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Virtual Visitor

Virtual Visitor

KHS works to educate and engage the public through Kentucky history on-site, on the road, or online. Whether you are a parent, teacher, student, researcher, or history enthusiast, click the options below to enjoy our online resources and activities, including virtual field trips, videos, media links, activities, catalogs, research tools, and much more.

Explore KY History Mobile App

Download our app Explore Kentucky History to find the locations of historical markers across the Commonwealth and enjoy tours and additional history content right from your smartphone or on your home PC at explorekyhistory.ky.gov. 

Highlighted Tours and Recent Updates

Our newest exhibit Poetry in Color: Paul Sawyier’s Two Villages is currently not open to onsite visitors. Instead, enjoy this collection of historical markers relating to Paul Sawyier available from the app, and watch this virtual tour.

Virtual Field Trips and Tours: Interactive Learning Experiences

Virtual Experiences

Tours and interviews presented LIVE on our Facebook page (videos arranged newest to oldest). Videos with embedded comments and links can also be viewed on our Virtual Experiences Facebook playlist.

Virtual Tour – 11/24/2020

Julie Kemper shared options for families to visit our campus over the holidays, then Phyllis Gillman shares special offers and products in the Stewart Home School 1792 Store for holiday shopping, including our new ONLINE gift shop.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 11/17/2020

Casey Castro-Bracho shares from our Civilian Conservation Corps collection. Read her blog! (designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 11/10/2020

Daniel Burge leads a virtual tour of Kentucky’s participation in the Mexican War, featuring artifacts set in the Kentucky Military Treasures exhibit at the Kentucky Military History Museum.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 10/27/2020

Julie Sawnor shares moon-related artifacts just in time for the blue moon on Halloween, 2020, including Bill Monroe Blue Moon of Kentucky trivia, Kentucky’s role in the space race, and ending with a history on historic and recent eclipses.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Interview – 10/20/2020

Deana Thomas talked with Fran and David Salyers about the immense scrapbook collection that they donated to KHS and some of the historical perspectives and stories that it contains.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 10/13/2020

Sarah Schmitt and Rebecca Wishnevski share artifacts related to mourning and memorializing the dead

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 10/06/2020

Dr. Stephanie Lang interviews Dr. Anya Jabour, a contributor to the Register, on two Kentucky siblings (Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge and Mary Curry Desha Breckinridge) and the suffrage movement.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 9/29/2020

Julie Kemper shares safe storage and preservation techniques for textiles and leather.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 9/22/2020

Claire Gwaltney leads a tour of the educational resources, including our new virtual field trips, as well as info on how favorite tried and true programs like National History Day in Kentucky have adapted to accommodate the “new normal.”

(designed for school and home educators)

Virtual Tour – 9/15/2020

Chuck Welsko and Carl Creason share the intersection of famous bourbon pioneers and their Civil War experiences by exploring where they appear in the documents of the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 9/8/2020

Julie Kemper examines artifacts that traveled to Kentucky during the Frontier era and shares information about the people who settled here.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 9/1/2020

Andrew Washburn and Bill Burchfield provide a tour of the Kentucky Military History Museum focusing on the exhibit of Col. George M. Chinn.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 8/25/2020

Carol Easterly discusses the history of the woman suffrage movement in Kentucky.

(NOTE: Audio for this tour dropped out at 11:15, and was restored at 17:00.)

Virtual Tour – 8/18/2020

Examine the many layers required for women’s mid-19th century fashion with Dana Zinger and Jessica Stavros.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 8/11/2020

Museum Programs Coordinator, Carol Easterly, shows off distilling industry artifacts and memorabilia throughout Kentucky history.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 8/4/2020

Cheri Daniels, the Head of Library and Archives, lead us through the Martin F. Schmidt Research Libary and pulled family files at the request of live viewers.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 7/28/2020

Dr. Stephanie Lang, the editor of our scholarly journal The Register, interviews the host and producer of WEKU’s Eastern Standard about our shared goals of sharing historical research and relevant interpretation.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 7/21/2020

KHS archivist Deana Thomas leads a behind-the-scenes journey of archival acquisition. Learn the stories behind three unique collections and how they became a permanent part of the Kentucky story.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 7/14/2020

KHS curator Andrew Washburn shares artifacts and the story of the Goldbergs of Falmouth, an early 20th-century family that settled in Pendleton County after fleeing anti-semitic persecution in the Russian Empire.

(designed for a general audience)

Virtual Tour – 7/7/2020

Dr. Amanda Higgins discusses a new tour entitled “Traces: Slavery at Ashland” funded with support from the Local History Trust Fund and available now at Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate. Funding support from the Local History Trust Fund.

(designed for a general audience)

More virtual tours and interviews are available on archived and available for viewing here. 

Enjoy a Google 360 Tour of the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History Center.

Streaming Media: Watch, Listen, and Learn