Animals From Big Bone Lick to Horse Cave, 1910s Actor J. Warren Kerrigan in LGBTQ+ Kentucky, Megaphone Monday, and More
Are you a fan of megafauna? How about megaphones? If so, then you’re the target audience for today’s issue of our newsletter.
First, as part of a new video series, Mick Sullivan spotlights four animals (big and small) represented at the Frazier: a racehorse who won the 2005 Kentucky Derby, a prairie starling ornithologist John J. Audubon painted, a mastodon who perished at Big Bone Lick, and a bison who roamed a farm in Prospect. Later on, Heather Gotlib introduces a little lemur she met at Kentucky Down Under Adventure Park at Mammoth Onyx Cave in Hart County — just up the road from Dinosaur World.
But this issue explores much more than critters!
In “Curator’s Corner,” Amanda Briede shares highlights from the museum’s collection of photographs of J. Warren Kerrigan. Born and raised in Kentuckiana, Kerrigan was a silent film star in Hollywood in the 1910s and ‘20s. He will we be one of four figures represented in “LGBTQ+ Kentucky,” a section of Cool Kentucky whose installation is underway as part of Pride month.
Next, Heather details the roster of talented educators overseeing our summer camps. In a similar “get to know our staff” spirit, Mick launches a quirky interview series called “Megaphone Monday.” His first interviewee: Exhibits Manager John Witzke, who reveals that he works with metal, but cannot do the robot.
Rachel Platt interviews Chris Hartman, Executive Director of the Fairness Campaign, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. And Peter S. Canellos previews The Great Dissenter, his forthcoming biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan.
Finally, if you’re a big fan of the Frazier — which you must be if you’ve read this far — stay tuned for a big announcement on Wednesday…
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Video: Animals at the Frazier
This summer, we are offering new tours and engagements every single day. These tours are designed to offer insight into objects and people in our galleries that will be of interest to both longtime residents and first time visitors to the area. We have mined our galleries for some great stories; now, we're eager to share them. Here's an example of some things you might learn about at the Frazier. For this video, we're highlighting some of our favorite animals in the museum!
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Curator’s Corner: Silent Film Actor J. Warren Kerrigan
Image from the comedy drama film A Burglar for a Night (1918) stamped November 24, 1918. In the scene, Kirk Marden (J. Warren Kerrigan) cracks a safe to steal papers outlining the planned takeover of his father’s railroad. Credit: University of Washington Special Collections.
This month, our curatorial team is installing a new section of the “Cool Kentucky” exhibition called “LGBTQ+ Kentucky.” The section will highlight four Kentuckians who’ve made an impact on LGBTQ+ rights, both nationally and in Kentucky. Each Monday in June, Curator Amanda Briede will share the story of one of these four figures. Be sure to stop by the Frazier to see the artifacts and wall panels of this section in person. — Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
A few years ago, the Ypsilanti Historical Society transferred a small collection of photographs of silent film star and Louisville native J. Warren Kerrigan to our museum. The collection included several autographed photos, including some addressed to Vida Van Vlerah, a fan and friend who lived in Michigan and donated the photos to the Ypsilanti Historical Society. Needless to say, we were very excited to obtain these artifacts.
Born in Louisville in 1889, Kerrigan relocated with his family to New Albany, Indiana as a small child. He went on to become a successful actor in Hollywood, starring in over 300 films by 1924. After further research, I discovered Kerrigan was a member of the LGBTQ community, living with his partner James Vincent beginning around 1913.
Autographed photo of J. Warren Kerrigan, Frazier History Museum Collection
Detail of the inscription on the back of the photo, Frazier History Museum Collection
During a publicity tour in 1917, Kerrigan was questioned by a reporter for the Denver Times about whether he would be joining the other American troops fighting in World War I, to which he replied:
“I am not going to war. I will go, of course, if my country needs me, but I think that first they should take the great mass of men who aren't good for anything else, or are only good for the lower grades of work. Actors, musicians, great writers, artists of every kind — isn’t it a pity when people are sacrificed who are capable of such things — of adding to the beauty of the world.”
The story was printed in newspapers across the country and Kerrigan lost popularity among his fans.
However, family members later told William J. Mann, author of Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910 – 1969, that his loss in popularity was more due to the fact that he was living with his gay partner. California voter registration records also show that from at least 1936 to 1938, Mansel “Vardaman” Boyle, a famous female impersonator from the Vaudeville circuit, shared the home with the couple.
Kerrigan passed away due to complications with pneumonia in June of 1947. By October, Vincent had married a woman named Mitty Lee Turner; but tragically, he committed suicide by gas just nine months after Kerrigan’s death.
Amanda Briede
Curator
Museum Store: Kentucky Road Trip Essentials
Copy of My Old Kentucky Road Trip and tote bag sold in the Frazier’s museum store
This is definitely the summer to hit the road — and we are so ready for it. Our road trip totes make a good gift, filled with everything you need for a journey. And you can check out all the hidden gems in our state with My Old Kentucky Road Trip Guide: Historic Destinations & Natural Wonders (2015), which is also available for purchase in the museum shop.
Summer Camps: Starting Lineup of Teachers
Roster of teachers for the Frazier’s summer camps, 2021
Today marks the beginning of a very special time of year: summer camp season!
We’ve been working toward this fun-filled summer since January, and I’m thrilled to share our teaching roster with you. Everyone working with our campers this year is talented, passionate, and ready to make this a really special year for the kids who come to Frazier camp.
If you’re interested in seeing the fun for yourself, you can find more information on themes and register here!
Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth and Family Programs
Story Time Tuesday: Secret Engineer
Copy of Secret Engineer in the Frazier’s book nook
Join us for our first Story Time Tuesday of the summer! Every Tuesday at 11 a.m., we’ll read a book that connects to the stories told in our museum’s galleries. Afterwards, we’ll have staff on hand to share more insight into that connection.
Story Time Tuesday: Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge
Tuesday, June 8
11 a.m.
This week and next, we’ll be reading Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge (2019) by Rachel Dougherty. This book is about how a woman named Emily Roebling stepped in to save the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after tragedy befell her family. Prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Roebling family oversaw the creation of the historic bridge connecting Newport, Kentucky with Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Megaphone Monday: John Witzke, Exhibits Manager
Want to know more about the folks who make the Frazier tick? Tune in to Megaphone Monday! In each episode, Curator of Guest Experience Mick Sullivan interviews one of the Frazier’s staff members — across the room, through megaphones. It’s a fun and silly way to learn about the good folks who work here at the museum.
Today’s episode features Exhibits Manager John Witzke.
When John’s not working with lumber, metal, fabric, and rolled vinyl, he’s sinking shots in cornhole and singing Digital Underground’s 1990 hit “The Humpty Dance.”
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
New Frazier Team Members
Our staff is growing and we want you to meet our newest Frazier team members. You’ll likely see them at the front desk, in the museum store, leading tours, or working with young people on field trips and at summer camps. Be sure to say hello!
Bridging the Divide
Chris Hartman on the Fairness Campaign
The Fairness Campaign is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year in Louisville as Pride month gets underway.
It started with 10 people, all strong voices for racial justice, recognizing the oppression of the LGBTQ community and others, and how fighting for one is fighting for all.
Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign has worked to get cities and counties around the Commonwealth to pass anti-LGBTQ discrimination ordinances, and so far more than 20 have.
Chris Hartman serves as its first Executive Director and has been in that role for nearly 13 years.
We talked about the work still to be done, a victory in a small eastern Kentucky town that gave him hope, and how many efforts to offer protections have bipartisan support.
That’s not to say, however, there’s no more work to be done locally and nationally.
We begin though with the origins of Pride, and a place called Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York. The year was 1969…
Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement
History All Around Us
The Great Kentucky Road Trip
Postcard depicting the entrance to Mammoth Onyx Cave, Horse Cave, Kentucky, undated. Credit: Postcard Collection, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
Route 66 looms large in the American imagination, thanks to the famous song originally recorded by Bobby Troup in 1946 and later covered by artists from Chuck Berry to Depeche Mode.
What you might not realize is that Highway 31 — also known as Bardstown Road and Dixie Highway in Kentucky, where it splits off into 31E and 31W — served a similar function for road-tripping tourists in the mid-20th century. The highway went all the way from the “tip of the mitten” in Michigan to the Alabama coast in the days before I-65. The route, in fact, dates back more than 100 years to the highway created by the National Auto Trail Program, which was created in 1914 to help travelers find their way by marking different routes with variously colored bands on utility poles.
Roadside tourism was a huge deal in the period immediately following the Second World War, as Americans hopped in their cars to see the U.S. of A. — some aided, in an era of segregation and discrimination, by guides to safe travel such as the Green Book. One of the prime corridors for roadside attractions, if not the prime corridor in Kentucky, ran through Hart County, Kentucky. Tourism has existed in this part of the state for over a century and a half.
In the early part of the 1800s, the Grand Tour was cemented as a rite of passage for wealthy young men looking for culture in Europe. While cities such as Florence, Paris, and Rome boasted architecture and art that was seen as a foundation to the education of a person of leisure, America didn’t believe it had the same ancient architectural foundation (namely because the context of great cities like Cahokia had been lost to disease and displacement among indigenous Americans).
Instead, wealthy Americans looked to the natural wonders of America, which existed on a grand scale in a way that was a point of pride to the young country. Sites like Niagara Falls at the American-Canadian border served as spots to spend periods of several weeks taking in the scenery, society, and fresh air. Mammoth Cave was another such natural wonder, aided by the pioneering speleology of Stephen Bishop. The site became a tourist attraction in the 1830s, and cave tourism emerged as a major industry. In the 1920s, the Cave Wars cemented how central this was to the local economy.
Mammoth Onyx Cave, later Kentucky Caverns, was one tourist cave. In the 1990s, its owners were the third generation to operate an attraction on the land. Inspired by the fauna of his wife Judy’s native Australia, Bill Austin decided to do something a little different on the site, however. Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo officially opened as an Australia-themed animal park and served as a day trip destination for generations of Kentuckians.
A lemur at Kentucky Down Under Adventure Zoo in Horse Cave, Kentucky, 2021
When my family recently ventured down to Hart County for a visit to Kentucky Down Under and Dinosaur World, I paused for a moment to think about the long tradition we were taking part in. Through wars and pandemics and all kinds of other cultural events, American curiosity in the wonders that can be found along our travel routes hasn’t ceased. And participating in the long tradition of visiting sites like these is, to me, just as cool as getting to meet a lemur or pet a kangaroo!
Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth and Family Programs
Staff Pick
The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero
Front cover of The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero
His most famous quote as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court had to do with the nation’s constitution being colorblind: Justice John Marshall Harlan, whom you can learn more about in our “Cool Kentucky” exhibition here at the Frazier. Portraits of Harlan and other Justices with Kentucky connections are in the Frazier’s permanent collection. A new biography of Justice Harlan by author Peter S. Canellos, Executive Editor at Politico, published by Simon & Schuster comes out tomorrow, June 8. We asked Canellos to share a bit about his book, titled “The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero.” We’re hoping he’ll visit the museum in person for a program on August 24, so please keep your schedule open. — Rachel Platt, Director of Community Engagement
In 1833, the great Kentucky jurist John Marshall Harlan was born with a prophecy: his father, one of Kentucky’s most learned attorneys, gave him the name of his greatest legal hero, Chief Justice John Marshall. It was Marshall who had asserted the Supreme Court’s right to review the constitutionality of laws, and thereby established the primacy of law over politics. James Harlan had similar dreams of greatness for his son.
Amazingly, John Marshall Harlan lived up to that prophecy, becoming perhaps the greatest Supreme Court justice since Marshall. He was known as The Great Dissenter, because he differed sharply with his colleagues on matters of civil rights, equal protection, and the government’s power to protect workers. Many cases during his 34 years on the court came to be regarded as disastrous for the country — including Plessy v. Ferguson and Lochner v. New York — and Harlan dissented on all of them. In the long test of time, Harlan’s views, not those of his judicial contemporaries, provided the legal structure for the 20th century.
John M. Harlan, 1991. Artwork by Barbara Gaffney. Frazier History Museum Collection.
What made Harlan different? The answers were all in his Kentucky roots. Growing up under the strong influence of Henry Clay, he believed in America’s national destiny over states’ rights. Initially, he favored compromises on slavery, but when they failed, he came away with a strong sense that slavery had been a moral evil that not only injured those who were enslaved but violated the central ideals of the republic. The best guard against future divisions, he believed, was the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
From his childhood home in Harlan’s Station to his youth in Frankfort and his years in Louisville struggling to preserve the neutrality of his home state, Kentucky provided all of the reference points for Harlan’s groundbreaking career. It also nurtured one of the most significant relationships in his life, with Robert Harlan, the African American horseracing pioneer and civil rights leader who may have been his half-brother.
The story of the Constitution isn’t set in a courtroom. It’s an American saga, but also a family saga — many family sagas. Out of the Salt River of Kentucky flowed a tale that, silent in its time, now resounds in the laws of the land.
Peter S. Canellos
Author, The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero
Guest Contributor
