Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Add Our Events to Your Calendar

Please see below for details and descriptions of upcoming events at the Filson.  All event times are in EST or EDT depending on the season.  Click here to register and pay for programs, tickets are required. Filson members will need to log in to access the member pricing for events.  Many of our past events can be viewed on the Filson YouTube Channel.  If you have any issues with registering via our ticketing solution please call (502) 635-5083.

Recent Filson events have regularly been reaching our capacity limits.  If members or non-members wish to attend an event please register beforehand.  We cannot guarantee a space for walk ups on the day of the lecture.  


Creators Who Helped Cast, and Creations That Helped Shape, Kentucky’s Quilt Mystique

Date: November 30, 2023
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville
Linda LaPinta author photo_enlarged (1)

Cost: Free for members, $15 for non-members

Linda Elisabeth LaPinta’s Kentucky Quilts and Quiltmakers: Three Centuries of Creativity, Community, and Commerce constitutes a comprehensive social and material history of the powerful and pivotal women (as well as a few men) who helped shape Kentucky’s quilt mystique. Although LaPinta will mention a few quilt patterns and styles, the focus of her presentation is not quiltmaking or collecting; rather it is tales of the innovative and entrepreneurial personalities who conceived the seminal and groundbreaking exhibitions and institutions that have positioned Kentucky in the forefront of the quilt world. LaPinta will also discuss commonwealth quilt achievements in the context of critical national quilt realm milestones.

Linda Elisabeth LaPinta earned her B.A. in English literature, English composition, and oral history from Beloit College; her M.A. in journalism from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; her M.A.T. in English from the University of Louisville; and her doctoral degree in leadership from Spalding University. After working in oral history, social service, and editing positions, LaPinta served as a tenured professor of English and journalism at Elizabethtown Community College and Midway College prior to assuming successive roles as chair of the Adult Accelerated Program and director of the doctoral program in leadership at Spalding University. Under her maiden name, Beattie, she published four previous books with the University Press of Kentucky.

David A. Jones, Always Moving Forward: A Memoir of Friends, Family, and Building Humana

Date: December 7, 2023
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville
DavidJones 26JN copy 2

Cost: Free for members, $15 for non-members.

In 1961, David Jones and another young lawyer borrowed $1,000 each to build a nursing home. That modest investment turned into Humana, which grew first into the largest nursing home company in the U.S., then the largest hospital corporation, and today one of the nation’s largest health insurance and integrated care companies. David A. Jones, Always Moving Forward is the autobiography of the Humana co-founder, depicting his profound impact on American healthcare as well as his love and engagement for his hometown.

And it is an entrepreneur’s account of seeing things that are not there yet, adapting to change that has not begun yet. In a conversation led by University of Louisville professor and futurist Dr. Nat Irvin, David A. Jones, Jr., will discuss his father’s seemingly unparalleled capacity to assess and make decisions with great rapidity … often with an innate sense of anticipation.

And ultimately, they will explore how David Jones’ unflinching ability to innovate translates into the business and entrepreneurial spirit – and challenges – of 2023.

Recognizing that entrepreneurs “between the coasts” are too often overlooked by venture capitalists, David A. Jones, Jr., co-founded Chrysalis Ventures in Louisville in 1993. That same year, his father’s company Humana exited its industry-leading hospital business, reinventing itself as an insurer, and David joined Humana’s board to help guide the transition. He served on the board for 30 years, until the spring of 2023, and was chair from 2005 to 2010.

Author, innovator, futurist, teacher, composer and former radio and television commentator, Nat Irvin, II, serves as Assistant Dean of Thought Leadership and Civic Engagement, and Woodrow M. Strickler Chair, Professor of Management Practice, University of Louisville, College of Business. He teaches graduate courses in the future of management, executive leadership, team dynamics, and Spirituality & Principles of Self Discovery.

Jazz at the Filson: A Holiday Jazz Party

Date: December 17, 2023
Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St. Louisville
Image of Owsley Brown III. Event Jazz at the Filson. Words written on image state "Sold Out".

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT.

Cost: $30 for members, $35 for non-members.

Jazz at the Filson is a three-part series of jazz presentations directed and curated by internationally recognized vibraphonist and composer Dick Sisto. Sisto, the music director at Old Seelbach Bar from the late 1980s through 2010, studied with Chicago Symphony mallet maestro Jose Bethancourt and later with Vibe Master Gary Burton.

The last in the three-part series, the Holiday Jazz Party will feature songs by Tony Bennett played by the original Dick Sisto Seelbach Trio, the Tri-Tones, made up of Sisto, Tyrone Wheeler on bass, and Jason Tiemann on drums. The Tri-tones played at the Old Seelbach Bar during happy hour and late-night shows five days a week, along with a weekend guest program. The trio will be joined by jazz vocalist and longtime friend, Owsley Brown III, on a few select tin pan alley classic standards. In addition, the trio will feature many of the selections that were a mainstay at the Old Seelbach Jazz Bar. Songs of Love and Peace will prevail and make for warm a holiday party.

The Thomas Bullitt Survey Expedition, 1773

Date: January 4, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Virtual Options)
Image of reenactors at Locust Grove.

Appearing in correct period attire as a frontier surveyor, Dennis Medley will give a PowerPoint presentation covering the first official expedition to survey lands in Kentucky. This expedition was authorized by Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, in an effort to begin securing Kentucky lands for settlement and expansion of the Virginia Colony.  The presentation covers the native treaties, historical background, and details of the expedition as told from the journals of actual participants.   Medley will have original 18th century surveying instruments on display for viewing and examination.

Dennis Medley is a historical re-enactor and researcher who is currently focused on the Kentucky frontier period, with an emphasis on frontier surveying.  He is founder of Fincastle County Surveyors, an 18th Century re-enacting group, currently supporting historical events in the eastern United States.  In the modern period, Dennis is the CEO of PMC Regional Hospital, located in New Albany, IN.  His office is located on Grant Line Road in New Albany, which is the western boundary of the land grant surveyed by Gen. George Rodgers Clark for his former regiments.

Film Screening: By Parties Unknown

Date: January 11, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)
Poster for By Parties Unknown a PBS documentary.

So many stories of people who met their end at the hands of a mob have gone untold. By Parties Unknown is a documentary film that explores one particular story of the violent lynching of four Black men in Russellville, Kentucky in 1908 after they were singled out for supporting their friend, Rufus Browder who shot and killed his foreman in self-defense.  This lynching occurred during a time when there existed a heightened awareness of unchecked mob violence in the South and against the backdrop of a black community that was committed to being treated as equals.

Seeking to understand the cultural and social context of the time period, By Parties Unknown highlights the events and the cultural climate surrounding the lynching through the perspective of Michael Morrow, community scholar and Executive Director of the SEEK Museum (Struggles for Emancipation and Equality in Kentucky), who has spent the better part of his life researching and tracking down as many details of the case as he can in order to chronicle and share the story for present and future generations.

By Parties Unknown presents Michael’s story along with the story of Rufus Browder, John Jones, Virgil Jones, John Boyer, and Joe Riley in hopes to achieve Michael’s goal; to foster and nurture open and honest conversations about mob violence and racism in communities around the country.

The Coal Miner Who Became Governor

Date: January 18, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Virtual Options)
Patton_Coal Miner_Final cvr for publ

Born in a tenant house in Fallsburg, Kentucky, Paul Patton had a humble upbringing that held few clues about his future as one of the most prominent politicians in the history of the state. From the coal mines to the governor’s office, Patton’s life exemplifies hard work, determination, and perseverance, as well as the consequences of personal mistakes.

In The Coal Miner Who Became Governor, Patton, with Jeffrey S. Suchanek, details his personal, professional, and political life in Kentucky, starting with his career in the coal industry. After working for his father-in-law, J. C. Cooley, in the 1950s, he partnered with his brother-in-law to establish their own coal company, which they sold for millions in 1978. Patton leveraged his business connections into a political career, raising money for Democratic candidates before becoming the chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. He first took elected office in 1981 as Pike County judge/executive; he then served a term as lieutenant governor (1991–1995), followed by an unprecedented two consecutive terms as governor. His overhaul of higher education in Kentucky led to his role as the University of Pikeville’s president and chancellor, even after his political career.

In this compelling account, Patton reveals the decision-making process for campaign strategies, selection of running mates, postsecondary education and workers’ compensation reforms, early childhood development initiatives, and attempts at tax reform. He gives his unfiltered opinion about Mitch McConnell’s “scorched-earth political philosophy” and how it has failed Kentucky, and he draws connections between public policy and party machinations during his time in office and the present day. He also addresses his fall from grace—his extramarital affair with Tina Conner and its effects on his personal and professional life.

Paul E. Patton served as the fifty-ninth governor of Kentucky, from 1995 to 2003.

Jeffrey S. Suchanek is the senior oral historian for the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky and the author of “Star-Spangled Hearts”: American Women Veterans of World War II and Time On Target: The World War II Memoir of William R. Buster.

The Hidden 1980s Series: Pop Culture in the Reagan Era

Date: January 25, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Virtual Options)
Image of Dr. Dan Gifford. White man with brown hair in a blue sweater.

This event is part of the Filson’s year-long 140th Anniversary Celebration.

What can some of the 1980s biggest hit movies and television shows tell us about the conservatism of the Reagan Era? While pop culture and politics may seem like separate spheres, each has always influenced the other, especially during the 1980s. We will revisit iconic bits of 80s popular media in order to see how America was dramatically shifting over the course of the decade.  Discover how in many ways we are still living in a world created by 1980s television and film.

Daniel Gifford, Ph.D. is a public historian who focuses on American popular and visual culture, as well as museums in American culture. He received his PhD from George Mason University in 2011. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Filson Historical Society, and his career spans both academia and public history, including several years with the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of American Holiday Postcards 1905-1915: Imagery and Context (2013) and The Last Voyage of the Whaling Bark Progress: New Bedford, Chicago and the Twilight of an Industry (2020). He is currently working on his third book, which explores the founding era of the Filson Historical Society, 1884-1899.

The Gertrude Polk Brown Lecture Series – King: A Life

Date: January 30, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Kentucky Center - Bomhard Theater; 501 W. Main St., Louisville
King – cover art

Thank you to our sponsors: Dace Brown Stubbs, Marshall Farrer, Dace Polk Brown, Laura Lee Brown, Garvin Deters, Polk Deters, Laura Lee Gastis, Garvin Brown IV, and Campbell Brown.

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.

In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.

Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Ali: A Life, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season. Ken Burns calls him “a master storyteller,” and Eig’s books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington PostChicago TribuneSports Illustrated, and Slate.

The Hidden 1980s Series: Pop Music in the Reagan Era

Date: February 8, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society
Image of Dr. Dan Gifford. White man with brown hair in a blue sweater.

This event is part of the Filson’s year-long 140th Anniversary Celebration.

Pop music, and especially the launch of music videos into the mainstream, turned out to be a futile battleground for messages about gender, sexuality, and race. Revisit iconic 80s music and music videos to discover a constantly-swinging pendulum between the transgressive and the conservative. We trace genres of music through the 1980s to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dawn of global music genre fueled by American artists, nightlife, and subcultures.

Daniel Gifford, Ph.D. is a public historian who focuses on American popular and visual culture, as well as museums in American culture. He received his PhD from George Mason University in 2011. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Filson Historical Society, and his career spans both academia and public history, including several years with the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of American Holiday Postcards 1905-1915: Imagery and Context (2013) and The Last Voyage of the Whaling Bark Progress: New Bedford, Chicago and the Twilight of an Industry (2020). He is currently working on his third book, which explores the founding era of the Filson Historical Society, 1884-1899.

Theodore Sedgwick Distinguished Lecture Series – The Court at War: FDR, His Justices, and the World They Made

Date: February 12, 2024
Time: 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)
The Court At War by Cliff Sloan – cover artwork

Presented by the University of Louisville’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute in collaboration with the Filson Historical Society.

By the summer of 1941, in the ninth year of his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt had molded his Court. He had appointed seven of the nine justices—the most by any president except George Washington—and handpicked the chief justice. But the wartime Roosevelt court had two faces. One was bold and progressive, the other supine and abject, cowed by the charisma of the revered president. In his new book The Court at War, Georgetown University Law Center Professor Cliff Sloan explores this pivotal period and shares the inside story of how one president altered the most powerful legal institution in the country, with consequences that endure today. In an instructive tale for modern times, Sloan discusses the cast of characters that made up the justices—from the mercurial, Vienna-born intellectual Felix Frankfurter to the Alabama populist Hugo Black, and from the western prodigy William O. Douglas, FDR’s initial pick to be his running mate in 1944, to Roosevelt’s former attorney general and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson.

Cliff Sloan is a professor of constitutional law and criminal justice at Georgetown University Law Center.  He has argued before the Supreme Court seven times.  He has served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, and is the author of The Court at War: FDR, His Justices, and the World They Made and The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court.

The event will begin with a reception at 4:30 pm followed by the lecture at 5:30 pm.