A Forged Painting and A Forged Story to Go With It

Interesting bit of art forgery here, courtesy of the New York Times:













"For 32 years, a portrait of a serene Mary Todd Lincoln hung in the governor’s mansion in Springfield, Ill., signed by Francis Bicknell Carpenter, a celebrated painter who lived at the White House for six months in 1864.

"The story behind the picture was compelling: Mrs. Lincoln had Mr. Carpenter secretly paint her portrait as a surprise for the president, but he was assassinated before she had a chance to present it to him.

"Now it turns out that both the portrait and the touching tale accompanying it are false."

Here's the link.

Let's Bring History Back to the History Channel!

My friend Jade Maner has created a blog dedicated to persuading The History Channel to bring back legitimate historical programming. As anyone who has spent any time watching it lately knows, The History Channel, and its affiliate H2, History Channel 2, seem to have been taken over by programming relating to ancient aliens, pawn shop wars, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the speculation as to whether we will all be killed in December of this year by the Mayans, a giant asteroid, or by a particularly nasty solar flare.

Check out Jade's blog!

My eBook "Chasing the Triple Crown"

Here's a link to my article length eBook, Chasing the Triple Crown, which is available on Amazon.com!

I hate to engage in shameless commerce, but check it out!

My Editor and Publisher, Judy Clabes, says:


Bob Treadway is a storyteller -- and an engaging, entertaining one. He'll draw you in and keep you there right to the end. Whether you love horses, as I do, or you just plain love a good story well told, Bob delivers. His love of history, Kentucky, horses and turn of phrase . . .well, it's just part of the package. Enjoy!

-- Judith Clabes, Editor and Publisher, KyForward.com,
and member, Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame

Daniel Carter Beard Autographed Photograph

This photograph of Daniel Carter Beard, subject of my latest column on KyForward.com.

The photograph is autographed "Your Uncle Dan Beard."

Beard was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, and was known as "Uncle Dan" by generations of Scouts and Scouters. In the column, I discuss the concept of muscular Christianity, as practiced in late 19th Century America, which saw not only the rise of Scouting organizations, such as Beard's Sons of Daniel Boone, but of Eastern prep schools such as Groton, which emphasized athletics to a degree earlier schools had not done.

Kentucky's Statehood at 150

In 1942, the Post Office issued a stamp honoring the "sesquicentennial," the one hundred fiftieth anniversary, of the formation of Kentucky in 1792. The stamp shows an engraving showing Daniel Boone on a hill eerily reminiscent of that of his grave site in Frankfort Cemetery, looking over toward the site of today's Kentucky State Capitol.

Daniel Carter Beard House

This is the Daniel Carter Beard House, in Covington, Kentucky.

Who was Daniel Carter Beard, and what modern organization did he influence?

John Cabell Breckinridge

This statue of Kentucky's Vice President and Presidential candidate John Cabell Breckinridge, who was a supporter of slavery,  stands at Main Street and Cheapside, not far from the location of Lexington's slave market.  In my column today on KyForward.com, I dicuss the history and legacy of Breckinridge, one of Kentucky's three Vice Presidents.