The Ballard Thruston Collection: A Modern History

Arriving in Louisville in 1912, Ballard Thruston’s antiquities were stored in one of the downtown warehouses of his family’s flour mill (Ballard & Ballard Flour Mill). The contents of the 28 crates were checked against an inventory list and a few objects were taken by Ballard Thruston and his widowed sister-in-law to adorn their homes.

When plans were being made to make changes at the mill, Ballard Thruston was faced with the problem of finding a permanent home for the collection. Some pieces were given to the Jefferson Institute of Arts and Science, which, after 1914, was housed in the Louisville Free Public Library. Probably because of space constraints in the library, Ballard Thruston sent a letter to Hattie Bishop Speed in October 1929 offering to donate the antiquities to the Speed Museum, along with records of their purchase and photographs that he had taken in Rome. She gratefully accepted his gift, and within a few months the antiquities were transferred to the museum. A few pieces were put on display in small exhibitions in 1932 and 1940, but most of the objects remained in their crates for more than five decades due to a lack of resources and inadequate space in the museum.