Good morning, y’all!

If beer is your love language, I am here to whisper sweet nothings in your ear. The third annual Summer Beer Fest at Frazier is just nineteen days away—and, if Thursday’s news conference was any indication, energy is building for our most-attended fundraiser of the year.

If your love language is one of the more traditional options—like words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, or gift-giving—that’s ok, too. Supporters of the Frazier ROCK (affirmation), it’s a wonderful event to experience with friends and family (quality time), volunteers are needed (service), and proceeds benefit the Frazier, a BBB-accredited 501(c)(3) (gift-giving). We’ve got you and we’d love to see you!

On July 29, we are once again shutting down Main Street to host dozens of brewers, multiple bands, food vendors, a fun zone with activities like Flying Axes, and hopefully, you. Today is the last opportunity to take advantage of our Buy-3-Get-1-Free discount on general admission tickets. The discount expires tonight at 11:59 p.m.

Kentucky has been blessed with great brewing stories and today’s Frazier Weekly highlights several examples, including the rich history of Shippingport Island. Simon Meiners is back with ten more songs from Kentucky counties in Musical Kentucky. We’ve got camps, waterfalls, fishing reels, Falls City gear, and a Top Gun–inspired football video starring Jeff Brohm as quarterback. Plus, our Stories in Mind team draws inspiration from a 45,000-year-old practice in serving content to our senior community.

There’s a lot here and I sure do hope it speaks to one of your love languages. But more importantly, I hope you enjoy!

Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

The afterparty for this year’s Summer Beer Fest at Frazier will take place again at Shippingport Brewery and Sally Forth Taproom, nestled between downtown Louisville and the Portland neighborhood. Open since 2021, Shippingport has already gained a reputation as a place where people from all walks of life can gather under one roof for a pint: from beer aficionados to truckers, tourists, and townies. The brewery’s owner, Oldham County native Amelia Pillow, would not have it any other way.

Pillow envisions Shippingport as a place where virtually anybody can feel welcomed and comfortable, a home away from home; yet at the same time she also wants her establishment to be a place where “people can engage comfortably with people who they might not engage with otherwise.”

Pillow strives for such an atmosphere in several ways. First, there is the beer itself. Pillow, an artist by nature, considers beer an art form, as worthy of study and enjoyment as the paintings and sculptures which hang in art galleries. Yet, she believes that beer is a far more accessible mode of expression to the general public than fine art usually is.

For that reason, Pillow and head brewer Sue Franklin have been intentional in determining which beers to brew at Shippingport. Though Pillow and Franklin have served tried and true favorites like IPAs, they’re still eager to broaden their and their patrons’ horizons. In two years, Shippingport has already brewed over ninety-eight unique brews of beer in house, with the hundredth brew set to debut coincidentally during the beer fest afterparty.

The other ways Pillow hopes to build community are by virtue of Shippingport’s location and its name. The Brewery takes its name from Shippingport Island, a town that was once located on a peninsula that connected with Louisville, before it was separated from the city in the 1820s to make way for the Louisville-Portland Canal.

Though families still lived at Shippingport Island into the twentieth century, they were forced to leave in 1958, when the federal government declared the land eminent domain. Still, before that time, Shippingport Island had many amenities for those who lived there. According to Pillow, the island even had its own honky tonk bar and brewery.

So, by naming her establishment (which is just southeast of Shippingport Island itself) after the island—a place that still served its community even when the city of Louisville had often fallen short of serving it—Pillow hopes that Shippingport can serve as a place where divides within the city—cultural, economic, residential—can be bridged, if but for a moment, by a mutual affection for beer. And, with the addition of another brewery in the Portland area, Kyros, it certainly appears that other businesses are following Pillow’s example.

The official afterparty for Summer Beer Fest at Frazier will begin immediately after the Beer Fest ends at 8 p.m. on July 29. Festivalgoers who still have their wristbands can enjoy free hot dogs and $1 off all beers at the Taproom. There will also be a special Taproom-only beer release. Admission is free.

Many thanks to Amelia Pillow for sharing the history of the island and the brewery with us.

Brian West
Teaching Artist

Museum Shop: Falls City Lucky Penny Token Fob

A true Louisville original, Falls City has been around since 1905. We were lucky enough to source a stash of vintage lucky penny key fobs from this iconic brewery. Add one to your keychain for good luck and a reminder of Louisville’s fine craft beers! They’re available in the Frazier’s Museum Shop and online.

Musical Kentucky: A Song from each County, Knox–Livingston

As a supplement to 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 July, we’re sharing songs from these counties: Knox, LaRue, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, and Livingston.

“Charles Guiteau” by A. L. Phipps and the Phipps Family. (Released 1965.) Barbourville, Knox County, native A. L. Phipps (1916–95) was an L&N Railroad employee, a WWII veteran, and a patriarch-guitarist for the folk band the Phipps Family. The anonymously penned “Charles Guiteau,” the lyrics to which date as early as 1893, is a ballad about the man who in 1881 assassinated President James A. Garfield.

“How Long Has it Been?” by Bobby Lewis. (Released 1966.) Bobby Lewis comes from Hodgenville, LaRue County. “Bobby is the first as well as the only country music player to play a lute rather than the more familiar instruments,” a 1967 Louisiana Sun article says. “[His wife Pat] makes all of his extremely attractive costumes, including [a] colorful red velvet design . . . studded with Persian rhinestones.”

“Phoebe the Yodeling Cowgirl” by Phoebe White ft. Riders in the Sky. (Released September 9, 2022.) Most of the vocals twelve-year-old London, Laurel County, prodigy Phoebe White recorded for her debut album were captured in single takes. On “Phoebe the Yodeling Cowgirl,” she boasts: “My yodeling swept the country epidemic that all caught us / Now everybody knows me as the Epiglottis Goddess!”

“All Your’n” by Tyler Childers. (Released June 21, 2019.) Born and raised south of Louisa in Lawrence County, Tyler Childers is the son of a coal miner and a nurse. He now lives in Estill County with “my lady of the Estill Springs,” one of several references to his Irvine-native wife, musician Senora May, on the 2019 album Country Squire. “I’ll love ya ‘til my lungs give out—I ain’t lyin / I’m all your’n you’re all mine.”

“Tom Barrett” by Ian Noe. (Released March 25, 2022.) Ian Noe’s “Tom Barrett” follows a WWII veteran who, having been thrust into violence, returns to Noe’s hometown [Beattyville, Lee County] haunted by his trauma. “On the day I turned forty-one I was crawling up a ditch in Greece / About to end a man when they stopped me at his heels / Never knew how they handled him / And don’t guess I ever will.”

“Kentucky Born” by Betty Jean Robinson. (Released August 1, 1991.) Born in Hyden, Leslie County, Betty Jean Robinson (1933–2021) recorded thirty-six albums. In 1968, Billboard named her Female Country Songwriter of the Year. Later, in the 1970s, she became a born-again Christian. “When I opened up my heart, Jesus moved in,” she sings. “This little girl’s Kentucky-born—Kentucky Born Again.”

“Nona” by Sl-t Pill. (Released January 24, 2020.) Formed in 2018 by Paulina Vazquez, Carrie Carter, and Mitchella Phipps, Sl-t Pill is a “contraceptive rock” band from Whitesburg, Letcher County. “Sl-t Pill would not be without “The Pill,”” they posted after their idol died. “Loretta Lynn walked so we could stumble and crawl in the path she laid before us. Eastern Kentuckian excellence in its purest form.”

“Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio” by Faith Esham, et al. (Released 1988.) Urged by her Morehead State voice teacher, Vanceburg, Lewis County, soprano Faith Esham pursued a career in music. In 1977, she made her New York operatic debut as Cherubino, the male page infatuated with his godmother (“Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio”), in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, an opera she’s since appeared in 100+ times.

“Lincoln County Line” by Highway Natives. (Released June 24, 2022.) Waynesburg, Lincoln County’s Brandon Moore is the only Kentuckian in the Nashville-based rock band Highway Natives. “I wrote [“Lincoln County Line”] during a little period of homesickness,” he says. The song mentions the “top of Halls Gap into Ottenheim,” a nod to the community where his grandmother lives on Allen Road.

“Impressions on Chinese Prints” by Michael Smith. (Recorded October 1976.) Tiline, Livingston County, native Michael J. Smith (1938–2022) became a free jazz pianist and composer based in Sweden, releasing Geomusic in 1977. In 1995, he collaborated with world-famous Chinese mandopop star Wei Wei on her debut English album The Twilight; the two married, had three children, and divorced in 2004.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Curator’s Corner: Frazier to Close The Commonwealth for Two Weeks

Beginning today and for the next two weeks, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall will be closed while our team makes some exciting updates. We will be building new, permanent walls to improve the look and flow of the exhibition. We will also be replacing several objects in the exhibition that had been on loan from other institutions and adding new items that we recently received from the Science Center’s incredible gift. We are so excited for you to see some of these new treasures that we have!

While the exhibition is closed, we will install a special case near its entrance to show off some of the most significant objects usually on display—things that we don’t want you to miss during this temporary closure. We will also increase visitor engagements during this time. You can expect to see members of our team, including some of the interns with whom we’ve been working this summer, posted outside of the exhibition to tell you more about those objects. Our registrar and manager of collections engagement, Tish Boyer, will lead a very special edition of Dish with Tish each Wednesday at 11 a.m. There, you will be able to hear our resident collections expert give you special insight into the objects on display.

Thanks for bearing with us while we make these improvements to make The Commonwealth even better.

Amanda Briede
Senior Curator of Exhibitions

Frazier+ Video of the Week: Kentucky Reel

Now the Frazier fits in your pocket! Curated by the museum’s education team, the mobile app Frazier+ provides engaging and educational Kentucky history content—free of charge. Users can explore the museum’s collection of videos, photos, and texts to either heighten their in-person experience or learn from the comfort of their couch or classroom. The free app is available for download for Android and iOS devices through the App Store and Google Play.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Every weekend this summer, Kentuckians will head out to state parks, lakes, and rivers with the goal of catching a mess of fish. But they might not realize the role Kentucky played in the development of their fishing reel! In this week’s Frazier+ video, Hayley Rankin covers the creation of the predecessor to the baitcasting reel, often called the Kentucky Reel. (Note: the display has changed slightly since this video was produced, but we do still have a Kentucky Reel on display.)

Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience

Shared Sundays: Kevin Bradley to Lead Spirit of Kentucky® Tours July 16

The Frazier has got a very deep bench of knowledgeable staff members! So we’re trying something called Shared Sundays. Each Sunday, a different staff member will lead special tours tailored to their interests. In each Monday’s issue of Frazier Weekly, look for a quick preview of the coming Sunday’s tours.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

Hey y’all, I hope your Monday is off to a great start!

My day-to-day role in the museum is overseeing the Stories in Mind program, which brings the Frazier to area nursing homes. However, my academic background is in history—specifically, the role and contributions of free and enslaved African Americans in the Bourbon industry.

So, this Sunday, July 16, I will be giving two guided tours of our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition: one at 12 p.m. and a second at 2 p.m.! I’ll share stories about the unknown and often unspoken history of Bourbon: we’ll talk about early distilling all the way through Prohibition; you’ll get to see one of my favorite objects in the museum, a bottle with a hand-written prescription from the early 1930s; and you’ll get to visit our Bottle Hall, which has 309 bottles of Bourbon, and tally how many you’ve tried.

I hope to see you here.

Cheers!

Kevin Bradley
Stories in Mind Administrator

Kentucky Wildlands Waterfall Trail Highlights Seventeen Waterfalls

I decided to look up quotes on waterfalls, and yes, there is a reason why!

First the quote: “Happiness is where the waterfalls are.”

I liked that one; it reminded me of growing up and our treks into the woods to find the elusive Twin Falls when we lived in West Virginia. When we found them, we had that thrill of victory and happiness. But more importantly, it was absorbing the majesty of nature in its raw form: no gimmicks, just beauty.

So when I read a recent story by Kirby Adams in the Courier Journal, I smiled thinking it’s time to hit the trail again to find more waterfalls, and that sense of happiness.

The Kentucky Wildlands has put together a guide to seventeen of Kentucky’s most stunning waterfalls.

It also lets you know how easy, or difficult, they are to find.

I’ve been to Cumberland Falls, known as the “Niagara of the South.” I asked our senior curator of exhibitions Amanda Briede if she had any pictures of waterfalls in Kentucky because she is an avid explorer, and she didn’t disappoint.

She sent me photos of two: Cumberland Falls and Eagle Falls.

Thanks, Kirby for the story, and the reminder that it’s time to go find my happy place again, in nature, and in search of waterfalls! No gimmicks, just beauty.

Rachel Platt
Vice President of Mission

Ballet Moves, Egg Drops, and Lewis-Tolkien Frenemies at Summer Camps

If you’ve been following our Instagram stories, then you’ve gotten a bit of a peek into all the fun we’ve been having at this year’s summer camps. Each of the camps held in the last four weeks has had a unique theme.

At Greatest Hits, we saw the return of some of our favorite lessons, including a visit from the Mary Shelley Electric Co. puppeteers Zac and Deva. Then, at the revamped Chicks Rule, now known as YourStory, the campers learned ballet moves from ballerina Ashley Thursby and cookie decorating from cake artist Deepa and welcomed guest artists Monica Stewart and Ashlee Phillips. The kids absolutely enjoyed learning bookbinding from Monica and making family portraits with Ashlee, an activity that got a bit crazy with the glitter. YourStory also saw our campers testing their egg drop skills with an impressive two out of ten eggs surviving the drop from the second level of the Gateway Garden.

Next, at Camp Takeover, campers prepared their own tours and performance and created an amazing art piece. I’m so proud of the art piece, titled KY Spirit: the campers’ creativity absolutely shines in it. Finally, at Friends & Foes, the camp inspired by our Kentucky Rivalries exhibition, the campers learned about a wide variety of subjects from the literary friendship of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien to the epic Battle of the Sexes. They also visited the Science Center to watch a film on America’s musical history.

Stay tuned for more camp fun as the summer continues! There is plenty we haven’t done yet.

Nicole Clay
Education & Engagement Specialist

Frazier’s Stories in Mind Team Continues a 45,000-Year-Old Practice

It is almost impossible to imagine a time when humans did not share stories. Indeed, many researchers believe oral traditions to be nearly as old as language itself. At the very least, we know that the act of storytelling has existed for many thousands of years—as evidenced by the famous 17,000-year-old Lascaux cave wall paintings in France, as well as the more recent 2019 discovery of 45,000-year-old rock art on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Both discoveries demonstrate an intrinsic need to tell our stories to each other and to future generations.

Oral traditions have the capacity to strengthen communities by highlighting what we care about and creating shared experiences. They can empower practitioners and lend agency to the historically ignored and forgotten. Stories give meaning to a chaotic world and significance to even the smallest objects and actions. Moreover, stories are constantly evolving to reflect present-day values, and it is this inter-generational transmission and transformation that allows for the preservation of something intangible. “Frozen” heritage dies on the vine, so to speak.

Nowhere is the tremendous power of storytelling better understood than at the Frazier History Museum, where two recently created projects intended to celebrate Kentucky’s own outstanding oral traditions are having a positive impact across the state.

The first, the Kentucky County Stories Project, works to showcase hidden stories from each of the 120 counties. This is a collaborative effort between the Frazier and county representatives who understand the importance of these stories to their respective communities, and the response has been enthusiastic. A partner from Taylor County wrote to thank us for “thinking of smaller communities and knowing [they] have great stories to share too.” Another representative from Webster County told us that they were “glad we’re doing something for smaller counties like Webster, [as] people often forget about us.” These are just a few of the many kind words that have been said about the project and those working on it.

The second project is Stories in Mind, which utilizes the storytelling tradition to connect Louisville’s seniors with local history, while also empowering them to share their own stories with the Frazier Museum. The benefits of this program are numerous and extraordinary—most notably in terms of memory work, as memories are at their most vulnerable when experiencing a personal crisis or difficult challenge. When we are forced to drastically worry about our future, as is often the case in our many understaffed and sorely underfunded senior assisted living facilities, memories may fall victim to a heightened state of crisis. Storytelling also promotes desperately needed agency within the senior community, while also preserving and safeguarding personal histories at risk of disappearing forever. Lastly, and in line with the cultural and social significance of storytelling, Stories in Mind allows us at the Frazier to learn from lifetimes of experience to aid us on our own journeys and to share with others the knowledge and wisdom taken from them. While the stories we tell in the museum are, indeed, important, the stories shared with us by those seniors inspired by Stories in Mind are priceless beyond measure.

By contributing to a tradition that has been practiced by humans for more than 45,000 years, there is joy in knowing that the lives of past, present, and future generations ALL intersect at this most human of traditions—storytelling.

Jason Berkowitz
Stories in Mind Facilitator

Jeff Brohm, U of L Football Channel Top Gun at Waterfront Park

Wait, is this the same guy from our program here at the Frazier with his family back in June ushering in a new era for U of L football?

The generally reserved Jeff Brohm?

The shirts are off, my friends: the U of L football coach is shirtless as quarterback as the team reenacts scenes from Top Gun on Louisville’s waterfront.

The video was posted on Twitter saying “Welcome to Flight School. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

What we got, in my opinion, was a lot of fun, and as the clip says, creating a team.

I called Jeff’s parents to get their take. Donna Brohm posted it on her Facebook page and said everybody’s loving it. Both Donna and Oscar said Jeff is funny and he likes to tease, and that video was him.

Tom Cruise, watch your back.

If you haven’t seen the video, do yourself a favor and watch it.

Rachel Platt
Vice President of Mission