“I Quilt for a Contented Heart” – Quilting in The Filson’s Collections

Posted in Browsing the Collections, Civil War History on 01/25/2012 09:19 pm by Jamie Evans

This is probably the most involved quilt square I've worked on thus far. The pattern is "Swoon" by Thimble Blossoms.

“I quilt for a contented heart.”* No truer words have been spoken. Whether I’m feeling angry, nervous, or excited, I can go to my sewing space and feel at peace. I am by no means a professional quilter; I just love to create handmade things for friends and family, and quilts are practical as well as beautiful.

The art of quilting is older than written history, and quilts are a big part of Kentucky’s heritage. The term comes from the Latin culcita, or “stuffed sack,” but the quilt as we know it today dates to the 16th century. Beginning as a strictly utilitarian article, quilts were rarely artistic. They were strictly for keeping people warm. Artistic quilting arose when Americans began manufacturing textiles and women no longer had to spin and weave their own fabrics. Through the years, quilting has gone from a necessity to a hobby, and it is seeing a rise in popularity. Today, millions of Americans are involved in quilting.

The Filson has several books in our library about quilting. Mary Washington Clarke wrote Kentucky Quilts and Their Makers, a wonderful book on the history of Kentucky quilts and the women behind them. You can see the wonderful community that surrounds quilting. I was particularly interested in The Civil War Diary Quilt: 121 stories and the quilt blocks they inspired by Rosemary Youngs. The book features diary entries from 10 women including Cora Owens Hume, a Southern sympathizer who lived in Louisville during the war. We have a page of her diary on display in our Civil War exhibit, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”

If you would like more information about any of the quilting books in our library, please contact The Filson or browse our online catalog. Meanwhile, I’ll be sewing and thinking about how the tradition of quilting continues to play a role in the writing of history.

* From Kentucky Quilts and Their Makers by Mary Washington Clarke

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Kentucky in the Great War

Posted in Browsing the Collections on 01/17/2012 09:43 pm by Robin Wallace

The television series “Downton Abbey” and the film “War Horse” are vividly bringing the horrors and heroics of World War I to life this year.  Louisville was, of course, very actively involved in the Great War with the construction of the army training facility Camp Zachary Taylor in 1917, and over 10,000 local soldiers serving in the war.

Norman Kohlhepp (1892 - 1986) enlisted in the French army in 1917, and served in the "Reserve Mallet" in World War I - a transport unit that was created as part of the French Army but later became part of the United States Army's Transport Service. He was also an accomplished artist in painting and print making, studying at the Academy Colarossi and Academy de la Grand Chaumiere. Andre Lhote, the cubist painter, was one of his instructors. Norman was married to artist Dorothy Kohlhepp. He died in Louisville, KY in 1986. Norman Kohlhepp Collection

The National Guard History eMuseum tells us that a total of 84,172 persons from Kentucky served in the United States Army. This total included 80,009 enlisted men, 3,747 commissioned officers, 241 nurses, 153 army field clerks, and 22 United States Marine Cadets. A breakdown of these figures show that there were 12,759 men in the regular Army, 7,518 National Guardsmen, 2,526 in the Reserve Corps, 2,734 volunteers, and 58,635 drafted men. Seven Kentuckians were Army Major Generals, nine were Brigadier Generals, and 23 were Colonels. Distinguished aviators were Major Victor Strohm and Lieutenant Colonel J. O. Creech. Of the overall total 41,655 saw overseas duty, while 2,418 deaths occurred among Kentucky troops, 890 of which were battle deaths.

Place de la Concorde, German tanks surrounded by captured German guns.- Norman Kohlhepp Collection

Sentiments were divided in Louisville at the start of the war, with Courier-Journal editor Henry Watterson vehemently opposing the German and Austro-Hungarian Central Powers in his daily editorials; young men were whipped into a frenzy of volunteering at patriotic meetings.  But the local German-American community  and the German language newspaper the Louisville Anzeiger vocally supported Germany.  And much like “Branson,” the Irish chauffer on “Downton Abbey,” many Irish-American Louisvillians were more Anti-English than Pro-German, but also opposed the U. S.’s entry into the war.  The city was, however, united in May of 1917 when a German submarine torpedoed a Louisville-owned cargo ship owend by C. C. Mengel and Brothers.  Louisvillians flooded recruiting stations, German, Irish and otherwise.

Captain John Speed at Fountainebleau during World War I. The Speed Collection

AEF Field Artillery, 1917. The Speed Collection

Camp Taylor opened in 1917 and 150,000 men were trained there.  In addition the casualties of war visited upon the troops, 824 soldiers at the Camp died of the Spanish Flu when the disease struck in 1918.

Barn being burned to make way for the building of Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, KY, 1917

Camp Zachary Taylor under construction, 1917

Kentucky’s last World War I veteran, Robley Henry Rex of Louisville, passed away in 2009.

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Louisville’s Rich Baseball History

Posted in Famous Kentuckians, Then and Now on 01/11/2012 02:39 pm by Wes Pagles

This past week, as the weather took a turn for the warmer, it reminded me that spring will be upon us in a few short months.  With the entrance of spring comes a re-emergence of a different kind, the start of the baseball season with spring training.  Louisville may not be a spring training site, but in the history of Louisville baseball is intertwined.  Most people know that Louisville is home to Louisville Slugger, which has been making baseball bats for players for over 120 years.  But did you know there has been professional baseball played in Louisville since the 1870s?  First, the Louisville Grays played in the old National League from 1876 to 1878. Then the Louisville Eclipse, later known as the Louisville Colonels played in the American Association from 1882-1891 when the league disbanded and then in the National League until the team disbanded in 1899.  Four Hall of Famers played for that Eclipse/Colonels team including the great Honus Wagner, who in August 1899 while with the Colonels became the first player to steal second, third, and home in succession.  When the National League contracted from twelve teams to eight at the end of the 1899 season, Louisville was left without a professional team.

In 1901, the American Association was created as a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A classification.  Louisville was granted a team within this league with a familiar nickname, the Louisville Colonels.  The Colonels would play in the American Association for 61 years until the American Association disbanded in 1962.  Famous alums to come through Louisville on their way to the major leagues included Billy Herman, Earle Combs, Phil Niekro and Louisville’s own Pee Wee Reese.  In 1949 Louisville had two professional baseball teams as the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro League moved to Louisville in hopes of changing their fortunes with a new city.  Unfortunately, the team was not able to get the number of fans that were needed to sustain the team, so the team was disbanded in 1950.

In 1968 professional baseball made a return to Louisville as the Louisville Colonels of the International League came to the city.  This would be short lived however, as the team was forced to move in 1972 when the stadium they were using, Cardinal Stadium, was converted into a football stadium that was not conducive to baseball.  Notable players to come through Louisville during that time include Carlton Fisk, Luis Tiant, and Cecil Cooper.  Finally in 1982 the team that is now known as the Louisville Bats moved to Louisville.  Although the team has gone by different names due to its many affiliations with major league teams, the team has not changed.  Today, the people can go out to the ballpark in Louisville and see many of the players that will be playing in the majors in a short time.  Professional baseball has come back to Louisville, and hopefully this is where it will stay.  So the next time the weather is a bit warmer, grab a glove and ball and go outside for a little game of catch to get ready for another season of the sport that runs through the history of Louisville.

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Theatre Memorabilia Recently Cataloged in the Filson Archives

Posted in Browsing the Collections on 01/04/2012 09:14 pm by Shirley Harmon

Record for East Broadway theatre in Louisville, Ky. listing their film inventory distributed from the RKO Pictures.

Have you ever wondered what movies were popular with your grandparents or great-grandparents?  The Filson recently acquired two film distribution cards from RKO pictures that showcase what movies were being shown at two local theatres from 1928-1930. The Empire and the East Broadway Theatres were two of numerous theatres that were dotted across the city in the early 20th century.  While I couldn’t find any information on the Empire Theatre, I did find out some interesting tidbits about the East Broadway Theatre.  It was located at 816 E. Broadway and while it has ceased being a theatre since 1960 the building is still used today as an office supply store.  It’s more than likely that you may have shopped for office furniture on the very spot where vaudeville performers wowed Louisvillians.  The theatre was originally a vaudeville theatre, but later converted to motion pictures.  The RKO distribution card lists the films that played at the theatres.  Titles such as “Street Girl,”  “Rio Rita,” “Vagabond Lover,” and “Tanned Legs” conjure up scandalous images but in reality most of the films listed on the cards were comedy/musicals.  In fact “Vagabond Lover” was the first film of entertainer Rudy Vallee.  The cards also list the “shorts” that were shown at the theatres.  These include the Mickey McGuire shorts that starred  a young Mickey Rooney.

Record for Empire theatre in Louisville, Ky. listing their film inventory distributed from the RKO Pictures.

Louisville has historic ties with Hollywood.  The celebrated director and producer D.W. Griffith was born in 1875 at Crestwood in Oldham County, but his family moved to Louisville while he was a young boy.   Griffith went on to direct the controversial “Birth of A Nation” which is considered the first blockbuster. Incidentally the Filson has in its collections a broadside advertising the film’s opening in 1915.   It changed the format of motion pictures, which before the film was released most motion pictures were under one hour.  All of the films listed in the RKO cards were over one hour and one “Rio Rita” was 2 hours and 20 minutes.

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Fun Facts from Louisville, KY: The “Happy Birthday” Song

Posted in Uncategorized on 12/27/2011 09:57 pm by Kara Hennis

This photo is of the sheet music taken from an article in The Wall Street Journal published on Friday, June 12, 1981.

With the New Year approaching, many are looking forward to a fresh start; a rebirth if you will. As a music lover, a familiar tune comes to mind; “Happy Birthday To You.” While this song seems to have materialized out of thin air only to be ingrained in our heads from the time we begin to develop memories, its authors are actually native ‘Louisvillian’ sisters Patty Smith Hill and Mildred Hill. The song was even copyrighted in 1935 and the Hill sisters initiated multiple lawsuits involving its use. These days, according to Seigel and Cochran (2008), if you want to use the song in a television show, a movie, or a commercial it will cost you anywhere from $5,000-$30,000…yikes! Thankfully most of us just sing it for private occasions in which case it is free.

This photo pictures Mildred, Archie, and Patty Hill from left to right.

Now more popularly known as simply “Happy Birthday,” the song was originally adapted from the Hill sisters’ version of a song called “Good Morning To All.” It has been rumored that the sisters’ students eventually began to change the words to “happy birthday to you.” It was first published in a book entitled Children’s Praise and Worship in 1918.

Patty Hill, in particular, later went on to accomplish a great deal. Born on March 27, 1868, she first taught kindergarten in Louisville for 19 years before moving to New York. Eventually she became known as a pioneer in new methods regarding early childhood education and held a full professorship in Columbia University’s School of Education. The Filson Library contains various newspaper articles and other sources of information about Patty Hill in an Historical File entitled “Hill, Patty and Mildred.” There is also an article in the Filson Club History Quarterly written on Hill in Volume 31, Number 3. Additionally, the Filson Special Collections department houses the papers of Patty Smith Hill.

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