Review: The Kentucky Bicentennial by Dale E. Voelker

A visual tour of Kentucky during its 200th birthday year, The Kentucky Bicentennial by Dale E. Voelker is a celebration of a state, its people, and the enduring spirit that populates every corner of the Bluegrass State. These pages hold images from events both big and small that occurred in 1992 across the state, finally brought to life thirty years later in this commemorative book.

The photos from “Hillbilly Days” are particularly evocative of the rustic, patriotic, and whimsical nature of the state, while the shots of the Kentucky Derby that year are both dynamic and intimate. The “Summer Festival in Covington” captures the mood of small-town America in colorful detail, bringing readers back to their own childhoods, and the festivals and events that often frame our younger years.

The importance of horse rearing and racing in Kentucky is clear, as there are a handful of equestrian events highlighted in the collection. The shots of the Grant County Heritage Festival are some of the best in the collection, in terms of framing, mood, and storytelling, but many of Voelker’s photos are more complex than they first appear. The Daniel Boone Festival feels like the event where Voelker was having the most fun, or perhaps had the most fascinating subjects. Of the thousands of images he must have compiled over this year of wandering and celebrating, his curation of this book is truly impressive and impactful.

Interspersed with the photographs are small anecdotes about the events being depicted; more than captions, they are small vignettes of experience that transports readers to those places and spaces. There are also ten single-page entries about figures who were presented at the first Kentucky Chautauqua – a cultural program commemorating the rich history and heroes of Kentucky. They are nice palate cleansers from the modern focus, pulling readers back into the past, and providing context for some of the cultural events surrounding them.

Some of these are better expressed than others, and there are occasional slips into informal language that can seem sloppy or poorly conceived. There are grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, including on one of the very first pages – “ancesters” vs “ancestors.” While these errors are infrequent, they demonstrate a lack of final editing and proofreading. The images and the stories they tell are compelling throughout, but the prose unfortunately doesn’t always hold up its end of the narrative bargain.

There is also quite a bit of variation in the length and depth of the accompanying text. Some events have a very brief summary, while others include more local history and flair, such as the story for “Old Timer’s Day – Rabbithash.” The page-long entries are written with the most clarity and depth, and also show a better level of editing and tightness in the prose, but some sections would benefit from more explanation, or anecdotal tales of the photographer’s experience, which could give the photographs more context.

These critiques aside, this passionate work of photographic history is a visual treasure, particularly for those who have a deep love of Kentucky state history.