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The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (1566 total)

  • Julius Price, Sr., president of Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company, surrounded by three African-American Boy Scouts and two African-American Cub Scouts from the Shawnee District in Louisville, Kentucky.

    Please note that the Filson Historical Society does not have insurance policy records for Mammoth Life. Requests for their insurance policy records should be made to Kemper Life Insurance Company at 1-800-777-8467.
  • Chorus printed on cover; drawing of
    river bend
  • To keep up with the times, Fox eventually converted his trolley car into a bus, as seen in this 1953 cartoon. However, the Skipper had trouble steering the new-fangled contraption around curves.
  • Aunt Eppie Hogg is well known in Toonerville for her immense girth. In this 1923 cartoon, Aunt Eppie provides convenient shelter for changing sunbathers.
  • The Skipper anticipates the day when strangers clear out of town in this 1950 cartoon.
  • Article featuring a Jewish Hospital employee holiday party from the periodical Micro Scoop.
  • It's an opportune time to get married! Men are feeling the pressure of the World War II draft in this cartoon published in 1940.
  • An unidentified newspaper clipping covering the resurgence of Helen Humes after a several year hiatus in her singing career.
  • This is an article from a local preservation publication, Preservation Press
  • Artist Ted DeSanto created this poster, titled "I Done Gone Viral #2" for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project of 2020. The poster is a multi-media work discussing the medical and cultural aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Tad DeSanto is a 73-year-old self taught artist. His art focuses on the absurdist aspects of 21st century American life and culture.
  • This poster created by Louisville artist Shae Goodlett, titled "Remotely Present", was created for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project in 2020. The poster uses visual cues, such as the Apple Macintosh logo, elementary school teaching materials, and a Microsoft Teams call toolbar to make a statement about online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Shae Goodlett is a local artist in Louisville, Kentucky. His art is inspired by pop culture, song lyrics, and personal nostalgia.
  • Early in her career, Thum began painting roses, which she exhibited at the Southern Exposition in Louisville and at the National Academy of Design in New York. She painted plein air in the gardens and parks of Louisville and studied many varieties of roses. Her paintings were recognized for their realistic accuracy and quickly led to a variety of commerical opportunities.

    "Among the ten of dozen specimens of Miss Patty Thum's works are to be found some exquisite touches in the reproduction of flowers--roses, which do all but perfume the air."
    -Courier-Journal, November 12, 1897
  • View of the iron man advertising sign at Louisville Scrap Material Company [the junk yard] at East River Road and North Preston Street. The sign underneath the iron man reads "I 'am' Scrapco the Scrapman"
  • The artist Patricia Fulce-Smith created this poster, titled "Six Feet Apart -- Or Apart?" for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project of 2020. This poster uses a variety of visual cues to discuss social, economic, and cultural issues of 2020. These cues include, but are not limited to: COVID-19, racial injustice, Black Lives Matter, Breonna Taylor, face masks, and social aspects of pandemic protocol like social distancing.

    Patricia Fulce-Smith was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, and moved to Louisville in 2003. Fulce-Smith is a multi-media artist and her art primarily depicts women and girls. She is a member of the Louisville Visual Arts Association (LVAA) and has created several murals around Louisville, as well as being an artist for a children's book on Kentucky women.
  • This is an article from a local preservation publication, Preservation Press
  • The great expositions of the 19th century were spectacles that displayed the nation's industrial, technical, and cultural accomplishments in the decades following the Civil War. Massive galleries dedicated to art provided unprecendented opportunities for American artists to exhibit their work the hundreds of thousands of visitors. Thum exhibited work at the Southern Exposition held in Louisville from 1883-1887. It helped launch her career and she developed a lasting friendship with expo's curator Charles Kurtz, an influencer in New York. Following the exposition Thum actively exhibited her work throughout the country.

    -1893, Columbia's Exposition in Chicago
    -1886 and 1889, National Academy of Design in New York City
    -1897, Nashville, Centennial Exposition
    -1898, Trans-Mississippi International Exposition
    -1905, St. Louis World's Fair
  • A small doll from an unknown time period, most likely during the early twentieth century. The doll has two sides: one girl with dark skin and black hair poking from her red hood, and a girl with light skin behind her white dress. The two girls are tethered at the hip, and when one side of the doll is flipped, the other side is revealed. It is unknown who exactly made this specific doll, who would have played with it, or when it would have been made.
  • Keith Rose created this poster for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project. The poster design is inspired by WWI propaganda. The poster features a soldier, wearing a medical face mask, saluting. The text reads: "True American Patriots Wear a Mask for their Country/ For Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!"

    Keith Rose was born and raised in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Rose finds freedom and self-expression of his queer identity through art. Rose is a resident of Louisville and is active in the local art community.
  • Artist Arte Chambers created this poster, titled "What Makes Us Great", for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project of 2020. The poster conveys thoughts about 2020 social issues, including racial injustice, white supremacy, and COVID-19 health protocol. The poster conveys the opinion that health, particularly wearing a face mask, is what makes America great, rather than hate or fear, represented by a Ku Klux Klan mask and a balaclava, respectively.

    Arte Chambers is a printmaker and attended Indiana University Southeast for printmaking. His style is influenced by comics and video game manuals. The themes of his art pieces are inspired by American social issues, social disruptions, and dialogues about human issues.
  • Artist Mallory Lucas created this poster, titled "Will You Fight Now or Wait for This?", for the Kentucky COVID-19 Poster Project of 2020. Lucas based the design of this poster based on a World War I propaganda poster. The poster discusses issues of police brutality, racial violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Mallory Lucas is a printmaker who is inspired by 20th century war posters and other print objects. She derives inspiration generally from cultural objects of the distant past. Lucas explores themes of otherness, social injustice, and social exclusion in her prints.
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