Kentucky Historical Society

10/23/2026

Many thanks to all of the families and homeschool groups who participated in our Homeschool History Day: Building the Bluegrass. It was a beautiful day filled with lots of activity and hands-on history. We hope to see you again soon.

Consider becoming a member of KHS and receive updates on future programming:
https://history.ky.gov/participate/join

10/22/2026

Every quilt tells a story. This one was a gift of love, stitched together one piece at a time. 🧵

In December 1975, Lucile Van Cleve Wallace (1895–1992) gave her daughter, Lysbeth, a remarkable handmade crazy quilt for Christmas. Made from a colorful assortment of velvets, silks, cottons, and other fabrics, the quilt features intricate embroidery, beads, sequins, and decorative stitching. Lucile even embroidered a personal dedication along its border: “For Lysbeth / Dec. 1975.”

The quilt's history was preserved through a notebook titled The Story of the Quilt and a handwritten note accompanying the original Christmas card.

Now, this treasured family keepsake, part of the Kentucky Historical Society's collection, is on loan to the Headley-Whitney Museum of Art for its new exhibition, Storied Quilts.

We're delighted to share this little piece of Kentucky history and the story of a mother's gift to her daughter.

🧵 Learn more about the exhibition in Headley-Whitney Museum of Art's post below!

UPCOMING EVENTS THIS WEEKEND

Saturday, October 24 at 11 am
Victoria Faoro, Gallery Talk
about the Storied Quilts exhibit with the Founding Director of the National Quilt Museum
$10 admission includes viewing the exhibit

Sunday, October 25 at 2 pm
Kid's Create Event
Color a Log Cabin quilt and
make a Nine-Square card
$5 per child

Featured here:
Crazy Quilt by Lucille Wallace 1975, aunt of Governor Edward T. Breathitt
On loan from the Kentucky Historical Society

10/22/2026

“I’m able to vote, other women are able to vote now, and that’s partly because of Madge.”

Madeline “Madge” McDowell Breckinridge was a determined leader in Kentucky’s woman suffrage movement. Despite living with bone tuberculosis and losing a leg, she helped secure Kentucky’s ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Madge lived long enough to cast her first vote later that year, but died only weeks afterward.

Her name is among more than 200 found on the Coming Home Kentucky Women’s Quilt. Inspired by the richly embellished crazy quilts of the Victorian era, its colorful patchwork, buttons and hands of varying skin tones honor the diverse women who helped shape the Commonwealth. Each name represents a remarkable story and a legacy that continues to affect Kentuckians today.

Kentucky History Treasures are produced by WTVQ.

Find your place in history at history.ky.gov.

https://youtu.be/V0_f9ORrF2c

This quilt known as the "Coming Home: Kentucky Women Quilt" contain...

10/21/2026

Homeschool families, ready to BUILD some history? 🔨🎨

This Friday, October 23, bring your young inventors, artists, and explorers to Homeschool History Day: Building the Bluegrass!

Discover 250 years of Kentucky ingenuity through hands-on activities, creative challenges, and special tours across the KHS campus.

Less sitting. More doing. A whole lot of history!

Celebrate 250 years of Kentucky innovation with us! Delve into the accomplishments of Bluegrass builders and artists with Learning Labs, tours, and activities at the Kentucky History Center and Museums. Create your own invention, design a frontier community, try old-fashioned art techniques, and so....

10/20/2026

What happens when efforts to stop violence create more violence?

By the closing years of the Civil War, Kentucky leaders faced persistent guerrilla warfare across the state. Their response included increasingly aggressive efforts to hunt down and eliminate those responsible.

At Civil War History Day, historian Matthew C. Hulbert, Elliott Associate Professor of History at Hampden-Sydney College, examined those policies and their consequences.

In Death in the Blue Grass: The Bloody Trial and Error of Union Guerrilla Hunting Policies in Kentucky, Hulbert explores how state leaders unleashed forces they could not always control as they attempted to suppress guerrilla violence late in the war.

It’s a complicated story of violence, authority, and unintended consequences in Civil War Kentucky.

🎥

10/16/2026

“Here in Kentucky, we still use the infrastructure that they built.”

During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps provided employment and training to young men while improving public lands. Known as the “Tree Army,” CCC crews planted forests, built roads and trails, installed telephone and power lines, developed parks and assisted communities following the devastating 1937 flood.

More than 40 Kentucky counties hosted a CCC camp or benefited from its work. This tapestry from the KHS collections depicts a typical camp, complete with barracks, roads, fences and rows of trees. Today, Kentuckians continue to walk trails, visit parks, and use infrastructure created by those young men nearly a century ago.

Kentucky History Treasures are produced by WTVQ.

Find your place in history at history.ky.gov.

https://youtu.be/DmgYkZraHKQ

This is a woven wall hanging depicting a Kentucky Civilian Conserva...

10/15/2026

Future inventors, artists, architects, and history makers wanted! 🔨🎨

Homeschool families, we've got a full day of hands-on history planned for you on October 23.

🏛️ Create the Capitol! Discover architecture and try your hand at building.
💡 Innovative Inventors: Explore the ingenuity behind inventions and get creative with your own ideas.
🎨 Paint Like Paul: Try watercolor painting inspired by Kentucky artist Paul Sawyier.
⚒️ Art of the Powder Horn: Explore the decorative artistry of an important early American object.
🏗️ Plaster Master: Discover historic building techniques at the Old State Capitol.

Plus, explore our Revolution to Statehood exhibition, visit the Kentucky Military History Museum, and discover even more activities throughout the day!

📅 Friday, Oct. 23 | 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
📍 Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort
🎟️ $5 | Children 5 and under FREE
👨‍👩‍👧 Suggested for preschool through middle school, but all ages welcome!

Some activities have limited capacity and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Bring your imagination. We've got 250 years of Kentucky ingenuity to explore!

See the full schedule and plan your visit:

Celebrate 250 years of Kentucky innovation with us! Delve into the accomplishments of Bluegrass builders and artists with Learning Labs, tours, and activities at the Kentucky History Center and Museums. Create your own invention, design a frontier community, try old-fashioned art techniques, and so....

10/15/2026

In the 1830s, the Whig Party rose up to challenge the Democratic Party, leading both groups to use innovative tactics to attract voters. On October 26, 1842, the Whigs organized a massive barbecue, which was held on the lawn of the Old State Capitol (OSC).

The gathering offered several resolutions in favor of Henry Clay for president in the upcoming contest of 1844. A stage was erected on the steps of the OSC. Governor Thomas Metcalfe, who helped organize the affair, spoke briefly, but the highlight of the festivities was an address delivered by Henry Clay.

Whether or not barbecue played a role, the Whigs won the state of Kentucky in five straight presidential elections: 1836 (Harrison), 1840 (Harrison), 1844 (Clay), 1848 (Taylor), and 1852 (Scott).

(KHS, 1987.30.290)
https://kyhistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/1FB179BE-1D1D-4D52-B544-996032167620

10/14/2026

No ghosts required. Kentucky history is spooky enough. 🕯️

This October, step inside the Old State Capitol after dark for Machinations, Murder, and Mystery—Oh My!, a low-light nighttime tour exploring some of Kentucky’s darker stories.

Revengeful star-crossed lovers. A gang whose explosions and threats rattled Frankfort. Murder on the Capitol grounds. Two deaths on the Senate floor. And Victorian mourning and funeral practices that might leave modern visitors feeling a little...uncomfortable.

It’s an evening of grisly facts, strange traditions, and stories that take on a decidedly different atmosphere after the lights go down.

📅 Oct. 16, 23 & 30 | 7–8:30 p.m.
📍 Old State Capitol, Frankfort
🎟️ Pre-registration required by 5 p.m. the day before your tour
⚠️ Content may not be suitable for small children.

Choose your night and reserve your spot:
https://history.ky.gov/events/haunted-by-history-3

The Old State Capitol has seen more than legislation.

Machinations, Murder, and Mystery—Oh My! Join KHS at the Old State Capitol for a low-light, nighttime tour of the “darker side” of Kentucky history. Dive into notorious tales that include revengeful star-crossed lovers doomed to tragedy, the John Fallis gang whose explosions and rebellious thr...