds’ AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats.

Slugger Field occupies a lot once owned by Brinly-Hardy Company, a firm based in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The company used the property as a train depot until the late 1990s, then sold it to the city of Louisville in 1998. The architects of Slugger Field incorporated some of the original layout of the depot into the design elements to the entrance of park.

Recently, a series of renovations have been made at Slugger Field. For more information on those developments, check out the article below from Bats Director of Communications Chris Robinson.

Brian West
Teaching Artist

The Louisville Bats are thrilled to welcome fans back to Louisville Slugger Field for the return of baseball and the 2021 season. The Bats’ Home Opener on May 4 marks the first official home game in more than 600 calendar days and the team is truly looking forward to unveiling the upgraded Bats experience to fans.

Baseball will look different at Slugger Field in 2021, both in the sites around the ballpark and the actual on-field product of the games. The Bats will kick off the season with a variety of additions already completed around the stadium. The full scale of renovations will likely be a season-long process, and we plan to continue to unveil completed projects throughout the 2021 season.

I. BALLPARK UPGRADES:

• Full Color, High-Performance LED Videoboards around the Ballpark

Bigger, brighter and now with interactive features! The new videoboards truly upgrade the game-day experience for Bats fans this season.

The existing ribbon scoreboards on the outfield wall, as well as the upper-level overhang on the first and third-base sides have been upgraded from the traditional single-color scoreboards to full-color LED boards. The upgraded boards are capable of showing in-depth statistical information during games, can pull updates from around both Major and Minor League Baseball and have the ability to display fans’ social media posts from Twitter and Instagram.

• Two New Premium Bar Areas

The Bats are helping fans make the most of their nights out at the ballpark this season with the addition of two premium bars in the outfield plazas.

In right-center field, the area formerly known as the Overlook Grill now boasts an array of new amenities and will now be the “destination spot” to enjoy a drink or two with friends. This new “Triple Play Bar” will serve a variety of new beverages, including frozen margaritas and other summer-friendly treats with bar-top tables and chairs, cornhole-style games and a shady pergola with overhead fans.

Down the third-base line, fans can treat themselves to an additional upgraded outdoor drinking and dining area at the “Double Play Bar.” This premium bar will be equipped with a full-service drink menu and multiple shaded bartop areas, so fans can enjoy a unique view for Bats games by overlooking the field of play from the bar-top area.

• Expanded Kids Area

Bring the kids to the park this season and let them cut loose in the newly expanded Kids Area. The playground will feature slides, swings, a carousel, bounce pad and jungle gym.

In addition to the new equipment, the concourse area itself by the Kids Area has also undergone a facelift to include wider, more accessible walking areas and newly installed astroturf on the playgrounds.

• On-Deck Club

Grab some pine, or in this case, some padded luxury seats, to watch Bats baseball from directly behind home plate. The team’s new “On-Deck Club” is two rows of luxurious leather seating that extends between the home and away dugouts.

The seating section spans into what was formerly foul ground behind the catcher and umpire on the field, thus putting fans right on top of the action and actually closer to home plate than the pitcher!

• Luxury Suites

Host a group of up to 50 people at the ballpark in the Bats’ redesigned luxury suites. Each suite is completely renovated from the 2019 season and comes complete with new furniture, top-of-the-line TVs and a variety of other upgraded amenities.

Whether you’re planning a simple get together with friends or an official company outing for work, the Bats’ luxury suites can perfectly accommodate your group. Visit batsbaseball.com to make a reservation.

• Expanded Netting

Fan safety is always top of mind at the ballpark, and with the installation of our expanded netting, fans are now protected from foul pole to foul pole at Slugger Field. The new netting significantly improves the viewing experience with its revolutionary design that is 95 percent see-through.

Chris Robinson
Director of Communications, Louisville Bats
Guest Contributor

Bourbon Bottle-burying Southern Wedding Tradition

Here at the Frazier, we are willing to do just about anything to keep our clients happy, especially if it will keep the rain away on their wedding day. Well, that’s the myth anyway, and we hope it works for Grant and Maddie. Had you heard of this tradition? Of course it involves Bourbon!

We’re getting married at the Frazier History Museum’s rooftop garden on Saturday, June 5! We heard about a Southern tradition wherein the soon-to-be bride and groom, in order to ward off rain on their wedding day, bury a bottle of Bourbon (upside down) at the site of the ceremony exactly one month before the ceremony takes place. The Frazier was kind enough to let us bring our own bottle of Maker’s 46, a shovel, and a potted plant to disguise the Bourbon bottle. After the (hopefully sunny!) ceremony, our Bourbon bottle will be removed and saved for a special anniversary. After our wedding, we hope to put down roots somewhere (pun intended!) and give our little tree peony a “forever” place to grow as we grow old together!

Stay tuned to Virtual Frazier Magazine — we’ll have pictures from our rooftop wedding and let you know if the Southern tradition worked in keeping the rain at bay.

Grant and Maddie
Guest Contributors

From the Capsule

NAMI’s Stigma-Free Workplace Initiative

Our world continues to open up as we come out of our COVID cocoons. Restaurants are bustling, we’re heading back into the office, and masks are coming off. As we head back into the office, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has launched a new initiative we wanted to share with you as part of Mental Health Awareness Month. We can all be part of the change to end the stigma.

NAMI’s vision is to make recovery possible for everyone affected by mental illness while ending the stigma associated with this disease. That is why they started their Stigma-Free Workplace Initiative. It's a partnership where they provide expertise and education, empowering both employers and employees to shed more light on the topic in order to build empathy while equipping teams to take the next actionable steps.

We know mental health knows no boundaries — it is an issue that unites us in our shared humanity. In a Forbes article from July 2020, the tie between diversity, equity, and inclusion is made clear: “We must recognize the essential role of mental health in this conversation and commitment. As employers move from words to actions, they can focus on mental health as an essential need at the heart of this challenge.” Another article published in HR Daily Advisor in November 2020 states: “DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] can’t succeed without mental health. They’re part of the same DNA...”

As companies and organizations move towards working in person again, there’s room for discussion around how to do this well, and how to support the workforce as we readjust. We realize transitions can be challenging, but NAMI Louisville is here to address all the factors at play in the process.

NAMI Louisville's Stigma-Free Workplace Initiative is here to serve you and your employees to cultivate real change in a holistic way. Changing the conversation around stigma and mental health starts by addressing the challenges first, and we can help you reach that goal.

NAMI offers multiple paths to engage in our Stigma-Free Initiative. Interested companies can reach out to me at kelsey.deyoung@namilouisville.org to schedule or learn more.

Kelsey Deyoung
Community Partnerships Manager, NAMI Louisville
Guest Contributor