Piecing Together History: The Kentucky Bourbon Industry

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Please join the Kentucky Historical Society for a community Knowledge Sharing open house celebrating The Kentucky Bourbon Industry!

  • When: Saturday, November 29, 2014: 10:00 a.m. - Noon
  • Where: Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) will host a free knowledge-sharing community event in Frankfort, Ky., on Saturday, November 29, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. until noon. Attendees are invited to view photographs from the KHS Collections featuring various distilleries and the distilling process during the first half of the twentieth century. The “Piecing Together History” event will be at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, Martin F. Schmidt Research Library, 100 W. Broadway.

For this event, KHS will select some of the most complex images we have featuring the distilling process. We need the public’s help in improving the descriptive information about the photographs. Our hope is that local experts, distilling aficionados, and Bourbon connoisseurs will attend to share their knowledge about the detailed process of distilling Bourbon in Kentucky. Selected images needing identification will include employees, equipment, and activities, but we are also interested in learning more about the social traditions unique to the various companies such as parades, car and horse races, and company baseball teams. Some of the distilleries featured in these photos include: Old Taylor, Labrot & Graham, Old Dignity, Old Joe, Stagg, Old Crow, Old Fitzgerald, O.F.C.

The images from various collections have been digitized and cataloged and are available for researchers during and after the event. To view any part of the collection, visit kyhistory.com and search for “Bourbon Industry.” People who cannot attend the Nov. 29th event can submit image-specific information using the comments section at the bottom of each online image. Anyone with a specific question about the photographs should contact the KHS Reference Desk at 502-564-1792, ext. 4460, or KHSrefdesk@ky.gov.