Museum Newsletter - 20 Jan 2009

Friends of the Bullitt County History Museum E-Newsletter
January 20, 2009, (Volume 5, Number 2)

Dear Friends,

Announcements...

>> This is the first e-news from my new e-mail address...Watch for errors.

My Friends, this edition of the newsletter is my first attempt at mailing newsletters from my new home e-mail address, with completely new computer and programs. This changeover was quite difficult, in large part because I needed to re-enter and reformat most all of the hundreds of e-mail addresses and groups related to this newsletter, as well as learning new e-mail and computer programs.

So... Please forgive me if there are unusual errors. And let me know if you catch something.

Also, more importantly, there might be errors in the addresses. If you are receiving this for the first time, I might have incorrectly entered you into the newsletter group. If this is the case, please forgive my error and let me know if you do not want on the list. I will quickly remove you.

And of course, if you did NOT receive this newsletter and should have, please let me know that too. [grin]

>> "State of Affairs" radio show recording about Bullitt County history on our web site.

Charles Hartley and I were recently the guests on the local Louisville Public Radio station, WFPL FM 89.3.

I think the show, "State of Affairs," went pretty well. Charles did great. I would have liked, for my part, to do better. And we both would have liked to say more. But time passed all too fast.

Many of you were very kind in the reviews you sent to us.

If you did not hear the show and would like to, Charles has added the recording to our web site. Follow this link to that page.

It is a fairly long download (the show is about fifty minutes long), but, hopefully, it will be worth it to you.

>> Reminder. Old E-Mail Address Almost Gone.

As I say, with this newsletter, my old address of David_Lee_St@msn.com is about to go away. Be sure to add my new address, DavidStrange@Windstream.net to your e-mail address book so that you will continue to receive this newsletter without problem.

>> No January meeting of Genealogical Society.

The Bullitt County Genealogical Society does not meet in January. The next meeting will be February 21. Details in next months' newsletter, but I believe Daniel Buxton will be the guest speaker and the subject will be his work on local African American history and cemeteries.

By the way, the April meeting is shaping up to be a special event. Society leaders are planning a special all-day training session on "Beginning Genealogy". This meeting will be held at a special, earlier-than-usual, date of April 11, and will last from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. More details closer to April, but our readers who live in the area might want to hold that date clear if you could use training on that (I sure could).

Activity...

>> New book donated on Publishers Printing Company.

Publishers Printing is celebrating fifty years in Bullitt County. As part of that celebration, a new book has been published about the company, and we were given two copies. Publishers has been a strong supporter of Bullitt County over those years, as most anyone that has been involved in anything in the county can attest. I can think of no words to adequately praise that company for all it has done.

>> Microfilm and Microfiche readers for sale.

Doris Owen has donated her microfilm reader and her microfiche reader to the museum to sell as a bit of a fund raiser. These units, shown in the photo, are pretty handy. We do not need them, but perhaps you or someone you know can use them. They do not have printing capability, but I understand many researchers like to have these light units at home. If you are interested, contact me and make an offer. Many thanks to Doris for always keeping the Genealogical Society and the Museum in mind.

>> New leaflets and new publicity effort for the museum.

A few months ago, Bullitt County Genealogical Society Vice President and Museum Volunteer Daniel Buxton designed a new museum leaflet for us that was far more professional looking that anything we had done before. We printed 500 of those, and started thinking about a larger publicity effort.

Recently, a company that prefers to not be named, improved on that design, while adding some changes we had in mind. The company is also donating 20,000 copies of the leaflet.

That large number will allow us to launch a publicity campaign about the museum that we have long dreamed of.

A couple thousand copies will be given out to all local school personnel. In addition, our great local newspaper, The Pioneer News, will include the leaflets as inserts in some 8,000 of its papers. Leaflets will be included in Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development mailings. We are starting to get more leaflets out to motels and tourist centers, and will be including a leaflet in most of our other mailings.

All of this at no cost in museum funds. It's so great to have such Bullitt County History Museum supporters!

For Your Information...

>>National Digital Newspaper Library.

There is an already-huge and growing national program that is creating digital images of thousands of old newspapers from across the country. This is becoming a fantastic research resource, and Kentucky has been one of the leaders in this effort. Check out the Kentuckiana Digital Library at https://kdl.kyvl.org/ and, nationally, check out www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/home.html. Thanks to the Kentucky Library Association for this information.

>>Heinz Ketchup Bottles change.

Well, OK, it's not big news. But it is a good lesson in history research. The Courier-Journal recently ran an Associated Press article about the logo on Heinz Ketchup bottles being changed. Look quick at any Heinz Ketchup bottles you have now and you will notice a pickle in the logo. Not a tomato. The article said that the Heinz founder, used a "pickle pin" to get attention in 1893. They were very popular and, as they say, "the rest is history".

Now the company is changing the logo to include a tomato (there are no pickles in their ketchup), rather than the traditional pickle. This all reminds me of the research we have sometimes done on bottles. Many bottles can be dated by knowing when certain minor changes were made in the corporate design. For example, we dated a Coke bottle found in a local ditch as a 1947 model and a 7-Up bottle by the number of bubbles in the logo.

So set in you memory that in 2009 the Heinz logo switched from a pickle to a tomato. In fifty years or so, it might be helpful in dating an old bottle you find. [grin]

Finally... The Lincoln Train Ride to Washington.

At the time Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven states were already in secession and civil war loomed. He had won by a majority of electoral votes but had not won a majority of the popular vote (sound familiar?) The nation was falling apart. There were real fears that Lincoln would be assassinated even before he could take office. On his train ride to Washington a few days earlier (made famous anew by the Barack Obama re-creation), the threats on Lincoln's life were so real that he had to be secreted into town in disguise. No grand popular train ride was this. Once in Washington, he was housed in a different hotel than normal so people would not know he had yet arrived.

I was thinking of this as our new President Barack Obama dramatically rode that same train path to his inauguration, and comparisons were being made between him and Lincoln, with no mention that I heard of about Lincoln's difficulties on the trip.

What dramatic history both then and now. What hopes and fears in both times.

I am glad to say, this 44th president-elect did not have to sneak into town in disguise like our now-revered 16th.

Indeed, Mr. Obama starts office with the highest popularity of any president in recent history.

The nation is again in deep turmoil, but at least not falling into civil war. We start in troubled times, but with a great popular hope in the new president (though some worries as well), rather than a general disrespect like Lincoln suffered. Yet we know the troubles are great today, even overwhelming for many.

Under Lincoln, the nation became one again, though much trouble remained for many years after, and, very sadly, the bullet eventually did find its mark.

For all our sakes, may God protect and guide this new president. May our nation, the world, and all of us find ourselves better at the end of Mr. Obama's term than we began.

And may Mr. Obama end his term safe and as popular as he began.

For all our sakes, like him or not, may it be so.

David Strange
Bullitt County History Museum
Executive Director
Museum Phone: 502-921-0161
David.Strange@BullittCountyHistory.org
BullittCountyHistory.org