Browse Exhibits (29 total)

• The Binghams of Louisville

  The Binghams were one of the most influential Louisville families of the 20th century. The family-built fortunes, reputations and, sadly, lost loved ones in the last century, inspiring headlines, gossip, and numerous books, a few written by Bingham descendants.

  The patriarch, George “Barry” Bingham, Sr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky on February 10, 1906, the son of Judge Robert Worth Bingham and Eleanor Miller Bingham. Barry’s father was a successful attorney and was active in civic affairs and politics. In 1918, Judge Bingham purchased The Courier-Journal and Louisville Times from the Haldeman family. These two major Louisville newspapers established what became the Bingham media legacy. His successor to the media company was his son Barry, Sr.

  This extensive photograph collection documents the family and social lives of George “Barry” Bingham, Sr. (1906-1988), his wife Mary Caperton (1904-1995,) and their five children: Robert Worth (1932-1966), George “Barry,” Jr. (1933-2006), Sarah known as “Sallie” (1937- ), Jonathan Worth (1942-1964), and Eleanor (1946- ).

  Full exhibit coming January soon!

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  The Evolution of Camp Zachary Taylor

  This exhibit shares images and documents from the Filson’s collection that illustrate the changing ownership and landscape of the Camp Zachary Taylor area and illuminate the history of Louisville’s World War I cantonment.

  In 1917, the Louisville Board of Trade purchased close to three thousand acres of farmland and open fields several miles south of the city of Louisville, Kentucky. The U.S. Government transformed this acreage into an active military camp with around two thousand buildings, training over 125,000 American soldiers for participation in World War I, with even more men passing through during demobilization in 1919.

  In 1921, after only four years, the Government auctioned off some of the land, buildings, and equipment at a loss of nearly six million dollars. The subdivided land would eventually become a working-class neighborhood, still known as “Camp Taylor.” In 1941, the US Public Building Administration constructed the Fincastle Heights Defense Housing Project on a portion of the original Army camp still owned by the government. Some of the homes in the neighborhood today are still located on the concrete pads once used as bathrooms and showers for the World War I barracks.

• The Incomparable Helen Humes: The Life and Career of Louisville's Legendary Jazz and Blues Singer

  On June 23, 1909, in Louisville, Kentucky, a rising star was born: the mysterious, elegant, and multi-talented Helen Humes.

  Humes was raised loving music, and starting at age 17, she began a wildly successful career singing jazz and blues. She worked with many noteable musicians and groups, including the Count Basie Orchestra and Norman Granz. She spent the 1960s and 70s traveling the world showcasing her wonderful voice, but she also never forgot her roots in Louisville.

  This exhibit showcases items from the Filson’s manuscript and photograph collections that illuminate Humes's incomparable life.

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  The Kentucky Derby: "Run for the Roses"

  The Kentucky Derby is a one-and-one-quarter-mile stake race for three-year-old Thoroughbred colts, geldings, and fillies.  The Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks are the oldest continuously contested American sporting events and the only Thoroughbred stakes races run annually at the same site since it began in 1875. Not only will one see horses, hats, seersucker, and bow ties, the Derby has evolved into an entire month of celebrations throughout Louisville known as The Kentucky Derby Festival. The Festival began in 1956 with the Pegasus Parade, produced for a mere $640. The premise of the early festival was to create a celebration allowing the entire community to participate in the excitement around the Kentucky Derby.  Despite being postponed in 2020, the Festival is still going strong, starting off with a bang at Thunder Over Louisville, and moving into some classics including the Balloon Fest, Pegasus Parade, and the Great Steamboat Race.  Here are a few items from our collections that represent the most exciting two minutes in sports history, and the fanfare surrounding it!

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  The Kentucky State Fair, 1816-2015

  The Kentucky State Fair is one of the oldest fairs celebrated in the United States. Its beginning can be traced back to 1816 when Colonel Lewis Sanders of Fayette County, Kentucky (no known relation to Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame) organized the first fair in the Commonwealth. The fair became official in 1902 after being mandated by the Kentucky General Assembly the previous year. It was held at the famed Churchill Downs initially, then rotated throughout various communities until finding a permanent home in Louisville's West End at the newly created Kentucky State Fairgrounds on September 14, 1908. In 1956 the fair was moved to the Kentucky State Fairgrounds and Exposition Center where it remains today. The modern fair is an eleven day event, visited by over 600,000 fairgoers, spread over 520 acres with 1.2 million square feet of indoor exhibition space for amusements, livestock, home and field-work exhibitions. Most notable of these is the World's Championship Horse Show where 2000 elite saddlebreds compete for more than one million dollars' worth of premiums and awards. The following are a few images from The Filson collection that showcase this Kentucky heritage event.

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  The Path to the Polls: Presidential Elections in Kentucky

  Since Kentucky became a state in 1792, its citizens have rallied around presidential candidates, run for president themselves, and fought continuously for the basic right to participate in the selection of their Commander-in-Chief.

  This exhibit uses items in the Filson's collections to share hightlight from over two centuries of presidential campaigns in Kentucky.

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  Violins of Hope in the Ohio Valley

  In October 2019, the Filson Historical Society joined with 30 community partners and venues to host a two-week visit in Louisville from the Violins of Hope. Created by Israeli father and son violin makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, Violins of Hope  restores violins orphaned or confiscated from Jews throughout Europe during World War II and the Shoah (the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, meaning "catastrophe"). The instruments now travel the world, played and displayed in concerts, exhibits, and programs fostering education, and shared humanity through music appreciation. Now, in June 2022, the Filson is proud to host a new chapter of the story: free public screenings of a new documentary on the Violins of Hope  in Louisville.  

  Connecting the history of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley with the history of the Violins of Hope is challenging for one simple reason: while American Jews in this region have experienced antisemitism and exclusion, never have we experienced nearly the degree of dispossession and agony of Jews and other minority groups in Nazi Europe. Instead, our Violins of Hope stories offer a counternarrative to the grief and loss inherent in their European counterparts. These stories enable us to appreciate how classical music has brought comfort and cohesion to our communities.

  Two stories from the Filson’s collections (one organizational and one personal) illuminate how in the same historical moment, Jewish musicians could be simultaneously suffering in one part of the world and thriving in another.

   

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  Women at Work: Venturing into the Public Sphere

  Women have been working side by side with each other and with men – fathers, brothers, partners, husbands, sons – throughout human existence. The theme “women at work” should therefore cover millennia. Being not so ambitious, this exhibit seeks to illuminate women's professional roles in only a snippet of American history: the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

  During this time, women of the Ohio Valley region – mostly upper-class whites – stepped outside their homes to seek new roles as professionals and advocates in business, art, education, and the club movement. They were predecessors, colleagues, compatriots, and sometimes opponents of their sisters agitating for women’s rights and women’s suffrage. Nevertheless, they all ventured into the public sphere, redefining the roles women were expected to play. Whether working to affect social change, realize their creative potential, or simply provide for their families, these pioneers changed what it meant to be a woman at work.

  To view a recording of the virtual opening of this exhibit, please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgVnyctAFLg

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  Women's Suffrage: The Movement in Louisville

  Only 100 years ago, in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote in the United States.

  The fight for ratification was long and difficult for suffragists across the country, but it wasn't just a battle of national organizations and well-known leaders. Suffrage was gained through the hard work of women from every community and every walk of life. Suffragists were not all wealthy or influential, but they were all determined to make their voices heard. The long-term results of their struggle are clear a century later: their efforts led to a breakdown of barriers that once barred women from realizing their potential as politicians, professionals, leaders, and human beings. 

  This exhibit shares items from the Filson's collections that document the suffrage movement in Louisville.