Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

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.  

Panel Discussion – “The Children of Terezín”

Date: May 13, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Zoom Options available)
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Presented in partnership with the Kentucky Opera.

Terezín, also known as Theresienstadt, was unique among the Nazi concentration camps in that it housed musicians, writers, and artists who were encouraged to continue their respective talents there. However, the Nazis used this camp as a propaganda tool to show the world how “well” the inhabitants were treated, going so far as to create a film to this effect, called The Führer Gives the Jews a City. Make no mistake, though: 33,000 Jews perished at Terezín, primarily from disease and malnutrition.

This program will feature a panel of local experts: Filson volunteer, Rabbi Stan Miles, and educators, Frederick Whittaker and Daniel Penner, who will share their knowledge and insights about the Holocaust in general and Terezín in particular. Mr. Whittaker’s students from St. Francis of Assisi School will also read poems written by children who were inmates at the camp. Baritone Morgan Smith will perform selections from the children’s opera, Brundibár, which had 55 performances at Terezín; this work will be featured on a program at the Kentucky Opera on May 18.

Old Louisville LIVE featuring The Crashers in Central Park

Date: May 16, 2025
Time: 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location: C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheater at Central Park (No registration required)

Presented by the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council. Sponsored by the Filson Historical Society.

The Crashers, Louisville’s most popular dance band, is returning to Central Park on Friday, May 16th at 8:00 pm as part of the Old Louisville LIVE free concerts, where the Filson is a signature sponsor. The event opens at 7:00 pm with three local food trucks and concessions available for food and alcohol purchases. The concert starts at 8:00 pm and will end at 10:00 pm. There is ample street parking around the perimeter of Central Park. Clean restrooms are available. The C. Douglas Ramey Amphitheater seats 1,000 people. Participants may bring their own chairs if they would like. This is a free concert series in Central Park and Old Louisville; no ticket or registration required.

An Escape from Slavery and a President’s Ancestors: How the Filson Made an Unexpected Discovery Possible

Date: May 22, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In person and Zoom options available)
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Charles Holman grew up on bedtime stories of ancestors who escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad. But those stories were riddled with gaps.  Decades later, DNA testing yielded a match with a descendant of his ancestor’s sister, a widow whose husband had served as a Black Civil War soldier. Her widow’s pension records revealed an even greater breakthrough—the names of the Kentuckians who had enslaved Charles’s ancestors. Determined to uncover more, Charles dug through records at the Filson Historical Society where an even greater breakthrough lay hidden.

Charles Holman is an East Coast civil rights attorney and a genealogist with over 50 years of experience.

Book Discussion with Dr. Patrick Lewis

Date: May 29, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: Oxmoor Farm, 720 Oxmoor Ave. (In Person Only)
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This event is now sold out.

Join Dr. Patrick Lewis for a book discussion for Rick Atkinson’s The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780. This unique opportunity will allow participants to help shape the upcoming Gertrude Polk Brown lecture on June 16, giving them opportunities to help develop questions to be asked during the interview-style lecture.

Stitching History Embroidery Workshop

Date: May 31, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person Only)
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Have you ever longed to wear the beautifully decorated garments you see in period dramas? Do you wish you could add a touch of historic chic to your own closet? Come get inspired by the beautiful pieces in the Filson’s new exhibit, Bustles to Blue Jeans: Highlights from the Filson’s Fashion Archive. Join representatives from the local chapter of the Embroiderers Guild of America as they guide you through an embroidery lesson that pulls from the styles of the past. You’ll get to explore the exhibit and learn to recreate some of the most unique embroidery on display. Bring your own clothes or textiles to embroider, or create a sampler using provided fabric. All other materials will be provided. Open to all ages and skill levels.

Panel Discussion – I’m Glad About It: History of Gospel Music in Louisville

Date: June 12, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: The Filson Historical Society (In Person and Zoom Options available)
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This program is produced in partnership with the Louisville Story Program.

The Filson History Society and the Louisville Story Program will co-present a gospel music event to commemorate Black Music Month. Taking place at the Filson on Thursday, June 12th, 2025, the program will feature a panel of contributing writers and their project partners discussing their experience working on content for the book, I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville, 1958-1981, produced by the Louisville Story Program.

The Gertrude Polk Brown Lecture Series – The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780

Date: June 16, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: Brown Theatre, 315 W Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 (In Person and Virtual Options available)
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In the second volume of the landmark American Revolution trilogy by the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The British Are Coming, George Washington’s army fights on the knife edge between victory and defeat.

The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution—which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton—was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force.

Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel. But the king’s task is now far more complicated: fighting a determined enemy on the other side of the Atlantic has become ruinously expensive, and spies tell him that the French and Spanish are threatening to join forces with the Americans.

Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the Revolution. Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution, Atkinson’s brilliant account of the lethal conflict between the Americans and the British offers not only deeply researched and spectacularly dramatic history, but also a new perspective on the demands that a democracy makes on its citizens.

Rick Atkinson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven previous works of history, including The Long Gray Line, the Liberation Trilogy (An Army at DawnThe Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light), and The British Are Coming, the first volume of the Revolution Trilogy.

Camp J. Through the Years

Date: June 22, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Trager Family Jewish Community Center, 3600 Dutchman's Lane, Louisville (In Person Only)

Are you an alum of Camp Tall Trees or Ben F. Washer at Otter Creek Park? Come relive those glory days of yesteryear with this fun and nostalgic program. Even if you did not attend those camps or if you did not go to any camp, we hope you will join us for a lighthearted and fun-filled afternoon. There will be camp songs and cheers, “home movies,” craft activities, and camp-based snacks such as s’mores. Hear from current and former counselors and campers to learn what has changed and what has essentially remained the same about camp over the years.