Filson AddEvents

This exhibit is generously sponsored by Stock Yards Bank & Trust.
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Join the Filson Historical Society for the opening of From the Same Cloth: Textiles of the Ohio Valley, curated by Maureen Lane.

Each stitch in a quilt, coverlet, or sampler tells a story—a story of physical necessity, artistic expression, and cultural tradition. From the Same Cloth: Textiles of the Ohio Valley explores 250 years of textiles and the diverse narratives they share. Through historic and contemporary works, this exhibit reveals how fiber arts express identity, carry memories, and connect families across time. The pieces on display will represent our region’s many communities, cultures, eras, and styles. Highlights include a rare early 19th-century whitework quilt, a linen bedsheet woven by an enslaved craftsperson, a contemporary embroidered quilt documenting current events, and works from Appalachian fiber traditions. As our nation reflects on its 250-year history, we invite you to come experience that history woven into the rich fabric of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley.
The public opening reception will be held from 4:00-7:00 pm with short remarks starting at 5:15 pm. Refreshments will be available. All participants are encouraged to register in advance.

From the Same Cloth will be open to the public Monday-Friday 9:00-4:30 through April 16, 2027.

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Summer 1936: Rainey Bethea, a young Black man, is tried for the rape and murder of an elderly white woman. The all-white, all-male jury takes just four and a half minutes to find him guilty. Bethea is hanged near the banks of the Ohio River in Owensboro, Kentucky, with more than twenty thousand white people in attendance. The crowd turns the violent spectacle of Bethea’s hanging—the last documented public execution in the United States—into a brutal carnival.

Bethea’s story came to author Sonya Lea through her family, and it is through her family that she reckons with its truths. American Bloodlines combines memoir with reportage and cultural criticism to interrogate and complicate the traditional narrative about how lynch culture is created in families, communities, and institutions. The essays in this collection grapple with our complicity in these atrocities—including the agreement in our silences—and demonstrate how we, as descendants, might take responsibility and bring new scrutiny to ancestral and communal crimes.

Sonya Lea is the author of the memoir Wondering Who You Are, which garnered praise from Oprah Magazine, People, and the BBC. She teaches at workshops and creates writing retreats in the US and Canada. Her essays have appeared in Salon, Southern Review, Guernica, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Ms. magazine, among others.

The Filson is pleased to welcome Nikki Lanier, JD, founder and CEO of Harper Slade Advisors and former senior vice president, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as our special guest interviewer.

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Nestled in the mountains, in an out-of-the-way part of rural America, the fictional town of Mosely is home to ordinary people: proud, compassionate, and complex. Tore All to Pieces is a fragmented novel that delves into the lives of Appalachian characters with similar struggles, backgrounds, and experiences and examines how people are often lonely despite these connections. Each narrative, presented in the form of a poem or short story, bends and weaves like the roads of Appalachia.

At a time when the rights of queer individuals, women, and people of color are increasingly under threat, this work powerfully reaffirms the humanity and significance of marginalized people. Tore All to Pieces underscores their enduring presence and rightful belonging.

Join the Filson for a celebration of Pride Month and an interview with Mr. Carver, followed by a talk-back session with the author and representatives from LGBTQ+ organizations throughout the Commonwealth about our shared experiences.

Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. is an Appalachian author, advocate, educator, and past Kentucky Teacher of the Year. His writing has appeared in a number of publications, including Appalachian Journal, the Louisville Review, Southern Humanities, Good River Review, and Salvation South. His debut collection, Gay Poems for Red States, was featured on Good Morning America and named a Book Riot Best Book, a Top Ten Over the Rainbow Book by the American Library Association, and a Whippoorwill Honor Book. A Stonewall Honor award recipient, Carver lives with his husband and three cats in rural Kentucky.

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For the second year, the Filson’s research fellowships have been directed into a one-week immersive program designed to spark innovation, foster connections, and drive impactful research on topics related to the history and culture of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley – the Filson Institute. The Institute seeks a diverse array of eras, topics, voices, and methodologies to create a thought-provoking and inclusive cohort. This year’s theme reflects the Filson’s approach and engagement with America250: E Pluribus Unum, La Belle Rivière, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Join us at the Filson for a public roundtable on June 26 at noon where the Institute cohort will share findings and discuss their relevance to contemporary regional and national issues.

The Filson Institute 2026 cohort includes:
Dr. Pippa Holloway, University of Richmond
Dr. Kelly Hopkins, University of Houston
Dhananjaya Premauden, University of Pennsylvania
Andrew Washburn, University of Cincinnati
Dr. Cassandra Jane Werking, Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology and Culinary Institute of America

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The Filson is excited to welcome members of the touring cast of Hamilton for a talk-back discussion of their experiences on the road, portraying historically inspired characters, and contemporary audience reactions to this groundbreaking work. Join us as the exclusive host for a cast-led chat that will be sure to elevate our discourse around the founding-era and the 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence.

The program will be followed by an optional lunch which can be purchased with your ticket.

Timeline
Program: 10:30-11:30 pm
Lunch: Noon-1:30 pm

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In Spring 2026, Ohio Valley History journal will feature a collection of thought-provoking articles on the future of Lincoln in American historical scholarship, popular culture, and memory. To commemorate this special issue of the journal, the Filson Historical Society will convene a roundtable discussion with leading experts and authors. We invite you to join eminent Civil War historians Kenneth Noe, Brian Matthew Jordan, and Kevin Waite.  
 
A reception featuring cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres will follow the discussion.

Tickets for this event will go on sale June 1, 2026.

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How should we remember George Washington’s entanglement in slavery? Americans have argued over that question for nearly 250 years. More than any other Founding Father, Washington’s ties to slavery have vexed us. He enslaved more people than any of his fellow founders, yet he was the only one of them to emancipate the people he held in bondage. Since his death, Americans have grappled with this contradiction, shaping and reshaping our collective memory of Washington and slavery—along with our understanding of the nation.

In Thy Will Be Done, historian John Garrison Marks tells the story of Americans’ long, fraught struggle to come to terms with Washington’s legacy of slavery. He traces how politicians, abolitionists, educators, activists, Washington’s former slaves and their descendants, and others have remembered, forgotten, and manipulated slavery’s place in Washington’s story, and how they have wielded versions of that story in the political and cultural fights of their time. Marks shows how generational struggles over our collective memory of Washington and slavery have always been part of a bigger conversation about defining the United States and its people. As debates about the founders’ participation in the system of slavery continue to roil public discourse, Marks shows with new clarity that Americans have never collectively reconciled Washington’s conflicted legacy. By truly grappling with Washington’s role as enslaver and emancipator, we may come to better understand the nation and ourselves.

John Garrison Marks is a historian, writer, and author of Black Freedom in the Age of Slavery.