Our most recent exhibition here at Portland Museum is one of our most personal. Anchor Management: The Magic Behind Louisville’s Oldest Neighborhood Newspaper was built with original research, from artifacts sourced from our archive/neighborhood donations, and for those in Portland who’ve been reading the Anchor since 1975. Among those readers are, of course, the original founders of the paper, many of whom made an appearance at the exhibit opening!
Current Portland Anchor staff Charlie Frick (Courier) and Sherry Stewart (Editor) alongside retired team members like Gordon Brown and Houston Cockrell invited friends and family to celebrate their neighborhood newspaper. Each mentioned individual, and others, has an original portrait by Portland Museum co-director Danny Seim in the exhibit, so make sure to come on out and see it for yourself!
Other surprises visitors were treated to, beyond the literal treats from Farm to Fork, were various artifacts from throughout the Portland Anchor‘s history. This of course included vintage papers, some delicately framed and others reprinted and artfully collaged, but also items donated or loaned to us at Portland Museum. Floating above the exhibit is the original stained glass window which served as first prize for the Portland Festival’s 1986 balloon race, donated by the race’s winning aeronaut Patrick R. Spalding. Did you know that many of the Portland Anchor‘s founders also founded the Portland Festival? It’s true!
The night was closed out with one last surprise: an acoustic performance from longtime Portland Anchor contributor Nate Pederson, known in the newspaper pages as PortlandNate. The community surrounding the neighborhood paper its a treasure, and we at Portland Museum are lucky to now be entrusted to maintain it. Come and visit Anchor Management to learn about that community’s history, then start picking up issues to be a part of its future! We’ve got exciting plans!
