#RootsTechKY: Report from the RootsTech Family History Fair!

By: Cheri Daniels, KAO Editor and KHS Head of Reference Services Our first RootsTech Family History Fair is now a colorful and fun filled chapter of our programming history! As a very different type of Second Saturday*, the Kentucky Genealogical Society (KGS) and the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) took on a new …

Dennis and Diadamia Doram: A View of the American Dream

By: Julie Maio Kemper, Curator, Museum Collections & Exhibitions, Kentucky Historical Society Around a corner in the Kentucky Historical Society’s permanent exhibit, “A Kentucky Journey,” two portraits sit enclosed in a large glass case. These are the images of Dennis and Diadamia Doram, dated 1839.  Like many prosperous 19th century Kentuckians, the Dorams …

History Mystery: William B. Ogden Studio Negatives

Last week, the KHS Special Collections and Library team traveled to Winchester to host another Piecing Together History Event – hoping to connect photographs back to a community. The Studio Negatives Collection of photographer William B. Ogden consists of over 10,000 images. As a local photographer who traveled the region, …

History Mystery: Lab Coat Conundrum

KHS is looking to learn more about this image of seven African American men wearing lab coats on the steps of an unidentified building.  Photographed in 1934, and part of the Wolff, Gretter, Cusick and Hill Studios Negatives (Graphic 2), the original housing indicates that Geneva Howard requested this image …

Book Notes – Crawfish Bottom: Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community

Crawfish Bottom: Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community. By Douglas A. Boyd.  (2011.  Pp. 220.  $35.00.  Hardcover. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.  663 South Limestone Street, Lexington KY 40508-4008. www.kentuckypress.com) ISBN: 978-0-8131-3408-6. Review By: Mary Clay As a former resident of Craw (‘Craw’ or ‘The Bottom’ – we never called it ‘Crawfish …

History Mystery: Women’s Baseball Team 1934

Kentucky Historical Society staff would like to know more about this 1934 photograph showcasing the Union Underwear Company’s women’s baseball team.   The ten women are seen wearing “Union” t-shirts and are flanked by two men, possibly the team coaches. The image was probably taken in Frankfort, KY and is part …

Book Notes – Many-Storied House

Many-Storied House. By George Ella Lyon.  (2013.  Pp. 121.  $19.95.  Paper. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.  663 South Limestone Street, Lexington KY 40508-4008. www.kentuckypress.com) ISBN: 978-0-8131-4261-6. In this newest title by award winning author, George Ella Lyon, readers are transported back through time and family memories by way of poetry. …

History Mystery: Owensboro Family Christmas, 1951

‘Tis the Season to celebrate with family and friends! As many gather together this week to continue their family traditions, here is a family history mystery from the Owensboro/Daviess County area, circa 1951. As part of the Ohio River Portrait Project, Ida Mae Pruden contributed this lovely image of family …