Good Monday morning,

With respect for the late Yogi Berra, I find this evolving COVID situation has a “déjà vu all over again” kind of feeling. After experiencing in June a small taste of the way things once were, with a positivity rate around 2 percent, the current August rate has now spiked to its highest ever at 12.47 percent. Hospital beds are running out at the same time employers are walking back plans to return to normal work environments.

Here at the Frazier, masks are required for all of our employees. The delta variant makes planning for a very busy fall events schedule very difficult, so vaccinations and masks are strongly encouraged for guests. We have public events ranging from tomorrow’s “Great Dissenter” discussion with author Peter Canellos to our “Independent Spirits” program in December with Tori Murden McClure. There are public and members-only West of Ninth exhibition openings, a “Cool Kentucky: Hometown Magic” program, and a “Master Distillers Series” program also on the books. We will manage them all, one day at a time. After all, to borrow one more quote from Yogi, “the future ain’t what it used to be.”

From our board of directors, Vickie Yates Brown Glisson kicks off this week’s Virtual Frazier Magazine with a couple of recipes featured in the Kentucky State Fair, which is happening now at the Fairgrounds. With the Paralympics starting tomorrow, Curator Amanda Briede introduces you to the great Oksana Masters, featured prominently in Cool Kentucky. Pam Platt is back writing about Women’s Equality Day, you’ll hear from one of our interns, Caitie Licciardi, and from Michael Raymer on the topic of Kentucky magic.

But first, if you’ve only experienced the Frazier through this weekly publication, we encourage you to visit soon and sign up for an entry-level membership. Here’s a brief video showcasing what we’re all about.

I hope you enjoy,

This Week in the Museum

Thank You 2021 Summer Beer Fest Attendees

A vendor serves beer to a festivalgoer, August 7, 2021. Credit: Kendrick Jones.

Festivalgoers compare beer samples, August 7, 2021. Credit: Kendrick Jones.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out on Saturday, August 7 for the museum’s first ever Summer Beer Fest at Frazier! You made the event the largest in the history of the Frazier Museum with over 1,000 people in attendance. It was an incredible day of beer, music, food, and fun! We hope to see you all back again next year for the second annual Summer Beer Fest on August 6, 2022.

The day would not have been possible without our event sponsors, Republic Bank and UPS Recruiting; with additional support from Eyemart Family Vision, Middle of Town Cycling and Middletown Cycling, Louisville Ale Trail, Kaplan Johnson Law, A+ Derr Heating & Cooling, and Louisville Water Company. Our local and regional breweries not only provided over 200 beers for guests to taste, but Lagunitas Brewing Company, West Sixth Brewing, Great Lakes Brewing Company, and Fat Head’s Brewery also supported the event through sponsorship. Thank you one and all for making the day such a huge success!

All proceeds from the event will support the Frazier’s exhibitions, educational programs, and community endeavors.

Curator’s Corner: Paralympic Games Athlete Oksana Masters

Oksana Masters after winning gold in the 1.1-km women’s skiing sprint (sitting) at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics

I admit that before I heard the story of Oksana Masters, a Paralympic athlete is not what came to mind when I thought about incredible, strong women. Now, I am completely in awe of her resilience, determination, and mental and physical strength that far surpasses that of most able-bodied people.

Oksana was born in the Ukrainian SSR with several birth defects caused by the Chernobyl disaster and was abandoned at an orphanage. She suffered not only from the many problems associated with her birth defects, but also from mental, physical, and sexual abuse while at the orphanage. At the age of seven, she was adopted by Gay Masters and they moved to Louisville in 2001. Once in the United States, Oksana was able to have corrective surgeries to help overcome her physical disabilities and she began adaptive rowing at the age of 13. In 2012, she won the first-ever United States medal (bronze) in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the London Summer Paralympics and has gone on to win a silver medal in the 12-km Nordic Ski and a bronze medal in the 5-km Nordic Ski at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. At the 2018 Winter Paralympics, Oksana won her first gold medal in the women’s 1.5-km sprint classical cross-country skiing event and won four other medals in those games.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics begin tomorrow, and Oksana will compete to win a medal in a fourth sport, hand-cycling, an event where she placed 4th in the road race event and 5th in the timed trial at the 2016 Games in Rio. The Paralympics are covered by NBC and can be watched via the same outlets that were available for the Olympics. Oksana will compete in Road Cycling, which begins on August 31.

To hear Oksana’s story in her own words, I recommend checking out this video at The Players’ Tribune.

And in Cool Kentucky, you can see several of Oksana’s awards, uniforms from past Paralympics, and more.

Museum Store: Five of Diamonds Playing Card Featuring Mac King

Five of diamonds card playing card that depicts stage magician Mac King. Credit: Kentucky to the World.

Kentucky to the World has created a unique deck of playing cards showcasing portraits of extraordinary people with Kentucky ties. Learn about the lives and accomplishments of the 52 people in the deck while you’re playing your favorite card game! We are proud to carry these in our Museum Shop.

History of Magic in Louisville

Hungarian-born escape artist Theodore “Dash” Hardeen jumping from a height of 60 feet off the Eighteenth Street Bridge into the Ohio River, while manacled, in front of a crowd of a thousand onlookers, September 25, 1907. The Eighteenth Street Bridge, which extended over the Louisville and Portland Canal, would be removed in 1959.

What is it about Louisville and magic? There is a rich history as we get ready to welcome Lance Burton and Mac King to the Frazier History Museum on September 12. Both magicians are featured in our Cool Kentucky exhibition, and both of them once belonged to the Louisville Magic Club. The club’s president, Mike Raymer, takes us on a stroll down “magic” lane in Louisville. The program is now sold out, but if you visit the museum on September 12, some of the magicians from the Louisville Magic Club will be performing in our galleries. — Rachel Platt, Director of Community Engagement

There’s real magic in Louisville.

My first experience with Louisville magic came by watching William Dopp, a.k.a. Presto the Magic Clown, on WDRB TV in the afternoons after school. Later, as a teenage magician, I went to Caufield’s and discovered their magic counter. One visit in particular introduced me to a young man named Mac King. Mac asked me if I had heard about the Louisville Magic Club. “You mean there’s a club for magicians?” I thought. Mac invited me to come because he was the club president at the time. I remember my first visit and seeing many older gentlemen sitting around performing miracles of magic.

I became a member in 1981. I vividly remember seeing Sherrell Nunnelley, later our club Dean, turn a bowl of black water into a bowl of clear water with a goldfish in it — and seeing another magician make a dove appear from his bare hands. I was hooked.

Magic in Louisville - Captain Kingfish 1.jpg — Ad for Captain Kingfish gala magic published on page B7 of the December 26, 1969 issue of *The Courier-Journal*. Credit: newspapers.com.

One gentleman, whom I knew as Captain Kingfish, was really Don Redmon, the builder of a well-known magic apparatus. Today, his apparatus is highly sought after by collectors. I met Harry Collins, whom I discovered was Mr. Magic — the Frito Lay magician — and that is how I met Lance Burton. One afternoon, at Jerry’s on Dixie Highway, I saw Harry and this young man sitting at a table. Harry motioned over to me and said, “Mike, this is Lance Burton.” They invited me to sit with them. I later learned Harry was one of Lance’s mentors.

Our club has had some very talented magicians as members and some very prominent members of our society. The Louisville Magic Club is an Assembly of the Society of American Magicians and a Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, a rarity among magic clubs. The club draws from the best of both organizations.

Dr. Robert Escher, who was the club president for many years, became the president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Bob was also the model for the statue of Harry Collins that sits in Cave Hill Cemetery. I am proud to say Bob Escher and Sherrell Nunnelley were not only my friends but my magical mentors along with David Garrard, Durbin Oldham, and Earl Bullard. I later became an officer of the club, first serving as the newsletter editor, then a vice president. Today, I am the president of the Louisville Magic Club.

Magic in Louisville - Police-and-Hardeen-Prior-to-Ohio-River-Bridge-Jump.jpg — Photograph of Hardeen (center) posing with Corporal Horn (left) and Patrolman Stevens (right) prior to the jump off the Eighteenth Street Bridge between Louisville, Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana, September 25, 1907. Credit: Courier Journal.

Magic has a rich history in Louisville with visits by many famous magicians such as Hardeen, the brother of Harry Houdini, who made a shackled escape by diving off the Eighteenth Street Bridge into the Ohio River. Harry Blackstone, Sr. and Harry Blackstone, Jr., Doug Henning, and David Copperfield all included Louisville on their world tours. There have been several international magicians’ conventions in Louisville held by the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians.

The rich Louisville magical tradition continues today as we continue to mentor those with a sincere interest in magic.

Michael Raymer
President, Louisville Magic Club
Guest Contributor

Women’s Equality Day Program: Storytellers

Not even COVID-19 could stop the now-annual Women’s Equality Day program from happening last August, which was held virtually to keep the tradition going and to keep attendees safe.

This August 28, the 2021 WED program will be a hybrid affair, with a live gathering (masks are required for in-person attendance) and a simultaneous online version of the event held at the Frazier History Museum.

It’s quite a tradition to uphold.

Communitywide celebrations have been held in Louisville since 2017, drawings hundreds of attendees and locally and nationally renowned speakers, including area university presidents Tori Murden McClure, Susan Donovan, Neeli Bendapudi, and Coline Jenkins, great-great-granddaughter of early American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

This year’s program has a theme of “Storytellers,” and two extraordinary women are featured speakers:

Carolyn Mazloomi, author, curator, quilter, advocate for presenting and documenting African American-made quilts. She also is the Bess Lomax Hawes National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow.

Hannah Drake, poet, activist, artist, and one of the creators of the (Un)Known Project, a memorial to enslaved Louisvillians.

Adria Johnson

Adria Johnson, President and CEO of Metro United Way, who will emcee the program. Sponsors supporting and organizing the program are Louisville Metro Office for Women, the Frazier History Museum, and the League of Women Voters Louisville.

Doors will open at 9 a.m. Saturday, August 28, for vendors and networking opportunities. The program will be from 10 a.m. to noon, with additional time for vendors and networking from noon to 12:30.

Women’s Equality Day 2021 is free and open to the public at the Frazier, 829 West Main Street, Louisville. Again, masks are required for in-person attendees.

To register to attend, please click here.

My Experience as a Frazier Museum Education Intern

Education Intern Caitie Licciardi leads a reading of Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge in the Frazier’s Brown-Forman Theatre, June 8, 2021 — Education Intern Caitie Licciardi leads a reading of *Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge* in the Frazier’s Brown-Forman Theatre, June 8, 2021

My name is Caitie Licciardi, and I am a senior at Western Kentucky University studying Social Studies, Art History, and Secondary Education! In May 2021, I began my summer internship with the Frazier! I spent all summer working with the Education Team on field trips, camps, and many other activities.

Once schools transitioned to fully online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education team began creating Virtual Field Trip experiences for schools to use so they could still interact with the museum. My main project was to create one of these field trips by looking at the museum from a new perspective. After weeks of brainstorming, exploring the exhibitions, and meeting with the rest of the team, I decided on a trip. This field trip is titled Art Everywhere, and it looks at many topics throughout the museum, including the Olmsted park designs, dresses from KMAC Museum, and the architectural design of the Frazier and a few other museums on Main Street.

The goal of the field trip is to emphasize to students just how expansive the term “art” is. When thinking about art and what it means to be an artist, most students dismiss anything other than painting or drawing. For example, it’s common to hear students say, “I can’t draw, so I’m not an artist.” They rarely think of the other forms that art can take, such as landscape architecture or fashion design. I hope that Art Everywhere leaves students with an understanding that anything can be “art” if looked at through the right lens, and that they are all fully capable of becoming the next great artist.

We plan on filming this field trip in December to be used in schools for the 2022 – 23 school year! If anyone has any questions about it, feel free to email education@fraziermuseum.org.

In addition to this project, I crafted Story Time lessons that I read aloud every Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the Brown-Forman Theatre. I also periodically wrote content for Virtual Frazier Magazine.

This internship was one of the highlights of my summer, and I learned so much from it. It opened my eyes to other career paths in education besides being directly in the classroom, and it provided me with an inside look at how museums operate. I will forever be grateful for my experience as a Frazier Museum summer intern!

History All Around Us

Kentucky State Fair-approved Apple Baked Goods

A wall of apples marking the centennial of the Kentucky State Fair, 2004. The wall consists of approximately 5,000 apples, both Ginger Gold apples and Redfree apples, all grown at Reed Valley Orchard in Paris, Kentucky.

It is time for the annual Kentucky State Fair and the opportunity to experience our state’s agriculture heritage and products. It is a tradition that began in Kentucky as early as 1816 with Louisville hosting the first official state fair in 1902. The fair has had several homes since then, including the State Fairgrounds located in West Louisville. In 1956, the fair moved to its existing site, known as the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, and it still features many of the same events as the early fairs, including fruit and vegetable produce exhibits and numerous culinary competitions where local cooks and bakers vie for blue ribbons and bragging rights.

One of the fruit crops that begins to ripen in Kentucky at the time of the state fair is apples, a staple in most every farm orchard. Kentucky produces many apple varieties that are a tasty resource for local cooks.

Most orchards have a couple of June apple trees that ripen early and provide small tart apples that cook into a mush and are used for making sauce and apple butter. Other varieties ripen later toward the fall and provide apples that are firmer and used primarily for pies and dumplings and, of course, cider. Today, Kentucky has over 672 apple orchards scattered throughout the state.

Historically, the exhibitors at the state fair used various apple varieties to make elaborate displays of fruit art showcasing the apple harvest. For example, in 1921, Henderson County used 20,000 red and yellow apples to spell Henderson County. In 2004, the fair showcased a wall of 5,000 red and yellow apples grown in Paris, Kentucky to mark the 100th anniversary of the state fair.

Copy of The Official 1985 Kentucky State Fair Cookbook. Credit: Vickie Yates Brown Glisson. — Copy of *The Official 1985 Kentucky State Fair Cookbook*. Credit: Vickie Yates Brown Glisson.

Apples have also been featured prominently in the fair’s culinary competitions. The importance of apples can be seen in reviewing The Official 1985 Kentucky State Fair Cookbook.

Fair organizers embarked on the ambitious project to publish a cookbook containing every ribbon-winning recipe from the Culinary Division at the 1985 state fair. This amounted to over 500 recipes that were collected and published in the cookbook. I use this cookbook often, particularly for baked goods, such as biscuits and quick breads. The amount of time and effort to collect and publish all ribbon-winning recipes was enormous and, sadly, the project did not continue.

Applesauce cake. Credit: Vickie Yates Brown Glisson.

One of my favorite apple recipes from the cookbook is the First Place winner in the Applesauce Cake category submitted by Ruth S. Sams of Louisville, Kentucky. The recipe as it appeared in the cookbook is below. I usually bake the cake in a silicone tube pan instead of a metal pan because the cake pops right out without sticking. Also, I use pecans instead of black walnuts and I think the cake is even tastier without the frosting and only a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

Today, you can access wonderful recipes using Kentucky products, such as apples, through the Kentucky Proud website. The Kentucky Proud program is funded by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund which dedicates a portion of the state’s annual tobacco settlement funds to support the program that is administered by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner, Dr. Ryan Quarles, shared one of his favorite recipes from the Kentucky Proud website featuring apples — Apple Bread Pudding With Cider Sauce.

Applesauce Cake

15 oz. seedless raisins
Water
8 oz. finely chopped black walnuts (I prefer pecans)
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
¾ cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups applesauce, chunky or smooth
2 tsp. baking soda
Frosting (recipe below)

Frosting

8 oz. soft cream cheese
6 tbsp. soft butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Cover raisins with 1 inch of water and simmer until soft. Let cool, then drain. Coat chopped nuts with a bit of the flour and set aside. Stir the salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the flour. Cream the butter and sugar together, at medium speed on the mixer. Heat the applesauce very warm and add baking soda. Add this mixture to the creamed sugar and butter, then beat in dry ingredients. Add raisins and nuts. Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch tube pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let set 10 minutes covered with a tea towel, then turn out on plate covered with powdered sugar. Frost when cool. (I dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar rather than frosting the cake.) Yield: One 9-inch cake.

For frosting, beat all ingredients together and spread over cooled cake.

Apple Bread Pudding With Cider Sauce

3 eggs
½ cup brown sugar
1½ cups whole milk
1 cup apple cider
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
2 cups each bread (cider donuts & apple bread cubed)
2 apples (peeled, cored, and diced)
1 tbsp. butter (melted)

Cider Sauce

2 cups apple cider
1 tbsp. mulling spices
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a baking dish or individual ramekins with the melted butter. Set aside. Place in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, milk, apple cider, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Add in the bread cubes and apples. Fold to combine. Allow to soak for at least 15 minutes. Transfer the bread mixture to the dish. Bake until set and browned on top (appx. 30 – 40 minutes, depending on the size of the dish).

For cider sauce, combine cider, spices, and brown sugar in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced by half. Whisk in cornstarch to thicken, bring to a simmer again, then strain out the spices before serving.

Paralympic Medalist Oksana Masters, Houdini’s Brother’s 1907 Jump Off 18th Street Bridge, Apple Bread Pudding, and More

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