Happy Monday!

Get your game faces on, break out your spirit wear, and get ready to celebrate your team! The Frazier Museum is gearing up to bring the rival spirit to our museum!

On Saturday, November 5th, the Frazier will open our latest temporary exhibit, Kentucky Rivalries, which explores the historic rivals known in our great, dare I say, competitive state. This exhibit will feature the historic feud of the Hatfield and McCoy’s and how they inspired a famous game show, to the lesser known cave war rivals which explores the riffs between the landowners in Mammoth Cave. We reach deep into the archives and uncover some of the most infamous Louisville high school rivals and high schools in various counties around the state. The exhibit would not be complete without examining the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky rival. As our CEO Andy Treinen says about this exhibit, love them or hate them, you’ll meet them in this exhibit!

This is an exhibition that we couldn’t possibly complete on our own. We went to the source to have the schools explain their greatest rivals and showcase some of the artifacts that make their school great. The exhibition will feature mascots from various schools both high school and collegiate, so consider it a guild of spirit as these mascots highlight what schools mean to all of us. As the historic St. X vs Trinity game approaches, the spirit is strong within the Shamrocks and the Tigers!

As you read through this Frazier Weekly, our Teaching Artist Brian West recaps the nationally famous game and highlights some of the artifacts that made this rival great. This will certainly get you in the mood to cheer for either side!

It’s always best to hear it from the source, so we’ve asked alumni to share what Trinity and St. X meant to them:

I can’t recall any of my academic grades from my senior year, but I will never forget the game scores from my beloved St. Xavier Tigers defeating our archrival Trinity Shamrocks…TWICE! – Terry Meiners, St. X Class of 1975.

The young men of Trinity and Saint X compete not out of hostility, but out of pride, and because, ultimately, we are more alike than different. Go rocks. Beat those dirty tigers. – Tony Vanetti, Trinity, Class of 1987.

We aren’t just all talk with no action. The Frazier Museum is taking spirit days to the next level. Keep your eye on Frazier Weekly as we announce various Spirit Days throughout the duration of the exhibition which will give discounts on admission.

Go team, whichever one you cheer for!

After Brian highlights the St. X and Trinity rivalry, Rachel Platt announces our upcoming program on Kentucky's Native History while Board member Vickie Yates Brown Glisson shares a recipe for Whiskey Cake just in time for National Bourbon Heritage Month! Hayley Rankin and Haley Hicky continue our Bourbon theme by talking about historic whiskey jugs and our new Bourbon Limited Club, respectively. Bridging the Divide takes us West of Ninth with a virtual tour led by Curator Amanda Briede and the Redline Performing Arts from Heather Gotlib.

Enjoy!

Casey Harden
Director of Exhibit Ideation
Frazier History Museum

This Week in the Museum

Kentucky Rivalries: St. X vs Trinity

On Friday, September 23, 2022 at Cardinal Stadium, the 90th meeting between two rival high school football programs will occur here in Louisville; a rivalry which is considered by many to be the most competitive, and contentious, high school football rivalry in the Commonwealth: St. Xavier Tigers vs. Trinity Shamrocks.

Nearly every year this game sets the barometer for not only which school can claim it has the best football team in the Metro, but which program can hail to be the best in the state, period. Since 2007 — when the Kentucky High School Athletic Association expanded the number of state football classes from 4 classes to six — both schools have accounted for 12 out of the last 15 6A state football titles, and 4 out of the last 5 6A crowns.

That said, the rivalry has not always held such high stakes, nor was it known as “The Game” when the series first started. In 1956, when the Rocks and Tigers first met, theirs was not even the most heated football rivalry within the Private School system, let alone the City itself. On the gridiron, St. Xavier (established in 1863) considered crosstown rival Flaget High School as its foil, while the Male-Manual Football game held more cachet. Trinity, established in 1953, soon became an afterthought, with the Tigers winning seven of the first ten contests with the Rocks.

However, things soon changed between the two schools. In 1966, when St. Xavier was ranked 2nd in the state and favored by 29 points over the Rocks, former Flaget High head football coach Jim Kennedy coached the Rocks to an upset victory over the Tigers, and won 18-7 at Atherton Field.

Since then, the game has become “The Game.” The Rivalry even weathered the storm that was Covid. In 2020, instead of renting out Cardinal Stadium for the yearly matchup, the two programs instead played at Brother Thomas More Page Stadium. The Rocks prevailed during that year’s tilt, and went on to win its last state championship with Bob Beatty as Head Football Coach.

The Rocks lead the all-time series over the Tigers 48-39-2. The Tigers have had the upper hand of late, beating the Rocks in 2021, and winning the State Championship later that year. Tickets for this year’s game are still available:

Here for Trinity fans and here for fans of St. X.

Brian West
Teaching Artist

We wanted to take a moment and thank those who donated during this year’s Give for Good Louisville campaign. As a community, you came together and lifted us to our financial goal and beyond! We are very thankful for every donation, membership and admission ticket; as these sources of funding continue to assist in our efforts to mean more to more people every day. Give for Good Louisville may be over for this year, but if you missed the campaign last week, there is never a “bad time” to donate. Help support us in being Where the World Meets Kentucky. With your continued support we are able to:

• Provide free educational programming for students attending local Title 1 schools; Community Center engagements; and family days.

• Allow free access to the Museum for individuals and families utilizing SNAP.

• Sustain and develop our Bridging the Divide series, which addresses community issues, and strives to create a greater understanding among our community.

• Ensure we continue to bring you the exhibits and experiences you have come to enjoy.

Amanda Egan
Membership & Database Administrator

Upcoming Program: Kentucky’s Native History on November 15th

If you haven’t visited our new permanent exhibition, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, now may be the time to come to the exhibit and an upcoming program. The exhibit is told through the lives of everyday Kentuckians, from pre-settlement to the early 1900’s.

You may know the quote, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

We agree Ben Franklin, it’s why our Commonwealth Exhibit begins with an immersive space filled with sights and sounds central to Shawnee, Cherokee, and Chickasaw myths and origin stories.

Those stories and subsequent artifacts help us understand Kentucky’s Native History and how far back it dates.

Our upcoming program at the Frazier, Kentucky’s Native History, on Tuesday, November 15, will teach us even more. It commemorates Native American Heritage Month with a panel of experts who will help dispel the myths and show us what has been uncovered about their lives in the land we now call Kentucky.

Take a look at the esteemed panel we have assembled, including LaDonna Brown of The Chickasaw Nation, who served as a consultant for our Commonwealth Exhibit.

The artwork for the program of a Native woman who represents the original Kentuckians, was created by artist Brett Hartsfield. It’s part of a book called Bluegrass Bold, Stories of Kentucky Women.

Space for this program is limited, here is a link to sign up now.

Going back to our quote, it will be a night to “involve” you, a night for you to learn.

Rachel Platt
Director of Community Engagement

Museum Store: Bluegrass Bold

Bluegrass Bold, Stories of Kentucky Women is a really great celebration of 36 Kentucky women who helped improve the state and the world beyond. What makes this book event more special are the portraits that accompany each profile — all the artwork was created by Kentucky Women artists. Pick up a copy of this book in the shop!

Whiskey Cake for National Bourbon Heritage Month

As we continue to cheer September and Bourbon in all ways, Frazier Board Member Vickie Yates Brown Glisson is ready to share some history about the “native spirit” and a family recipe. As we usher in fall, Vickie is giving us a taste of a cherished Christmas tradition for her family, Whiskey Cake.

Congress declared September as the National Bourbon Heritage Month in 2007. It provides an opportunity to celebrate America’s “native spirit”. Upon arriving on American soil, colonists discovered a new food source cultivated by native Americans known as corn, a crop that worked well for distillation.

Americans have been perfecting the distillation of corn, along with the addition of other grains, since the Virginia colonist, George Thorpe, was purported to have made the first batch of corn whiskey over 400 years ago. It soon became a common practice for some farmers to distill a portion of their corn crop into whiskey which was nonperishable. This included our Founding Father, George Washington, who owned and ran a distillery at his home at Mount Vernon. Corn and other grains, used in the distillation process, grew well in Kentucky. That, along with the abundance of limestone water found in Kentucky that seems to improve the taste, led to a booming bourbon industry in the state.

The popularity of bourbon has created some nontraditional uses of the spirit, particularly in foods. One of the ways my family enjoyed bourbon was as a key ingredient in a special cake known as a Kentucky Whiskey Cake that we made to celebrate the Christmas Holidays. A good amount of bourbon was incorporated into the cake batter and in the cheesecloth used to preserve the dense cake. My Grandmother would begin making her whiskey cakes well before Thanksgiving and would regularly dampen the cheesecloth with bourbon that encased the cakes.

My Grandmother’s recipe for whiskey cake was almost exactly the same as the one included in Cissy Gregg’s Volume 2 Cook Book dated November 1, 1959 and entitled The Original Kentucky Whisky Cake.  Cissy was the iconic food writer for the Louisville Courier Journal from 1942 to 1963. This popular recipe was also included in The Courier-Journal Kentucky Cookbook, a compilation of the most popular recipes published by the newspaper. The Courier’s editor, John Finley noted in his introduction to the recipe that “‘the original’ carries some pretty weight implications, but no one disputed the claim after we ran this recipe as an entry in the Cook’s Corner column in 1981. Unlike a fruitcake, this cake does not have to ripen and will store almost indefinitely, the column said. Actually, Cissy Gregg ran the recipe first in 1962, attributing it to Thomas H. Buchanan of Washington, Kentucky”.

Marion Flexner, (1899-1992) a noted Louisville author of several books on cooking and entertaining, who also contributed articles on food to Vogue, Gourmet, and House and Garden magazines, included a similar recipe for whiskey cake in her iconic cookbook Out of Kentucky Kitchens, originally published in 1949. Marion attributed her recipe to Peggy Gaines. She noted that “(I)n trying to trace the genealogy of this lusty confection, I unearthed a bit of scandal which in all honesty I must report. This cake isn’t a native Kentuckian at all, and Dame Rumor asserts with authority that a certain Frankfort matron (about 25 years ago) coaxed a famous New York maître d'hôtel to give her the recipe by crossing his palm with a lot of silver. But if it wasn’t born here, it has become a Kentuckian by adoption and certainly deserves a place in any collection of the State’s most delicious dishes. Peggy Gaines’ recipe is the best I’ve found, and no wonder – she’s made this cake professionally for years!”

Cissy Gregg’s recipe for whiskey cake is set out below. I am not a fan of candied cherries, so I usually substitute them for dried cherries. I have also incorporated a mixture of other dried fruits in the cake, such as figs and dates.

The Original Kentucky Whisky Cake

• 5 cups flour, sifted before measuring

• 1 pound white sugar

• 1 cup brown sugar

• ¾ pound butter

• 6 eggs, separated

• 1 pint Kentucky bourbon whisky

• 1 pound red candied cherries (cut in pieces or halves)

• 2 teaspoons nutmeg

• 1 pound shelled pecans, pieces or halves

• ½ pound golden raisins cut in half (or use ½ pound chopped dates)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Soak cherries and raisins in bourbon overnight.

2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolks and beat well.

3. Add soaked fruit and remaining liquid and the flour, reserving a small amount of flour for the nuts. Add to butter-sugar-egg yolk mixture. Add nutmeg and baking powder. Fold in beaten egg whites. Add the lightly floured pecans last.

4. Bake in a large, greased tube pan lined with greased paper for 3 to 4 hour, in a slow oven 250 deg to 275 deg. Watch baking time.

5. To store when thoroughly cool, place in rightly covered container. Stuff center hole with cheesecloth soaked in bourbon whisky. Wrap in heavy waxed paper.

6. It isn’t necessary to soak cake in whisky as cake will be moist and “flavorful”.

7. Keep very cool in refrigerator if necessary.

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

From the Collection: Pre-Prohibition Whiskey Jugs

We share Bourbon history every month here at the Frazier, but National Bourbon Heritage Month calls for a special focus on Bourbon artifacts recently added to our permanent collection.

Earlier this year, the museum acquired a collection of historic advertising jugs, 27 of which represent pre-prohibition era distilleries in Kentucky. Many of the jugs are miniature, further emphasizing their primary use as advertisements for whiskey brands — much like business cards today. This exciting addition to our permanent collection not only expands our number of bourbon history artifacts but also our knowledge of early distilling in Kentucky.

Throughout the 19th and into the 20th century, Louisville was a center for producing and selling whiskey. Unfortunately, many of these small-scale, family-owned operations did not survive the temperance movement and subsequent Prohibition Act of 1919, but jugs such as the examples below provide valuable insight into the distilling business and a tangible memory of names that might otherwise be lost to time.

The Bonnie Brothers (1879-1919) began as whiskey wholesalers on Fourth Street near what is now River Road. All four brothers, Frank, William, Robert, and Ernest were initially involved in the business before Frank sold his shares in 1895 and Ernest formed his own business in 1899.

Joel B. Frazier was an early label for the whiskey blenders who sourced the liquor from the J.B. Wathen, Fern Cliff, and Crystal Springs Distilleries. In 1883, they purchased their own distillery from J.B. Mattingly and expanded their whiskey brands accordingly. The company closed in 1919 with Prohibition and did not successfully return after post-repeal efforts to revive the business.

Henry McKenna (1819-1893) entered the distilling business in 1855 through his flour mill in Nelson County, quickly putting his leftovers to good use by making wheat whiskey. After turning to corn and charred oak barrels, he expanded his operation with genuine Bourbon whiskey and opened a Louisville office on Market Street by 1880.

Still in need of more space, he partnered with friend Henry Bosquet who owned the nearby "Old Blue House" saloon and whiskey wholesaler. Within a few years, McKenna would move distilling operations once again to Whiskey Row at Fourth and Main Streets and sold his "Old Line Sour Mash Whiskey" across the country.

N.M. Uri & Company began in 1891 after Nathan M. Uri parted ways with his brother-in-law, notable 19th century Kentucky distiller Isaac W. Bernheim. The Uri and Bernheim families met and entered into the whiskey business together in Paducah, Kentucky in 1875 under the name Bernheim Bros. & Uri. Interestingly, the company expanded as far as Chicago before relocating to Louisville, where they acquired the Pleasure Ridge Park Distillery in 1890. Soon after, Uri formed his own company along Whiskey Row at the corner of 1st and Main.

While R.H. Parker was Uri & Company's flagship label, his purchase of the International Distillery at Hunters Station allowed him to introduce additional brands such as Brookwood, Kendall Club, and Mumm's Extra Rye.

To see more from the whiskey jug collection and featured Bourbon history artifacts, click here.

Sources:

• Jack Sullivan, political scientist, American whiskey historian, and author of "Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men!" online blog.

• Karl Raitz, "Making Bourbon: A Geographical History of Distilling in Nineteenth-Century Kentucky", University Press of Kentucky, 2020, p. 297-342

• Whiskey University, whiskeyuniv.com/henry-mckenna

Hayley Rankin
Manager of Collection Impact

The Bourbon Limited Club Goes on the Road!

As we’ve started the countdown to our first shipment for the Bourbon Limited Club, the buzz is really starting to build! We are going to announce the first expression to our members soon, and hope they’re as delighted as we are because it’s a REALLY good one.

If you haven’t heard about the club yet, then let me fill you in. As a Bourbon destination, the Frazier Museum has a partnership with so many fantastic bourbon distilleries, and we want to bring their bourbons to the great people of Kentucky. But we have something very special in mind. Every other month we’ll ship out a unique, small batch expression chosen by a master distiller particularly for us. Never released before or ever again.

Seth Thompson said it perfectly in The Bourbon Review; “Each subsequent offering will differ from the prior release. Per the FHM (Frazier History Museum), the picks are crème de la crème. They are designated to be special offerings. Given the FHM’s close relationships with the KY distillery base, we will take their word on this.”

And to keep building the buzz, we took the Bourbon Limited Club on the road this weekend to Bourbon and Beyond! We had so much fun hanging out with everyone and sipping on delicious bourbons. We’ll be at the Louder Than Life Festival next weekend, so make sure to find us and have your picture taken with our Model T.

Haley Hicky
Product & Program Manager

Bridging the Divide

Virtual Curator's Tour: West of Ninth Exhibit

As you know, our two-time award winning exhibition "West of Ninth: Race, Reckoning, and Reconciliation" closed just a few weeks ago. Though the exhibition no longer exists in its physical form, we took lots of photos and videos before it closed. In this video, my colleague Mick walked through the exhibition with me one last time to bring you this video tour. I hope you enjoy this last peak into the exhibition, which was so bittersweet to film! Amanda Briede, Curator

Russell-Based Redline Performing Arts Offers Action Onstage and in the Community

According to their website, Redline Performing Arts “engages, inspires, entertains and challenges audiences with theatrical productions. We are making the arts ACCESSIBLE and AFFORDABLE!”

I found both of those things to be true a few weeks ago when I walked through the doors of Redline’s new location at 1628 West Market a few weeks ago for their sold-out production of Sister Act. It was an amazing show, headlined by talented actors Erica Goodman and Lamont O’Neal, and you could feel the celebratory energy throughout the audience all night.

The organization’s executive director, Alonzo Ramont, shared that the building is the church in which he grew up. The fact that the space is a long-awaited physical location for a dynamic group doing great work in the city is a wonderful continuation of that history. Redline Performing Arts offers shows for the community, but also develops young talent through the Redline Institute of Performing Arts, which is rooted in diversity, giving back, and serving the West End of Louisville.

Redline puts on several shows per season. Next up is The Wedding Singer, which will be performed at Art Sanctuary in Schnitzelburg this November 17-19. They are also currently offering a tap class for adults and a musical theatre bootcamp for ages 11-18—details can be found here, or you can order tickets for The Wedding Singer here. Order tickets ASAP—the show I attended was sold out, including all overflow seating!

I am looking forward to seeing what Redline Performing Arts does next. Make sure you give them a follow so that you can be the first to know, too!

Heather Gotlib
Manager of Youth & Family Programs

Membership

Join Us For Our Next Member Event - United We Tour: Divided We Fall

The Frazier and the KMAC will be opening both of our sites up to curator-led tours for members of both sites. This year, both organizations opened new exhibits, each examining Kentucky’s rich culture through history and contemporary art. Both are coincidentally entitled Divided We Fall.

All members to the Frazier History Museum & the KMAC are welcome to join us as we unite to tour Divided We Fall.

The first 45 minute tour will begin in the Frazier at 10:30AM. Doors will open at 10AM. After this tour all attendees are encouraged to walk over to the KMAC, as we are just a block away! The second 45 minute tour will complete our journey of both organizations and will begin at noon, allowing plenty of time for questions and refreshments.

Members from both organizations will have the opportunity to enjoy the member 10% discount benefit in BOTH museum stores for the day.

About the Exhibits:

The Frazier History Museum

Featuring an array of objects, replicas, and walk-in installations, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall takes visitors on a winding journey through the lives of everyday Kentuckians, from pre-settlement to the early 1900s.

The KMAC

The 2022 KMAC Triennial: Divided We Fall, connects concerns relevant to our geographic region with issues that define the larger national narrative, revealing how our landscape can be a site of conflict and resistance, as well as a place of unity and mutual respect. The 2022 KMAC Triennial Honors the Memory of Al & Mary Shands and is sponsored by The Great Meadows Foundation.

RSVP by Oct 4 – Space is limited, RSVP early.

ALL members of the Frazier & KMAC are welcome!

Want to join our United We Tour Program but not a member? Become a member today! As little as $20 will allow you access to not only this tour but other member exclusive events throughout the year!* Did we mention that for the $20 Individual membership you would also get year-round access to the museum, a 10% discount in the museum store** and discounted parking!?

*Not all member-exclusive invitations apply to the Individual and Family membership levels.

**Exclusions apply

Amanda Egan
Membership & Database Administrator