New Book on Harlan Hubbard Paints a Picture of His Life

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, authored by Jessica K. Whitehead (The University Press of Kentucky-2025) was published in February of this year. Harlan Hubbard (1900 –1988) will always be connected to Fort Thomas and remembered for his art, travels, and writing. Bellevue-born Hubbard studied in New York City and later at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He settled in Fort Thomas in 1919, where he built a house for his mother and a studio for himself. In this new book, Whitehead takes a deep dive into his life.

A conversation with Jessica K. Whitehead

Jessica K. Whitehead, has long been a fan of Hubbard’s work, being introduced to his paintings while studying at Indiana’s Hanover College, as she shares with Fort Thomas Living, “I first came to know Harlan Hubbard through a painting of his that used to sit behind the circulation desk at the Hanover College Duggan Library. When I was a student at Hanover, I spent a lot of time checking out books at that circulation desk, and I would always find myself staring at that painting and wondering who was that “Harlan Hubbard” in the little signature in the painting’s corner. I was an art history major, so when it came time to do my culminating curatorial project my senior year, I checked into the painting and discovered that Hanover had an extensive collection of Hubbard’s work–a collection I ultimately used in that culminating project. In researching the art, I discovered the life, and the writing, of Harlan Hubbard, as well as his remarkable partnership with Anna. I was absolutely hooked, and more than a decade later, I am proud to see the seeds of that inspiration from Hanover’s collection coming to bear in Driftwood.”

Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard

In Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard, Whitehead shares his journey in chronological order, highlighting separately 1900-1919, 1919-1942, 1943-1988. Different times in Hubbard’s life, different times in American history. 

What has kept Whitehead interested in Hubbard through the years? “I think, most essentially, I feel a deep desire to uphold Hubbard as an essential American voice deserving broader recognition. He is so relevant to our lives today, and in so many ways. Think about the incredible range of interests that intersect with the Hubbard story. You love art and writing? Check. You’re interested in nature and the environment? Check. You care about music, goats, architecture, boat building, fishing, cooking, and philosophy? The life of Harlan Hubbard has something for you. There’s a reason he’s been compared to multi-talented, interdisciplinary American thinkers like Henry David Thoreau–although I would say that Harlan’s legacy doesn’t need to be qualified by Thoreau’s to make it significant, as his popular nickname, “Kentucky’s Thoreau,” suggests. After all, Harlan and Anna Hubbard took Thoreau’s example and ran with it, took it farther. Or, should I say, they drifted with it? Out of nineteenth-century Transcendental philosophy and experimentation the Hubbards created a practical pattern for a more responsible and beautiful life and saw it through to the end.” Whitehead continues, “Now, of course, we can’t all live off the grid, or build our own homes, or live in a shantyboat. I mean, my partner and I are avid gardeners, but we would be in trouble if we had to subsist on the food we manage to grow each year. But the point is, because of the influence of the Hubbards and their way of life, we try to grow at least some of our own food organically. We took a piece of the Hubbard ethos and incorporated it into our own way of life.”

“And, you know, the Hubbard way of life isn’t just about sustainability. So much of it is about embracing beauty, deciding to preserve that beauty, and living with creativity, humility, and restraint as a result. And this can be as simple as expanding our minds by educating ourselves about our environments and communities, or planting heirloom tomatoes, or learning to make something with our hands, or going down to the riverbank and just listening to it slosh. Even before meeting Anna and collaborating on the remarkable life at Payne Hollow, Harlan was seeking to understand and reflect nature’s beauty, however he could, even when he wasn’t in circumstances he relished.”

How do you research such a long and varied life? “Part of my research was very organic, growing out of my 10+ years of learning about his life and work. During that time, I have been privileged to meet and correspond with hundreds of people who knew Harlan and Anna personally, or collect Harlan’s art, or were simply a big fan of Shantyboat and Payne Hollow. It has been invaluable to get the opportunity to absorb so much history through the experiences and insights of others.”

Whitehead continues, “But, of course, with any significant work of life-writing, I had to access as much primary source material as I possibly could. Fortunately, Harlan and Anna both left behind remarkable resources where this is concerned–Harlan especially. Significant collections of Hubbard archival material reside at the University of Louisville’s Archives and Special Collections, the Behringer-Crawford Museum, Hanover College, and the Filson Historical Society, and I have spent many, many hours under the patient hospitality of their archivists and collections managers.” 

“But I will say: Driftwood certainly is comprehensive, but it is not exhaustive. There is still so much to be written about the Hubbards, and I can only hope that Driftwood inspires future scholars to pick up where I left off.”

Save the Date For Local Book Signing

Join the Harlan Hubbard Studio and Preserve for an open studio book signing event on May 24, 2025, from noon-3 pm. Jessica K. Whitehead will discuss her latest work, Driftwood: The Life of Harlan Hubbard (University Press of Kentucky, February, 2025) at the Harlan Hubbard Studio and Preserve in Fort Thomas KY. The studio was built by Harlan Hubbard in 1938 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ms. Whitehead has written a comprehensive biography of Harlan Hubbard. She will present a vivid depiction of his life as an artist and as a chronicler of his personal evolution. You will be immersed in the traces Hubbard left behind, both through his art and through his template for sustainable living. The studio is located at 129 Highland Avenue. With the exception of special events like this, it is not open to the public.

Whitehead is currently the Curator of Collections at the Kentucky Derby Museum, serves on the Kentucky Museum & Heritage Alliance Board of Directors, and is an Independent Writer, Curator, and Artist. www.jessicakwhitehead.com