KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

COVINGTON, KY

The Kenton County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of Kenton County, Kentucky. Founded in 1978, the Society works to collect, preserve and make accessible to the community the rich history of the county. The Society collects artifacts, documents, photographs and other materials related to its history, and assists in the preservation of historic sites, structures and buildings.

The Society offers educational programs and activities to the public, including lectures, tours, exhibits and special events. It also publishes a quarterly newsletter, “Kenton County Historical Notes”, which features articles on local history and events. The Society’s museum, located in Covington, Kentucky, houses a wide variety of artifacts from the county’s past, including furniture, tools, clothing and photographs.

The Society is actively involved in the community, working with local schools, libraries and other organizations to promote an appreciation for local history. It also serves as an advocate for the preservation of historical sites and structures in the county, and regularly provides input to local and state government regarding their preservation.

The Society’s library, located in the museum, contains a wide range of resources related to local history and genealogy, including local newspapers and books. It also offers access to the Kentucky Historic Resources Database and the Kentucky Virtual Library. The library is open to the public, and staff are available to assist with research requests.

KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in COVINGTON KY. US MID #8402100191

The museum is classed as HSC (Historical Societies, Historic Preservation). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Southeastern (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia).

Cincinnati - Strietmann Biscuit Co (OHPTC)

Behold: something is rotten in Denmark Two art fans study Benjamin West's painting of Hamlet Act IV, Scene V, which I guess is now on me to explain so I looked it up. Here is the scene in a nutshell. In Shakespeare’s day, government was about monarchy and the stability it brought. Hamlet is about regicide and the chaos that follows, which was a recurring theme for The Bard. Hey, the Age of Enlightenment and its idea of checks and balances on power was still over a century away. Modern self-governing republicanism with no monarchy at all was further.

Seeing that his sister had gone crazy, Laertes (the man pointing up in the painting and holding his sickly sister), who has just returned to Denmark, goes into a rage. He wants to revenge the madness of his sister and the killing of his father. That’s fine with King Claudius, who did not kill Laertes’ father; however, he secretly poisoned his own brother, Hamlet Sr., the original and rightful king. Who knew the gentle and happy Danish could be so full of guile and lust for power?

Claudius answered Laertes's anger by telling him that it was best to first be certain who the actual murderer was before focusing his useful and righteous rage. Claudius would help answer all Laertes' questions.

End scene.

What is going on behind the scene of this painting is that the new King Claudius saw an opportunity to use Laertes to silence (kill) Prince Hamlet because the prince was on his corrupt trail. Hamlet is clued into who killed his father because (a) the ghost of his dad in the beginning of the play told him so and (b) Claudius acted mighty suspicious.

Claudius did kill King Hamlet and will use his poisoning modus operandi again, which will backfire.

It was Ophelia's fiancé, the moody and introspective Prince Hamlet (not in this painting scene), who unintentionally killed Laertes's and Ophelia's father, sparking Ophelia's descent into madness and Laertes's rage. By the end of the play, all these people are going to end up dead, including Hamlet, Claudius, and even Hamlet's mother, who quickly remarried Claudius after the death of her husband. (She is the crowned queen in the middle of the painting–the royal without the beard.)

Denmark is going to be leaderless.
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Painting title: Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Act IV, Scene V; Ophelia and Laertes (1792)
Artist: Benjamin West (American,1738-1820)
Venue: Cincinnati Art Museum

Contact KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 641
COVINGTON
KY
41012

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KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Information

MID #	8402100191
Name	KENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Alternate Name
Classification	Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Southeastern
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)	310975331
NTEECC
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)	201208
INCOME	0
REVENUE	0
LAT/LONG	39.083313, -84.50837
CODES	FIPS State Code: 21 FIPS County Code: 117 US Census Tract: 067000 US Census Block: 2001