Upcoming Events

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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.

Sovereign Nations, American Citizens: 100 Years of Indian Citizenship

Date: November 19, 2024

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)

Navy & White Modern business Conference Poster

Presented in partnership with Historic Locust Grove.

Sponsored by Kentucky Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In June of 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Act granting universal US citizenship to Native American individuals. While some Native American individuals celebrated this civil rights achievement, others felt divided by a forced dual identity as both a citizen of their Tribal Nation and the United States. Reflecting on the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act provides an opportunity to broaden our understanding of Native American rights, past and present, and to examine the unique challenges faced by Indigenous communities in the United States today.

Our esteemed panelists, each bringing their unique perspectives as Native individuals, will engage in a crucial dialogue on the complexities, challenges, and enduring importance of Indigenous sovereignty within the United States. This event promises to be a powerful exploration of what it means to be a citizen of a sovereign tribal nation and a citizen of the United States.

Brandie Macdonald (she/her) is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with ancestral ties to the Choctaw nation. She is the Executive Director of Indiana University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Her work focuses on systemic change in museums through the implementation of anti-colonial and decolonial theory-in-practice, which centers truth-telling, accountability, and tangible change to redress colonial harm.

Dr. Liza Black is an Associate Professor of History and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Indiana University. She is the author of How to Get Away with Murder: A Transnational History of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirits (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025). Dr. Black is a citizen of Cherokee Nation (there are two other Cherokee Nations, hence she drops “the”).

Logan York is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and serves as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, a position responsible for the protection and preservation of culturally significant properties of concern to Myaamiaki (Miami people) and their history.

Panel will be moderated by Raina Melvin, a citizen of the Comanche Nation and Program Director at Historic Locust Grove.

History Inspires Showcase featuring John Akre and Zed Saeed

Date: December 5, 2024

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)

Image of John Akre (left) and Zed Saeed (right)

Join us for an evening of history inspired creativity in the second part of our series showcasing the Filson’s History Inspires Fellowship (HIF) recipients. This program features two of the 2024 cohort of fellows, John Akre and Zed Saeed who will share with the public the materials researched in the Filson’s collections and how the items were a source of motivation in their artistic projects.

John Akre used items from the Filson collection to inspire the creation of two stop motion animated movies. The first, “We Went to the Movies,” illustrates passages from the diary of teenager John Mason Brown, who, in the time he documented, 1915-1917, attended movies at downtown Louisville movie theaters almost daily. Much of this film was created collaboratively with young people at the Filson’s Cultural Pass days this summer. The second film documents the work and process of Ivey Watkins Cousins, who created a Google Earth-like record of the streets of central Louisville in 1959-1963, right before the completion of I-65 and the demolition of many of those streets.

Zed Saeed’s project, “Walnut Street Revisited”, is meant literally as a journey of re-visitation in the present. Being a research-based photographer, he used the Filson archives to study portions and places along the old Walnut Street to get a flavor of what existed in certain sections of Walnut Street and who lived in other portions of it. Using photography as his sole medium, some of his images are before/after shots, while others examine the loss of an entire way of life, for which we only gained empty parking lots. He was lucky enough to locate a few remaining buildings from the heyday of Walnut Street, one of which became the focus of his project. HIF allowed Zed to take a big first step in a direction that he hopes to continue exploring and discovering with his camera.

The HIF program continues to build relationships with artists by promoting the Filson Historical Society as a resource for artistic scholarly research and inspiration.

Winter Concert at Oxmoor with the NouLou Chamber Players

Date: December 9, 2024

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: Oxmoor Farm (720 Oxmoor Avenue, Louisville, KY)

Join us at Oxmoor Farm for the Filson’s annual Winter Concert! The event begins with a catered reception from 5:00-5:55, followed by the concert at 6:00 pm. The NouLou Chamber Players will perform “Impressions in Winter” with Duets for Violin & Cello by Glière, String Quartet in G Minor by Debussy, and “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Holst. The music will be performed by Andrea Daigle and Heather Thomas on violin, Evan Vicic on viola, and Cecilia Huerta-Lauf and Lilliano Pettitt on cello.

NouLou Chamber Players is a vibrant ensemble bringing together Louisville’s elite classical musicians to provide the community with exceptional music-making outside of the traditional concert hall. Their salon style of performing in intimate settings is reminiscent of the way chamber music was enjoyed centuries ago, but with a fresh take and modern flair.

Jazz at the Filson featuring Owsley Brown III

Date: December 15, 2024

Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)

Sponsored by the Kentucky College of Art and Design.

Join the Filson Historical Society for the holiday Jazz at the Filson! The Dick Sisto Trio featuring Dick Sisto on vibraphone, Jeremy Allen on double bass, and Mike Hyman on drums will collaborate with NYC guitarist Steve Cardenas, who has performed and recorded with many of the Jazz greats, on an all-Thelonius Monk show. “Monk,” as he was known, has been called the “greatest jazz composer of all time” by the one and only Duke Ellington. The repertoire will include several Monk classics, including Blue Monk, Ask Me Now, Misterioso, and many more. Owsley Brown III will join the group for a few choice selections in each set from The Great American Songbook. This yearly holiday Jazz event will be one to remember and not to miss. Light refreshments will be provided.

Theodore Sedgwick Distinguished Lecture Series – Artificial Intelligence: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure

Date: December 17, 2024

Time: 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)

Free (Register)

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

The Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in history, and the internet has been just as transformative. But there are many who believe that artificial intelligence (AI) may have a more profound impact than either. In healthcare, for example, AI promises to make a difference on a scale not seen in our lifetime. But excitement in that industry as well as other industries and entities is tempered with uncertainty. How will AI affect work, privacy and intellectual property? How will it impact democracy and freedom? Above all, how will we certify truth?

Llewellyn King is the creator, executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle,” a weekly news and public affairs program, airing nationwide on public television and SiriusXM Radio, worldwide on Voice of America television and radio, and as a podcast. In addition to broadcasting, King writes a weekly column, which is distributed to newspapers across the country by the InsideSources Syndicate.

Lessons from the Foothills: Berea College and Its Unique Role in America

Date: January 28, 2025

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Zoom options available)

Dykstra_Lessons from the Foothills_Final cvr for publ

In 1859, a mob of sixty-five prominent armed men rode into Berea, Kentucky, and forced the closure of its integrated one-room schoolhouse. Founded by Kentucky-born abolitionist John Gregg Fee, the school was open to anyone, regardless of their race or gender—a notion that horrified white supremacists. The mob evicted thirty-six community members, including Fee’s family, but Fee and the others returned to Berea in 1864 and reestablished the institution, still committed to educating Appalachia’s most vulnerable populations.

In Lessons from the Foothills, Gretchen Dykstra profiles modern Berea College with its rich and beloved history. This book is the first to focus on contemporary Berea and its eight Great Commitments—the principles and practices that provide clear aspirations for the college and its community. Each chapter functions as a deep dive into the history, practice, and significance of one Great Commitment, from providing opportunity for the most marginalized, to the college’s high academic standards and its commitment to environmental sustainability. The college has pledged to “provide an educational opportunity for students of all races, primarily from Appalachia, who have great promise and limited economic resources.”
To achieve this goal, the college eliminated tuition in 1892 and it also provides jobs for students to assist with living expenses.

Drawn from interviews with a range of members of the Berea community, including alumni, students, faculty, and staff, Lessons from the Foothills is an engaging portrait of a unique and historic institution and its enduring commitment to nurture and support academic excellence and service.

Gretchen Dykstra, author of Echoes from Wuhan: The Past as Prologue and Civic Pioneers: Local Stories from a Changing America, 1895–1915, and coauthor of Pinery Boys: Songs and Songcatching in the Lumberjack Era, has written articles for several publications, including the New York Times and California History. She lives in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard

Date: February 25, 2025

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Zoom options available)

This event is a supportive program for the Driftwood exhibit, which will be open for 30 minutes prior to the lecture. A reception preceding the lecture will be sponsored by the University Press of Kentucky.

Writer, artist, and sustainability pioneer Harlan Hubbard (1900–1988) lived a quiet, unassuming life, and yet he is thoroughly embedded in Kentucky’s historical memory. While some may know of Hubbard’s shantyboat sojourn on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with his wife, Anna, or of Payne Hollow, their hand-built homestead, few know the full story. After four decades of transformation, Hubbard emerged in middle age as the rightful heir to the Transcendentalist ethos, ready to envision a unique existence of simplicity and wild beauty akin to that of the revered Henry David Thoreau.

In this comprehensive biography, Jessica K. Whitehead reveals why Hubbard is beloved by his fellow Kentuckians and has been an inspiration to generations of readers interested in art, adventure, and environmentalism. Driftwood delves into Hubbard’s family background, education, and relationships, and into his theories on art, writing, music, and philosophy. Using journals, letters, paintings, manuscripts, and sketches, Whitehead pieces together the distinct phases of Hubbard’s life, providing new insights into his character and legacy. By examining his perspectives on creativity and responsible living, Whitehead connects the early Hubbard, who grappled with his identity and yearned for travel, with the confident and intentional Hubbard of Payne Hollow.

Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard is a complex portrait of a person who deserves a place alongside other iconic American thinkers and artists in the nation’s broad cultural history. It offers a vivid depiction of Hubbard, the traces he left behind, and his template for sustainability in our modern ecological landscape.

Jessica K. Whitehead, writer and curator of collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is coauthor of The History of the Kentucky Derby in 75 Objects and a contributor to The Watercolors of Harlan Hubbard: From the Collection of Bill and Flo Caddell.

Visit the Filson

Open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm

The Filson will be closed to the Public on Friday November 15th for staff meetings.

The Filson is closed to the Public the 3rd Friday of every month.

The Filson will be closed to the public for a winter shutdown starting on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, reopening on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.

1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40208
(502) 635-5083

Plan Your Visit to the Filson! To register or purchase tickets for our events, please visit our Events Page.

The Research Library is open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4:30pm; we are closed on the third Friday of each month. Appointments are not required, but feel free to reserve a seat online – learn more here. We also provide remote research services; please email gro.l1732056801aciro1732056801tsihn1732056801oslif1732056801@hcra1732056801eser1732056801.

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