Into the Bluegrass – Art and Artistry of Kentucky’s Historic Icons
"Into the Bluegrass – Art and Artistry of Kentucky’s Historic Icons" displays author Dr. Mel Hankla’s gifts as a teacher of history and skilled storyteller. Dr. Hankla shares his deep knowledge of frontier Kentucky and his great reverence for her early peoples, offering his readers the best possible outcome: interesting stories told by someone who loves his subject. From Kentucky’s earliest frontier weapons to the artistry found in 19th-century furniture, silver, textiles, pottery, and pictorial art, the objects are iconic and the story is Kentucky’s own.
– Genevieve Baird Lacer & Libby Turner Howard, co-authors, Collecting Kentucky: 1790-1860
– Genevieve Baird Lacer & Libby Turner Howard, co-authors, Collecting Kentucky: 1790-1860
ABOUT MEL HANKLA
Mel Stewart Hankla was born in 1956 and grew up in the small town of Jamestown, Kentucky on the banks of Lake Cumberland. He attended Western Kentucky University earning Bachelor of Science Degrees in Agriculture, and Wildlife Management and Ecology, and a Master of Science Degree in Administration. In 2010 he completed an Educational Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Education Administration.
The founder of American Historic Services LLC, he is a noted collector, researcher, lecturer and writer of Kentucky’s heritage. He has been an active member of the Kentucky Rifle Association since 1990, is a past president and co-founder of the Contemporary Longrifle Association, and editor of American Tradition magazine. He is a builder of traditional Kentucky Longrifles and in 1984 was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Folk Art Apprenticeship grant to study with legendary riflesmith Hershel House.
A historical actor/educator, he worked 20 years with the Kentucky Humanities Council presenting Chautauqua characters of frontiersman Simon Kenton and General George Rogers Clark. In 2012 he was cast for the leading role, in the PBS documentary, An Audacious American, the story of Kentucky abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay. More recently has been an appraiser for Kentucky Educational Televisions popular show, “Kentucky Collectibles.”
Hankla serves on the Museum Board of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and on the Advisory Board of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA.) He is a member of the Kentucky Material Culture Collectors and the prestigious American Society of Arms Collectors. Today, Hankla lives on Heavenly Hill Farm in Carter County, Kentucky with his wife Angela.