The first-ever Smithsonian exhibit to be shown at the Henderson County Public Library will be open for people to observe on Thursday.
“Americans,”—which “explores the deeply entangled history that Americans and American Indians share,” according to the Kentucky Humanities Council website—will be at the library through February 21. An opening reception will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 13.
HCPL Executive Director Shannon Sandefur said the exhibit offers residents the ability to see a little bit of the Smithsonian Institute, an opportunity that many in the community may never get to experience at the museum’s Washington, D.C., main location.
“As a child, I never had the opportunity to go to D.C. and experience anything like this,” Sandefur said.
She said she thinks of families and children who, like her, don’t have the opportunity to go to the nation’s capital to see something of this caliber.
“I consider this a great honor to be selected,” Sandefur said.
Sandefur commended HCPL employee Donna Barron for spearheading the push to land the exhibit, an effort that included an application and gathering letters of recommendation from community members.
The application and materials were sent to the Kentucky Humanities Council, which coordinated the exhibit stops in Kentucky—seven in all that began in August 2025 and will conclude in July 2026, Sandefur said.
The exhibit has already made stops in Paducah, Greenville and Clinton, and after HCPL, it will go on to Carrolton, Versailles and Ashland, according to the Kentucky Humanities’ website.
Sandefur said this is the second Smithsonian traveling exhibit that the library has applied for. HCPL also applied for a traveling Holocaust exhibit through the American Library Association, but didn’t get it, she said.
The pieces of the Americans exhibit at HCPL will include displays about Pocahontas, the Trail of Tears, the Battle of Little Bighorn and how Native Americans are featured in American culture, she said.
Additionally, Sandefur said that HCPL’s history and genealogy department is working on a connected display that will show the history of Native Americans in the Henderson area.
This display will be called “Early Americans in the Lower Ohio River Valley,” said Glenn Riggs, an HCPL genealogy and local history associate. He said storytelling will be included in the local exhibit, starting with nomadic people crossing the Bering Strait around 10,000 B.C. and then picking up with nearby mound builders around 1,000 A.D.
Artifacts and replicas loaned from Wickliffe Mounds State Historical Site in Ballard County will be included, he said
And also 17 art pieces from Jannette Parent, an enrolled member of the Four Winds Louisiana Cherokee Confederacy, is a part of the display, Riggs said, adding Parent is also loaning jewelry and regalia she’s made, he said.
This local history exhibit will run through March 1, said Riggs.
Finally, several presentations in connection with Americans are planned. Those include:
- Fred Nez-Keams, a flute maker and storyteller of the Navajo Nation Tribe, will speak at 10:30 a.m. Saturday Jan. 17
- Tim Plumley will discuss Native American weapons and tools at 1 p.m., Jan. 17
- Mike Linderman from Angel Mounds State Historic Park will give a presentation titled “Lunar and Solar Light Alignment” at 2 p.m. Jan. 18
- Retired Henderson Community College professor Lorie Maltby will give a presentation titled “Pocahontas: Her Life and Legacy” at 10 a.m. on Jan. 24
Sandefur said the installations and materials will arrive at HCPL on Tuesday, and setup will occur the next day, before being ready for viewing on Thursday.
