User:Wrdclass263/Kentucky Historical Society

== The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) was originally established in 1836 as a private organization. [1]It is an agency of the Kentucky state government that records and preserves important historical documents, buildings, and artifacts of Kentucky's past. The KHS history campus, located in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, includes the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Old State Capitol, and the Kentucky Military History Museum at the State Arsenal. KHS is a part of the Kentucky Tourism-Arts and Heritage Cabinet, is fully accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian affiliate, and endorses the History Relevance statement. The mission of KHS is to educate and engage the public through Kentucky’s history in order to confront the challenges of the future. [2]The KHS allows the public access to their resources through the online Library catalog along with the in-person Library.Lead ==

The Effects
Along with all of the documents and pieces the KHS contains within its buildings, the KHS also stretches further then that to every corner of Kentucky. [3]For instance, “Keeping ‘Mayberry’ Alive: How This Kentucky Town Is Preserving Its Historic Architecture” is a newspaper article written by The Courier Journal. The article's purpose is to help the public understand what was happening to a town in Shelbyville, Kentucky and why it was making a difference. Shelbyville's historical district contains hundreds of buildings, but one in particular being the historic Old Shelbyville Post Office. The Post Office caught fire in 2019 and that fire could’ve destroyed the whole building but it was luckily caught fast enough. The people of Shelbyville pooled a lot of money together to be able to preserve the history of that building and others in the town not just because of the architectural history’s importance but also the importance of the memories of history that occurred in that building. The buildings and experiences that happened in the past in these Historical Districts are a major part of what the Society preserves.

[4]The KHS also took part in an important moment that happened in 2020, the removal of the John B. Castleman Statue in Louisville, Kentucky. In an article written by USA Today, titled “Louisville’s controversial Castleman statue becomes latest Confederate relic to be removed”, it made a statement to the public and Kentucky’s history. In June of 2020 the statue was removed from its location in Louisville’s Cherokee Triangle because of the controversy behind the background of the statue’s figure. The statue was commissioned in memory of John B. Castleman. Castleman played a large role in not just Kentucky’s history, but the history of the United States. Castleman was a Confederate officer during the American Civil war, that connection to the statue in Louisville was the reason for its controversial removal. But, even though Castleman did not have a positive past, he did play a positive role in the American Saddlebred Horse Association as he was one of the founders and served as a president for many years after that. He is pictured on the statue on an American Saddlebred Horse, and pending the removal, there was uncertainty as to where it would go. The statue is a display of Kentucky’s history in more than one context of who Castleman was but also it is still a part of our history and the Kentucky Historical Society recognizes as important.

[5]The Kentucky Derby Museum is also a major part of the Kentucky Historical Society because horse racing is a big part of Kentucky’s history. This museum is able to capture all of the memorabilia and history of the greatest two minutes in sports. The Derby museum was first constructed in 1985 and has attracted many people each year to inform them about a major part of Kentucky’s history. The Register has information within some of its articles that contains information that the museum also contains. The KHS is able to take all of these parts of Kentucky's history and more and put it together for all of the public to have access to.

The Register
[6]The Register is a scholarly journal published by the KHS. It was first published in 1903 and has been continuously posted since then. The articles contain documents and information about Kentucky’s history. It is relevant to the history of Kentucky but also includes major global events. Jennie Chinn Molton founded the Register and became the Register’s first editor. Since then, many people have been able to edit the Register and today’s editors include Dr. Karida Brown, Dr. Anya Jabour, Dr. Joseph Pearson, and Dr. Fay Yarbrough. All of the articles are available to the public. The Register includes the work of leading scholars on the commonwealth while also being widely accessible to general readers.

Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History
The Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History is the headquarters for the KHS. A multimillion-dollar museum and research facility, the center features both permanent and temporary exhibitions, a research library, and a gift shop.

The center contains an exhibition called "A Kentucky Journey" that covers the period from prehistoric times to the present. The center also contains the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library. The Library is a genealogical and historical research library, researchers can access books, manuscripts, graphic collections, and oral histories documenting the people and places of Kentucky's rich past. Families and historians can trace back genealogies and consult with professional staff. Along with that, it also contains the Keeneland Changing Exhibits Gallery for various temporary exhibitions – some examples of which include "Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky's Abraham Lincoln" and "Made to be Played: Traditional Art of Kentucky Luthiers." Within the center there is a gift shop, the gift shop is called the Stewart Home & School 1792 Museum Store.

Old State Capitol
The Old State Capitol & Public Grounds, a National Historic Landmark, served as Kentucky's capital from 1830 to 1910 and was the setting for lively political debates as lawmakers grappled with such issues of the day as slavery and war. Today it is restored to the way it looked in the early 1850s and contains pieces original to that time. A young Gideon Shryock, the state’s first native-born professionally trained architect, designed this Greek Revival building. It is the third one to have served as Kentucky’s seat of government.

[1]The Old State Capitol was not the only place to have held the KHS. The Society began in 1836 by some of Kentucky's prominent young men. The men received funding from the General Assembly to begin the society and lead it into the future. The society met from 1836 until 1889, but after that time, the society did not meet for seven years. With the revival of the society in 1896, it brought their new location at the Old State Capitol. That location was only the site of the KHS for a few years as it became clear to the Society that their collections were too large for that space.

With the need for more space that the Old State Capitol could not provide, the new construction of the Kentucky Historical Center opened to the public in 1999. Today the Old State Capitol is still a part of the KHS but is displayed as a museum of past government debates.

Kentucky Military History Museum
Built in 1850, the State Arsenal contains the Kentucky Military History Museum, which illustrates military history using personal stories and artifacts; the first location of the State Arsenal burnt down in 1836. It is a fortress-like building that overlooks downtown Frankfort. [7]The Arsenal was converted into a museum in 1974 after contributing much to the Civil War and the National Guard. The museum is also a member of the Army Museum System.

Martin F. Schmidt Research Library
Located on the second floor of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Martin F. Schmidt Research Library holds the largest genealogical collection in the state. This research facility features more than 16,000 rolls of microfilm, 90,000 books and periodicals, and 30,000 vertical files focused primarily on Kentucky history and genealogy. The Society's Archival Collections of 1,900 cubic feet of manuscripts, 2,000 maps, 8,000 oral histories, 200,000 historic photographs, and 9,100 rare books provide resources to researchers of the Commonwealth. [2]The Library is available to the public online through the KHS digital search website and there is also in-person access to the documents and articles that the society contains. The Register is a part of this catalog and this digital version makes it and all of the other resources that the Library contains, very accessible.

Other Resources
Members of the public can purchase memberships to the Kentucky historical Society. The memberships purchased support the efforts of the KHS and give members the benefit of free admission to the history campus and reduced admission prices to the Society's events and programs. The KHS is administered by an executive committee and supported by the KHS Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization (nonprofit). [1]There are also options to visit the society in a guided group tour, self-guided touring, or virtual touring. Prices range from $5 to $75 depending of the type of tour chosen.

The KHS is home to the major digital humanities project, the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition (CWGK). Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the CWGK is a "freely-accessible online collection of historical documents associated with the chief executives of the state, 1860–1865" that seeks to reconstruct "the lost lives and voices of tens of thousands of Kentuckians who interacted with the office of the governor during the war years" through some 40,000 related documents. After an early access version was published, the work of the CWGK was celebrated in a June 2017 symposium that featured a keynote by renowned historian and digital humanist Edward L. Ayers. Later that same year, in August 2017, the CWGK's annotation tech was featured at the international Digital Humanities 2017 conference in Montreal, Canada.

The KHS has a variety of facilities available for rent, including the Commonwealth Hall, conference rooms, and the Cralle-Day Garden. There are seven different places in total that the Society provides for renting. The places could be rented for small or large occasions.