Let me start by saying the struggle is real. I’m talking about the struggle with mental health and why we should and need to be talking about it even more. The Frazier History Museum plans to do just that on October 10, which is World Mental Health Day.

Graphic for Stop the Stigma. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

The Frazier is partnering with 91.9 WFPK for Stop the Stigma, an open forum–style event with a discussion, facilitated by experts from our community, at which panelists and guests can share their experiences. WFPK has been doing amazing work on this front with their on-air Mental Health Days.

The Frazier is all in for any conversation that helps the wellbeing of our community. That fits into our mission with our Bridging the Divide programs. And when I say the struggle is real, know that the numbers certainly back that up. Depression rates in the United States tripled when the pandemic first hit, and they have only gotten worse, with one in every three American adults affected.

No one is immune to the struggle, but certain demographics are at a higher risk.

There have also been calls locally to provide easier access to mental health resources, specifically within the Black community.

Locally young people are suffering too, with suicides in Jefferson County reaching a decade high in 2021.

Our program precedes NAMI Louisville’s Step Forward for Mental Health Walk at Waterfront Park on October 15 and the Big Stomp festival on October 14 and 15, designed to stomp the mental health stigma. Proceeds from that festival go toward the Pete Foundation. Pete Jones was twenty-three years old when he took his life. His family’s hope is no one will silently suffer the debilitating conditions that took Pete.

Members of Pete’s family, NAMI Louisville, and other experts will be joining us on October 10. We hope you will, too.

To learn more about the program and sign up, click here.

Also coming up in this edition of Frazier Weekly, your chance to meet Hall of Famer Freddie Johnson, a “sign” of the times with Whiskey decanters, Teddy Abrams on “your” Louisville Orchestra and its rich history, a chance for you to bid on some awesome auction items, and celebrating Sadiqa.

This Week in the Museum

Freddie Johnson to Lead Tastings at Baitcasting Program Wednesday

Hosting Frazier programs is one of my favorite parts of the job—and doing it with a Bourbon Hall of Famer is even better!

Late last week we got confirmation that Buffalo Trace’s Freddie Johnson will be here to lead tastings Wednesday night—and not just any tastings. We’re talking Stagg Jr., E. H. Taylor Jr. Small Batch, Blanton’s Single Barrel, and Sig Luscher beer to be enjoyed on every tasting mat for every single guest.

I was in the audience here at the Frazier in 2018 when Freddie was inducted into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. What an honor it will be to have him back and headlining such a cool program!

That is just one of many reasons Bourbon, Beer, & Baitcasting Pioneers will be a very special event. The discussion, book signing, and high-end tasting will take place in the heart of our Cool Kentucky exhibition. One of the unquestionably cool things about Kentucky is its rich history in fishing. Folks flocked from all around the country to fish Kentucky waters in three specific towns where the streams were rich in black bass.

The tools for fishing, known as Kentucky Reels, changed baitcasting forever all around the world. It just so happens that many of the men using them were also pioneers in Kentucky’s Bourbon and beer industries.

On Wednesday, we will honor these men, we will drink their expressions, and we will hear from the authors of the book A Brief History of Baitcasting, Bass Fishing, and the Kentucky Reel. Attendees will go home with a signed copy of that book and they’ll be buzzing with excitement after experiencing and tasting what is truly cool about Kentucky.

There are still a few tickets available, so I hope to see you here!

Hall of Famer Johnson a Third-generation Buffalo Trace Employee

Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame member Freddie Johnson is a third-generation staff member at Buffalo Trace, where he is the distillery VIP visitor lead. He will lead guests through a special tasting of E. H. Taylor, Blanton’s, and Stagg Jr. Bourbons on Wednesday, September 28, from 7 to 9 p.m., as part of a program on the connections between the famed Kentucky Fishing Reel, the first multiplying baitcasting reel, and early local distillers.

Freddie is not only knowledgeable about the history of the industry: He is also is a passionate preservationist, serving as a board member for the Capital City Museum and Green Hill Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. A portion of the proceeds from sales of Freddie’s Root Beer and Freddie’s Ginger Ale supports the restoration of the cemetery. Green Hill Cemetery, which was established in 1865, is home to Kentucky’s only monument honoring the nearly 25,000 Black Kentuckians who served in the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War.

Freddie’s first career was as a network/operations engineer in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved back to his hometown of Frankfort in retirement to fulfill a promise he made to his father that he would work at the distillery during his lifetime, marking three generations. As a boy, Freddie enjoyed hunting, fishing, and hanging out with his paternal grandfather, Jimmy Johnson Sr., and father, Jimmy Johnson Jr. Freddie’s grandfather worked with and for Colonel Albert Bacon Blanton at his distillery, then named George T. Stagg Distillery, while Freddie’s father worked with and under the supervision of both Orville Schupp and Elmer T. Lee.

In September 2018, Freddie Johnson received the industry’s highest award, presented that year at the Frazier History Museum, when he was elected into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. Freddie became only the eighth member of the Buffalo Trace family to join the Hall behind such illustrious names as George T. Stagg, Colonel Albert Blanton, Elmer T. Lee, Orville Schupp, and Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle.

Join us Wednesday for an unforgettable evening sharing Bourbon and fishing stories.

Curator’s Corner: 1970 Capricorn-Cancer and Aquarius-Leo Zodiac Sign Decanters

Cue the 5th Dimension’s 1969 hit song “Aquarius”: Members of the zodiac have entered the Frazier in the form of whiskey decanters!

While we can’t say if this alone will usher in a new era of light, love, and humanity, it will certainly enhance our permanent collection and museum displays.

The recently acquired Bourbon whiskey decanters are two of a set of six released in 1970, each of which depicts two icons from the twelve-month zodiac calendar. We have Capricorn-Cancer and Aquarius-Leo, which seem to indicate that the icons are paired with their six-month opposites.

From left, Capricorn-Cancer decanter, made in 1970. The label reads: “Rare Antique Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 10 Years Old Bottled by Frankfort Distilling Co., Louisville, Kentucky 4/5 Quart 86 Proof”; Aquarius-Leo decanter, made in 1970. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

The Frankfort Distilling Company, established around 1902, produced the decanter set to accompany their “Rare Antique” label Bourbon under the ownership of Seagram. This pre-Prohibition enterprise managed to survive the 1920s thanks to the Paul Jones Company, which purchased the distillery in 1922 then produced medicinal whiskey there. Seagram then purchased the company in 1943 primarily to acquire the Four Roses label. By the 1970 zodiac decanter release, the original Frankfort Distilling Company essentially existed in name only, but it continued to produce whiskey out of Louisville until 1983.

Frankfort Distilling Co. 1970 Zodiac Decanter full set. Credit: Everything But the House.

So why the zodiac? Any astrology lovers or daily horoscope followers out there? Interest in zodiac signs seems to be making a comeback after the initial craze of the late 1960s and `70s that saw star-sign accessories and horoscope booklets everywhere. “What’s your sign?” even became a popular pick-up line. In a time of mood rings, lava lamps, and bell bottoms, it’s not difficult to imagine.

Here in Louisville, the Fund for the Arts held a Zodiac Ball at the Zoological Gardens in 1970 to symbolize the “cooperative link between the twelve arts organizations which are members of the fund,” while advertisements such as Dante’s Zodiac Jewelry popped up everywhere.

Front cover of Southern Comfort’s Happy Hour Mixology booklet published in 1971. Credit: Flashbak.

From the 1950s through the `80s, Bourbon distilleries sold a great variety of fun decanters to increase Bourbon sales; naturally, they would design decanters that drew upon current pop culture. In fact, astrology became such a default topic of conversation that ads for alcohol and guides to hosting the perfect happy hour integrated the current fascination with the zodiac. It’s no surprise that distilleries sought to capitalize on the craze.

So while Mercury might be in retrograde, we are calm, optimistic, and moving forward here in the collections department because our new zodiac decanters are already on display in the Spirit of Kentucky®! This exhibition tells the story of Kentucky Bourbon whiskey, America’s native spirit.

Come see us soon!

Conductor Teddy Abrams on Your Louisville Orchestra, 1937–Present

One of the key questions we ask as educators at the Frazier History Museum is: What makes Kentucky unique?

In 2020, the education department began creating virtual field trip programs to provide content to schools whose students were learning online. The first program, Poe 2.0, was a nod to our pre-COVID Tales of Poe student matinee series and reached over 9,000 students across the entire state.

For the past several months, we’ve been working on a new and exciting virtual program that asks our key question. We’ve gotten to travel the state creating videos that focus on what makes Kentucky unique, and we have been fortunate to also have notable Kentuckians come to us to answer that question.

One truly exciting perspective on this question came from the music director and conductor of our Louisville Orchestra, Teddy Abrams. He spent an afternoon with us in the Musical Kentucky section of our Cool Kentucky exhibition to speak from a musical lens.

The Louisville Orchestra is, of course, an integral part of that story. From its formation in the wake of the 1937 flood to hosting its own record label, the Orchestra’s history is fascinating. But I will let Teddy tell you that part himself!

The timing of our sharing this video is perfect, as it coincides with the opening of the Louisville Orchestra’s 2022–23 season. On Saturday, September 17, the Classics series kicked off with a nod to the orchestra’s history of being new, exciting, and integral to the community, debuting its new Creators Corps program with short pieces from the Louisville Orchestra’s three Creators. The members of the Creators Corps are music creators who will be living in the Shelby Park neighborhood of Louisville and engaging with the city while creating pieces commissioned by the Orchestra.

The three composers—TJ Cole, Lisa Bielawa, and Tyler Taylor, a Louisville native—hail from across the country and all have distinct styles.

It’s an unprecedented and completely original program that is very much in the spirit of the Orchestra’s foundation. I encourage you to keep an eye out for what happens as the season unfolds! You can view the Orchestra’s concert schedule here to see when the Creators will be sharing their new pieces with the community.

In the video below, you can enjoy highlights from our conversation with Teddy, which will soon be a component of a virtual program for students across the state.

Orange Shirt Day Prompts Reflection on Scott County’s Choctaw Academy

Friday, September 30, is Orange Shirt Day, otherwise known as Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Orange Shirt Day yields national and international discussions around the harmful impacts of residential schools on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, in addition to providing a platform for survivors to share their stories.

The Canadian Residential School System was founded largely to assimilate Indigenous children into the dominant European culture of Canada. Children were removed, often forcibly, from their homes and made to leave behind their native languages and cultural traditions in favor of adopting European philosophy. Abuse was rampant in these institutions, often resulting in student death.

The last residential schools in Canada were closed in the late 1990s, but their devastating impacts are still largely felt today. The losses of life, native languages, and cultural practices have resulted in individual and collective trauma for those directly impacted as well as entire communities.

The name “Orange Shirt Day” comes from a story told by Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a member of the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation and a residential school survivor. She remembers her grandmother buying her a beautiful orange shirt for her first day at the “Mission school.” Upon arriving to school, staff confiscated her clothing, including the orange shirt.

“When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt!” she says. “I never wore it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared.”

Phyllis (Jack) Webstad as a young girl, undated. Credit: Orange Shirt Day.

Now, Phyllis travels around the country sharing her story and educating community members about the history of residential schooling in Canada. In addition, she’s published two books, Orange Shirt Story and Phyllis’s Orange Shirt.

For more information about Orange Shirt Day, the history of residential schooling in Canada, and Phyllis’s story, click here.

Community members participate in Orange Shirt Day commemorative events, undated. Credit: Orange Shirt Day.

Canada is not the only country grappling with the detrimental legacy of residential schools. The United States has a similar history of harmful assimilation tactics. As a matter of fact, the first federally controlled boarding school for Native Americans in US history opened right here in Kentucky.

In 1825, politician Richard M. Johnson established Choctaw Academy on his farm in Scott County. Prior to closing in 1848, an 1840 inspection of the premises observed that students were receiving inadequate education, food, and clothing. The students also endured poor living conditions and forced manual labor. Students older than twenty and possibly as young as six passed through Choctaw Academy.

For more information about Choctaw Academy, visit the Frazier’s new permanent exhibition The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall.

So, how do we move forward? How can we ensure nothing like this ever happens again?

At the Frazier, we believe in sharing stories, even (and especially!) difficult ones, with the hope that we can educate ourselves and work toward a safer and more equitable future. This work can only happen if we are willing to address our hard histories and collaborate on solutions that consider several points of view.

Therefore, the Frazier History Museum is hosting a program on November 15 called Kentucky’s Native History. A panel of experts will discuss the history of Kentucky’s Native people, while debunking myths and misconceptions along the way.

We hope you’ll join us.

Let’s confront our hard histories together and move towards reconciliation.

Museum Store: Jerry E. Clark’s 2007 Book The Shawnee

Learn more about the people in Kentucky before colonization by white settlers and their struggle for possession of the region in Jerry E. Clark’s 2007 book The Shawnee. This University of Kentucky Press book is available in the Frazier’s Museum Store.

Frazier Classic Online Auction Open to Public for First Time

This year, through the generosity of Lewis & Grant Auctions, for the first time ever, the Frazier is opening the Owsley Brown Frazier Classic auction to Frazier friends, like you, and the public. In past years, this silent auction has been held on site and only available to those who participated in the event. Now you have the opportunity to bid on incredible hand-crafted items as well as special Bourbons and one-of-a-kind experiences.

You can find the auction here. Bidding will end on Friday, September 30, at 2:30 p.m. You will need to register to bid, and items will need to be picked up at the Classic during the event or at the Frazier during normal business hours. We are unable to ship auction items.

Here is a small sampling of the items available.

Four Roses Private Select and Barrel

Take home the official Frazier barrel that housed our Four Roses Barrel Select Bourbon, which was featured at our March 17 Four Roses “Meet Your Perfect Match” Tasting program. The barrel is signed by all who were present in making the selection, including Four Roses master distiller Brent Elliott and Frazier Museum president and CEO Andy Treinen. You take home not only the barrel but also the last two bottles from this private selection!

Hand-crafted Damascus Steel Chef Knife

You may not be a world-famous chef, but you can certainly look and feel like one with this stunning one-of-a-kind chef’s knife. The knife was created and hand-forged from 1095 and 15N20 high and low carbon steel with over 200 layers. The blade, accented with a pinned and laminated wood handle, is as tough and durable as it is beautiful. The knife was handcrafted by Bluegrass Game Calls, LLC.

Our Sip of Bourbon in the City

The Grady Hotel is a historic gem of warm hospitality on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, mixing modern and vintage in a flawless fashion. From the Downtown Louisville hotel’s amenities to its on-site restaurant and lounge, you can experience a stay that warms like a whiskey neat. This package includes a two-night stay in a King Double Room and a $100 Food Credit. It was donated By the Grady Hotel.

Bid now, bid often. All proceeds help support the museum’s educational programs, workshops, family days, and exhibitions.

Peerless Small Batch Reserve to be First Bourbon, Limited Offering

Hello, fellow Bourbon enthusiast!

In addition to being the Frazier’s new product and program manager, I’m also the CMO—and Unicorn Wrangler!—of Bourbon, Limited, a subscription-only club that offers rare, small-batch expressions not available anyplace else, delivered to your door. I’m reaching out to announce the FIRST limited-edition release from our club! I’m so excited that I can hardly put it into words, so I’ll let our friends at Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. take it from here.

“An exceptional friendship calls for a rare pour. Peerless Small Batch Reserve is making its debut exclusively via our friends at the Bourbon, Limited club. This is a major milestone we are truly humbled to be a part of.”—Corky Taylor, CEO, Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co.

We promised from the outset that Bourbon, Limited would offer only the rarest, hardest-to-find whiskeys from Kentucky’s greatest names in distilling, and we believe we’ve fulfilled that pledge right out of the box. Here’s what Peerless master distiller Caleb Kilburn has to say about this very special Bourbon.

“Peerless Small Batch Reserve is drawn exclusively from our first three years of production. In addition to being of older age, our reserve barrels from `15, `16, and `17 combine to showcase an array of flavors and a level of maturity that perfectly celebrates Peerless’s unmatched dedication to quality.”—Caleb Kilburn, Master Distiller, Peerless Distilling Co.

We’re talking about the oldest small-batch whiskey Peerless has ever released. And as you know from our website, there are only about twenty barrels’ worth of this remarkable Bourbon available. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

If you’ve already signed up to join Bourbon, Limited, you can look forward to receiving your bottle at your front door in the next few weeks. Once you have yours in hand, I’d love to hear what you think. If you’re still thinking about joining, I hope the news of our first release will be the motivation you need to be part of this very special—and exclusive—journey of discovery. Either way, feel free to reach out to hhicky@fraziermuseum.org any time with your questions, comments, or suggestions. And tell your fellow Bourbon fanatics about us—we love getting to know folks who have the same passion for the distiller’s art that we do.

We look forward to drinking Bourbon with you.

Cheers!

Spooky Saturday Returns to the Frazier October 29!

Last year, we at the Frazier welcomed dozens of families through our doors to celebrate Halloween Eve—and we’re so excited to do it all over again!

Graphic for 2022 Spooky Saturday. Credit: Frazier History Museum.

On Saturday, October 29, we will be hosting ongoing activities for families from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This will include themed craft stations, scavenger hunts, trick-or-treating, and a live performance of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 poem “The Raven” by teaching artist Brian West.

We’ll also have special guests, including Mirabel and Anna from the Princesses of Louisville! There’s more to come on that. We suspect there will also be some creepy, crawly fun from additional local partners.

The best part of this is that admission is discounted to $10 for everyone that day or free with your membership! We hope to see you here on Spooky Saturday.

Bridging the Divide

Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds on Saying Goodbye

Courage. Have it. That’s the advice the outgoing CEO of the Louisville Urban League, Sadiqa Reynolds, has for the person who will take the baton from her and lead the organization. She has made recommendations to the LUL board on who should follow.

Sadiqa Reynolds. Credit: Louisville Urban League.

She is leaving the job next month after seven years—the dream job she thought she would keep for thirty. Things change. What changed? That’s one of the first questions I ask her.

Saturday night there was a party in her honor at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center, the place Sadiqa envisioned and got built. Yes, she had help, but she was the one who had the courage to lead the charge and get it done.

I use just her first name, Sadiqa, because that’s all you need to say in order for people to know who you’re talking about.

That transformative track is just one of her many accomplishments, and Saturday’s tribute is one of many playing out as she takes on a new position with a national platform, although she will be based in Louisville.

She has always said yes to being on many of our panels at the Frazier, even the toughest of conversations on topics like policing.

That simple advice of courage isn’t so simple. Sadiqa says so many folks are too busy trying to keep their job that they aren’t doing their job.

I ask her about her courage, using her voice, and the unfinished business in Louisville.

Here we go.

Calendar of Programs

In Case You Missed It: The Journey (Sep. 13)

Freddie Johnson to Lead Tastings Wednesday, 1970 Zodiac Sign Decanters, Conductor Teddy Abrams on Louisville Orchestra, 1937–Present, and More

Sue Grafton’s Alphabet Series, Edmonton Physician’s 1840–60 Battlefield Surgical Kit, Assumption-CAL Field Hockey Rivalry, and More

Kentucky Rivalries featuring St. X vs Trinity, Kentucky's Native History Program, Whiskey Cake for National Bourbon Heritage Month, and More