Browse Items (131 total)
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Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) Mourning Ribbon
Silk ribbon memorializing the death of Zachary Taylor (1784-1850). Gold eagle holding an American Flag with profile of Taylor in gold. "The last coherent words of the venerable patriot, President Zachary Tailor [sic]: 'I die--I am expecting the summons--I am ready to meet death-- I have endeavored faithfully to discharge my duty --I am sorry to leave my friends!" -
Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) Mourning Ribbon
Silk ribbon memorializing the death of Zachary Taylor (1784-1850). "The nation mourns a patriot gone. Published at 302 Race St Bel., 9th." -
Velvet Mourning Bonnet
Black velvet bonnet, most likely worn as part of a mourning ensemble. -
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) Funeral Ribbon
Funeral ribbon memorializing Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). Ribbon is made of black and white silk with Metalica fringe. "Grant (stitched in thread) / Aide / Civic Division / August 8th, 1885" -
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) Funeral Ribbon
Funeral ribbon memorializing Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). Ribbon is made of black mourning crepe and blue silk. A black pin is attached to the center top. The pin has a white shield, black sash and "Grant" in white lettering. -
Teaspoon, circa 1810
Early style teaspoon with egg-shaped bowl and slender handle widening to a modified coffin style. Undecipherable monogram on end of handle. "SA" stamped in rectangular cartouche. Also a winged eagle, looking left. -
Sylvia's Accessories (page 2)
Four hand-drawn outfits for "Sylvia Melverton" paper doll.
These dolls were created by Kentucky artist Carrie Douglas Dudley Ewen and were often given as gifts to the children in her family. Many of the dolls have notes on their backs recording their names and ages. -
Sylvia's Accessories (page 1)
Four hand-drawn outfits for "Sylvia Melverton" paper doll.
These dolls were created by Kentucky artist Carrie Douglas Dudley Ewen and were often given as gifts to the children in her family. Many of the dolls have notes on their backs recording their names and ages. -
Sylvia Melverton
Hand-drawn paper doll and one outfit.
These dolls were created by Kentucky artist Carrie Douglas Dudley Ewen and were often given as gifts to the children in her family. Many of the dolls have notes on their backs recording their names and ages. -
Straw Mourning Bonnet
Black straw bonnet with black silk ties and purple crepe embellishment. Most likely worn as part of a mourning ensemble, belonged to member of the Greene family. -
Sterling's Accessories
Two hand-drawn outfits for "Sterling Melverton" paper doll.
These dolls were created by Kentucky artist Carrie Douglas Dudley Ewen and were often given as gifts to the children in her family. Many of the dolls have notes on their backs recording their names and ages. -
Sterling Melverton
Hand-drawn paper doll and one outfit.
These dolls were created by Kentucky artist Carrie Douglas Dudley Ewen and were often given as gifts to the children in her family. Many of the dolls have notes on their backs recording their names and ages. -
Silver Ladle
Coin silver ladle made by Asa Blanchard, who was one of many skilled artisans who migrated from the eastern states to the Kentucky frontier. Blanchard worked under other silversmiths in Philadelphia and New York, which were highly competitive environments for artisans. The Ohio River Valley offered a new market and opportunity for career advancement. Within a single generation, Kentucky transitioned from a frontier community into a society that supported painters, furniture makers, silversmiths, and other artisans. As middle- and upper-class families obtained financial stability, they purchased luxury goods symbolic of their status. -
Sheet, 1800-1825
Sheet belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. Elizabeth married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died only seven years into their marriage. Elizabeth then took on the responsibility of managing their farm while also raising her three young sons. Elizabeth enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor that contributed to the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Elizabeth manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera, leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother. -
Portrait of Samuel Oldham Churchill
Samuel Churchill moved from Virginia to Kentucky when he was eight years old. He owned 415 acres of land along Beargrass Creek. The Churchills enslaved thirty-six individuals whose labor created economic advantage and comfort for the family. He had an interest in horse breeding and was president of the Louisville Association for the Improvement of Breed of Horses. Samuel Churchill was one of seven founding trustees of the Oakland Racecourse in Louisville in early 1832, which was located on fifty-one acres of land purchased from Samuel and Abigail Churchill, as well as from other landholders. His sons, John and Henry, inherited land from Samuel, which they leased to his nephew Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., founder of a new racecourse known today as Churchill Downs. -
Portrait of Martin D. Hardin
Martin D. Hardin (1780-1823) was born in Pennsylvania and migrated with his family to Kentucky in 1786. He studied law under George Nicholas, who is credited with writing Kentucky's first constitution upon becoming a state in 1792. Hardin served as a militia major in the War of 1812 and was a politician. He served as Secretary of State under Governor Isaac Shelby from 1812-1816. He represented Madison County and later Franklin County in the Kentucky Legislature in 1805-1806, 1812, 1818-1820. He also briefly served as a United States Senator, 1816-1817. He was married Elizabeth Logan, daughter of Kentucky pioneer Benjamin Logan, in 1809. They had four children before his death at age forty-three. -
Portrait of Elizabeth Wood Bayless
Elizabeth Wood Bayless was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania. She migrated to Mason County, Kentucky, with her family sometime within the first decade of Kentucky's statehood. Her father, George Wood, was a Revolutionary War Veteran who was one of the first Baptist preachers to settle in the region. Elizabeth married Benjamin Bayless in 1798 in Mason County, Kentucky. -
Portrait of Benjamin Bayless
Benjamin Bayless was born in Hartford County, Maryland, and migrated to Mason County, Kentucky, sometime withing the first decade of Kentucky's statehood. He married Elizabeth Wood in 1798. During the War of 1812, he sustained a lifelong injury. In 1815, he was appointed Sheriff of Mason County. The U. S. Census shows that he enslaved thirteen persons in 1820 and ten persons in 1830. -
Portrait of Abigail Oldham Churchill
Abigail Oldham Churchill came from a lineage of wealthy and prominent early Louisvillian settlers. She was just two years old when her father, Colonel William Oldham, died in the Battle of Wabash. Her mother, Penelope Pope, a twenty-two-year-old widow with four children, remarried into the Churchill family. In 1802, two weeks after her fourteenth birthday, Abigail married Samuel Churchill, her step-father's twenty-four-year-old brother. She gave birth to their first child when she was fifteen and had a child almost every other year over a span of thirty years. She had her last of fifteen children when she was forty-four years of age. -
Portrait of "Fanny" Frances Latham Slaughter
"Fanny" Frances Latham Slaughter was a wife and a mother who had strong ties with her family as seen through letters sent to her daughter and other relatives. "Time passes away tedious and heavy" writes Frances Latham Slaughter to her daughter (who left home) on 12 October 1816. Women who were separated from family and friends often experienced loneliness on the frontier.