Happy Fourth, y’all!

It was 246 years ago today our United States of America, then thirteen states, declared independence from Great Britain. To be sure, through good times and bad, it has been one Yankee Doodle Dandy of a run. Did you know the initial legal separation from England was actually approved on July 2, 1776, and not likely signed until August? So why do we celebrate on the fourth? Below, our Vickie Yates Brown Glisson takes a deeper dive.

Did you also know that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence to serve as President, both died on the same day? Ironically, it was July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of our Independence.

In today’s issue of Frazier Weekly, collections manager Tish Boyer writes about the second man to sign the Declaration, Dr. Josiah Bartlett. If it weren’t for John Hancock, then today, we’d likely request a person’s signature by saying, “Can I get your Josiah Bartlett on this?” We just reinstalled Bartlett’s 1770 sword and scabbard in our Founder’s Gallery last week.

Later this week, the Frazier is hosting a news conference with several downtown partners to make some big announcements about our August 6 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier. Simon Meiners writes about the history of Louisville beer through some post-Prohibition ad campaigns from 1933. Then, Hayley Rankin sends out the call for Beer Fest volunteers.

The Frazier is also proud to announce our new initiative serving weekly in-person content to senior care facilities in Kentucky. It is our mission to ignite the human spirit and we are excited to be doing it for a new audience. We’re also thrilled to announce Amber Thieneman as our Stories In Mind project administrator. You’ll learn a bit about her below.

I hope you enjoy.

Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Post-Prohibition Louisville Beer Ad Campaigns, 1933

On March 23, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, which legalized 3.2% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer. The law would go into effect April 7. (The Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, would not go into effect until December.)

In the city of Louisville—where only three breweries had survived Prohibition: Fehr’s, Oertel’s, and Falls City—the beer community was elated.

“It’s real beer now!” an article on the front page of the Friday, April 7, Courier Journal reports, referencing the “near beer” products brewers had been foisting on their customers for thirteen years. “The amber fluid went on the “three-point-two” standard Friday morning at one minute after midnight. Celebration in Louisville was confined to “at home” receptions at the two breweries now in operation—the Oertel Company and the Falls City Ice & Beverage Company. Beer for local consumption was not available until 6 o’clock in the morning.”

So, imagine you’re Fehr’s, Oertel’s, or Falls City. Beer is legal again, and consumers are clamoring for it. How do you market your beer?

Let’s take a look at how each of the three surviving breweries pitched their products after Prohibition.

Frank Fehr Brewing Co.: “Our Beer is Still Great—Trust Us!—But You’ll Have to Wait For It”

If you’re wondering why the Courier’s April 7 report only names Oertel’s and Falls City, it’s because Fehr’s wasn’t ready to yet. They were building a state-of-the-art brew house, and construction was ongoing. So, from April 7 until September 18, the day Fehr’s beer returned to shelves, the Fehr’s ad campaign centered around patience: “You’ll find it well worth waiting for . . .” In a veiled dig at their competitors, they warned of “the possibility that green, unripened beer may be rushed to market, with consequent disappointment to those unfortunate enough to drink it.”

Oertel Brewing Co.: “Our Beer Alone Can Sustain a Barbell-hoisting Macho Man”

In some cases, the public comes to use a brand name (Kleenex, Tampax, Coke) as a synonym for the category to which the product belongs (tissue, tampon, cola). In 1933, Oertel Brewing Co. took a ham-fisted route to achieving this goal: They adopted the slogan “DON’T JUST SAY “BEER,” SAY “OERTEL’S BEER”!”—a tweaked rewrite of a slogan Schlitz Beer had used decades prior. Their second ad campaign, however, proved more interesting: On November 14, the CJ published an Oertel’s ad featuring a photograph of health lecturer and weightlifter Galen Gough on the first day of his all-Oertel’s diet program.

Fall’s City Ice & Beverage Co.: “Our Beer Will Literally Put You to Sleep”

“All generations delight in drinking Falls City Lager Beer,” a November 6 ad for Falls City in the CJ reads. “It provides vitamins so necessary to the body, and tones the entire system. It is invigorating during the daytime and provides sound and pleasant sleep at night.”

Honestly, that sounds like my kind of beer.

A toast to the sleepyheads!

Sources

“Brewers Here Ready.” Courier Journal. March 21, 1933: 2.

“Beer Ordinance Parley Called.” Courier Journal. March 24, 1933: 1, 3.

“Trucks From 6 States Take Beer From City; Louisville’s Supply of 3.2 Brew is Ample.” Courier Journal. April 7, 1933: 1, 10.

Guetig, Peter R., and Conrad D. Selle. Louisville Breweries: A History of the Brewing Industry in Louisville, Kentucky, New Albany, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. 1995: 19–21.

Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist

Call for Volunteers for 2022 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier

We are back for our second year and need your help to pour some awesome craft beer for our guests! This year, Summer Beer Fest at Frazier is moving out front to Main Street for a fun-filled block party featuring food trucks, live music, and Kentucky beer. Our Fest will also offer many regional and national brands, which is where you come in! Volunteers will work in groups to serve craft beer samples to festival attendees and have fun along the way!

All volunteers receive:

• Festival t-shirt

• Tasting cup

• Festival lanyard

• Indoor access

• Food

• Opportunity to enjoy the Fest

The 2022 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier will occur on Saturday, August 6, from 4 to 8 p.m. (volunteers must arrive by 3 p.m.) in front of the Frazier History Museum. Sign up here or contact me at hrankin@fraziermuseum.org.

Hayley Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact

Object in Focus: Declaration Signer Dr. Josiah Bartlett’s Short Saber and Scabbard, c. 1770

The Fourth of July automatically makes us all think of backyard barbeques, pool parties, fireworks, and fun with family and friends. It makes us think of red, white, and blue, stars, and summertime. But we might also find ourselves briefly thinking about freedom, democracy, and the founding of a nation. What an incredible moment in history that was, a colony breaking free from its motherland. What kind of courage must it have taken to even dream of the possibility? And more so, the courage to stand in the face of doubt.

Here at the Frazier History Museum, we have some amazing pieces from the Revolutionary War, some pieces that help us see up close that incredible moment in history. One piece in particular is the Dr. Josiah Bartlett sword, which the museum obtained in 2002. This beautiful weapon features an ivory handle with the decorative head of a lion in silver. The sword is practical enough to serve as a serviceable weapon but decorative enough to denote the owner’s status and rank.

Dr. Josiah Bartlett served in the New Hampshire legislature and as a magistrate prior to the Revolutionary War. In 1770, the British government appointed Dr. Bartlett as commander of a local militia unit, and it is likely he acquired this sword at that time. Bartlett’s political principles and increasing opposition to British colonial rule resulted in him being stripped of his offices in 1775. This action, however, led to him being chosen as a representative to the Continental Congress. That same year, Dr. Bartlett became the first man to vote for the Declaration of Independence and the second man to sign the Declaration after John Hancock.

This weekend, if you are out in town with your family, we hope you will come down to the Frazier to visit. Come to our Founder’s Gallery on the second floor and see Dr. Josiah Bartlett’s sword up close and think about what a thrilling moment in history this was.

Tish Boyer
Collections Manager

Museum Store: Summer Cookout Bourbon Barrel Bark

Get you summer grill game on with Barrel Proof smoking chips, made from production Bourbon barrels, along with a fun potholder and towel! You can purchase online from the Frazier’s Museum Store.

How John and Abigail Adams Reluctantly Celebrated the Fourth of July, 1777

On July 2, 1776, delegates meeting at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to approve a resolution that had been introduced on June 7 by Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, that declared the colonies’ independence from Great Britain. The motion stated “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

John Adams, a delegate to the Continental Congress who would become America’s first Vice President and second President, quickly penned a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3 with the prediction that the Second Day of July, 1776, will be “the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

On July 4, delegates from the thirteen colonies formally adopted the document titled the Declaration of Independence that had been drafted by the Committee of Five appointed by the Continental Congress. The members of the Committee were Thomas Jefferson (who did most of the drafting), Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Adams.

Although the country would celebrate America’s independence on July 4, John Adams continued to believe July 2 was the correct date on which to celebrate America’s independence. Adams declared that the Declaration of Independence was a document that he described as “dress and ornament rather than Body, Soul, or Substance.” For Adams, the actual vote to declare American independence was the thing worth celebrating. In fact, Adams continued to believe that July 2 was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and would reportedly turn down invitations to appear at July 4 events in protest.

However, Adams did correctly describe the type of celebration America would adopt to commemorate the Fourth of July. Philadelphia hosted America’s first birthday party in 1777. It was a last-minute affair, but the Virginia Gazette references ships decorated “with the colours of the United States and streamers displayed” and a “grand exhibition of fireworks.” We also know individuals celebrated by enjoying meals prepared for the occasion. Members of the Continental Congress celebrated the vote to declare independence at City Tavern, the Philadelphia public house that hosted many gatherings of the founding fathers. Their dinner menu is not known but there are records of the meal John Adams and his family prepared to celebrate the anniversary of America’s vote for independence. Their meal would be very similar to the foods others in the thirteen colonies enjoyed on the occasion.

The Adams family dined on a meal of green turtle soup, poached salmon with egg sauce, green peas, boiled potatoes, Indian pudding, and apple pan dowdy. Turtle soup was one of the most popular dishes at the time. We don’t have Abigail’s recipe for the soup but her recipe for apple pan dowdy, a kind of messy apple pie, has survived. After all, what is more American than apple pie on the Fourth of July? I hope you will give it a try!

Abigail Adams Apple Pan Dowdy

Ingredients (Pastry):

• 1 1/2 cup flour

• 1/2 cup shortening

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

• 3 to 4 tbsp. ice water

Instructions:

(Note that the pastry ingredients should be doubled if you plan to use a crust on the bottom and top of the apple filling. I only use it on the top: I cut the dough into squares then place the pieces on top to give it a “dowdy” look.)

Cut the shortening into the flour and salt with a pastry cutter. Sprinkle the ice water over dough, adding only enough to hold the dough together. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness, brush with 1/4 cup melted butter. Cut pastry in half. Place one half on top of the other. Cut again and again until you have 16 separate pieces piled up. Press them lightly together, then chill the dough for 1 hour. Roll pastry again and cut in half. Roll one half to fit the bottom of the baking dish and the other to fit the top.

Ingredients (Filling):

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 10 Newtown Pippin apples (or apple of your choice)

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 3 tbsp. melted butter

• 1/4 cup water

Instructions:

Core, peel, and slice the apples. Mix with sugar and spices and put in pastry-lined dish. Combine molasses with butter and water. Pour over apples. Cover with top crust and seal. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 325 degrees.

“Dowdy” the dish by cutting the upper crust into apples with sharp knife. Bake one hour or until the apples are bubbling vigorously. Serve hot with ice cream or whipped cream.

Vickie Yates Brown Glisson
Board Member, Frazier History Museum
Guest Contributor

Frazier Offers New Bourbon Experiences to Meet Surging Demand

As the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, the Frazier History Museum shares stories of the people, places, and producers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry. To learn more, visit our Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center or tour our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist

As tourists return to Louisville’s Bourbon distilleries in droves, many are encountering the same issue: The distilleries are all booked up!

Compared to the pre-pandemic days of 2019, many distilleries and other Bourbon attractions are now operating at a reduced capacity. As a result, their tours and tastings are getting booked faster and further in advance—leaving many latecomers and walk-ups looking for an alternative.

To help accommodate the demand, the Frazier Museum has created some new Bourbon experiences! Our goal is to help folks who did not book a tour or tasting in advance.

The Frazier’s Bourbon experiences include:

• Flight Club, a blind flight of three Bourbons

• Ready, Set, Go! Bourbon Experience, a one-hour Bourbon class that also includes a multi-brand tasting

• Craft Your Own Cocktail Experience, where you make your own Old Fashioned

• Unfiltered Truth: Black Americans in Bourbon, a guided tour and tasting focusing on Black Americans in the history of the Bourbon industry

• Tiny Tours & Tastings, a guided tour and tasting experience offered to groups of eight or more

All these options can be accessed on the Bourbon Experiences page on the Frazier’s website.

We’ve also printed hundreds of cards and distributed them to area distilleries and hotels. Each card has a QR code that, when scanned, loads the same web page. Now, guest services folks at the distilleries can hand out the cards to Bourbon tourists looking for another place to book an experience.

These experiences can be booked either online or in person at the museum, pending availability. Depending on the experience chosen, we can accommodate between 8 and 20 guests.

For groups who book in advance, the Frazier offers Private Tastings & Tours led by yours truly, Stephen Yates. I am the group sales manager and Frazier Bourbon Ambassador and am happy to schedule an experience for you and your group.

The Frazier History Museum is located at 829 West Main Street. We are open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, 12–5 p.m.

If you’re having trouble getting into a local distillery, consider coming to the Frazier for a Bourbon experience. As the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, we offer multiple immersive and hands-on Bourbon experiences to help make your visit to Bourbon Country memorable. We also have over ninety Bourbons for sale in our Museum Store.

We invite all Bourbon enthusiasts to find out why, when it comes to Bourbon experiences, it starts here: the Frazier History Museum.

Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager

Stories in Mind Program to Bring Frazier Museum to Assisted Living Facilities

Hello! My name is Amber Thieneman and I am excited to join the Frazier History Museum as Stories in Mind administrator. As a multidisciplinary artist with a background in museum education, I am eager to see the development of this program as it expands and thrives.

Let me share an experience with you that ignited my curiosity in storytelling. Years ago, I set up audio recording equipment and spent a few days with my grandparents going through old photographs and asking many questions. In this focused time together, it was beautiful to hear details about places, events, and people that shaped their lives. The amount of change they saw was difficult to comprehend, but hearing it from their perspective was priceless.

Storytelling is universal to the human experience. Whether it is reminiscing about the past or creating something new in the moment, telling stories can have a significant effect on a person’s wellbeing by stimulating creativity. This can be accomplished through music, art, or theater—and it’s a foundational element of Stories in Mind.

Stories in Mind is a program designed to bring this exercise in creative expression to residents in assisted living and nursing facilities in Louisville. In hour-long sessions over multiple weekly visits, Stories in Mind facilitators from the Frazier will bring prompts connecting a historical object, image, or story to explore through discussion, art-making, music, or theater. Our team will customize these group sessions over time based on the needs and feedback of participants and staff. Meeting people where they are to spend time together sharing, listening, and creating will reduce loneliness and isolation while encouraging meaningful connections in the moment.

Stories in Mind creates possibilities within every element of the Frazier’s mission to “ignite the human spirit with thoughtfully crafted stories to spark curiosity about who we are and our connection to the future.”

More details to come!

Amber Thieneman
Stories in Mind Administrator

Bridging the Divide

Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus in West Louisville

“The dawning of a new day”: I sure hope DeVone Holt, the vice president of external affairs for Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, is right.

I was lucky enough to attend the groundbreaking this past week for the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus at Twenty-eighth and Broadway.

It’s one of those occasions where you think, I am going to remember this day and remember what it means. And remember that it is long overdue.

It is a $100 million investment on a twenty-acre space, a former industrial space.

It will include Norton West Louisville Hospital, the first hospital to be built in West Louisville in more than 150 years.

Goodwill Industries of Kentucky will move its headquarters to the campus. It is partnering with local service agencies—including KentuckianaWorks, Volunteers of America, the YMCA, the U of L College of Dentistry, the Kentucky College of Barbering, and Big Brothers Big Sisters—to help create an environment for success.

Holt and Norton president and CEO Russ Cox were two of many speakers at the groundbreaking. Another speaker was Governor Andy Beshear, who said it was a “historic moment” that we got right.

I wanted to explore this moment more, and what it means. Both Holt and Cox said yes to the conversation, and so did my former colleague at WHAS-TV, Renee Murphy, who is the senior VP and chief marketing and communications officer at Norton.

We have to get more moments like this right to really bridge divides in our community.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Membership

One-tank Summer Road Tripping With NARM

This holiday weekend, many of us are most likely traveling. Whether your destination is D.C or within state lines, here is what you need to know when you travel!

Being a Contributor ($106) level member or higher to the Frazier means you have access to over 1,200 museums throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico!

This benefit is called NARM (North American Reciprocal Museum Association). When you become a member with us, you essentially become a member to all of the art galleries, historical museums, botanical gardens, children’s museums, zoos, and many more institutions that participate within this program.

With twelve participating institutions in Washington, D.C., that’s enough to fill the whole weekend at least!

But let’s talk closer to home. With gas prices on the rise, maybe our summer road trip turned into a one-tank trip. That’s okay! Because with your NARM benefits, you still have access to institutions within Louisville, Franklin, Maysville, Paducah, Lexington, and Bowling Green!

If you have seen our Cool Kentucky exhibition, you know we have a Corvette on view . . .

But what if you want to see them all!?

The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a participating NARM institution!

So, when you roll up (maybe not in a Corvette, or maybe so!), simply show your Frazier History Museum membership card with the North American Reciprocal decal and you will be granted access* as if you had just paid admission.

So save money . . . support your favorite local history museum (that’s us!), become a member, and you’ll automatically be connected to some of your favorite places to visit, and some that you’ll be able to discover the next time you travel.

We mean it when we say Members Experience More!

Make sure you follow us on social media to find out more about the NARM program and other participating institutions. During the month of July, we will be highlighting different fun facts and one tank trips to take on our #MembershipMonday posts.

*Certain museums have restrictions, so please check online or with the specific institution for any current restrictions that may be in place.

Amanda Egan
Membership & Database Administrator