About American Historic Services
WHAT DO WE DO ?
Mel Hankla is a broker of fine Americana, buying and selling 18th and 19th century Kentucky rifles, powder horns and frontier art and arms for over 25 years. He is internationally known for authentication and appraisal.
Our services include booking speakers for historical portrayals or educational lectures, consulting on buying and/or selling antiquities and the design, planning and installation of educational displays for museums, trade shows and exhibits.
Mel Hankla is a broker of fine Americana, buying and selling 18th and 19th century Kentucky rifles, powder horns and frontier art and arms for over 25 years. He is internationally known for authentication and appraisal.
Our services include booking speakers for historical portrayals or educational lectures, consulting on buying and/or selling antiquities and the design, planning and installation of educational displays for museums, trade shows and exhibits.
OUR SUCCESS
Watch for Mel Hankla on KET portraying Cassius Clay in Cassius Marcellus Clay: An Audacious American. Mel is also widely known as Simon Kenton and George Rogers Clark, two Chautauqua characters from Kentucky Chautauqua, a program of The Kentucky Humanities Council. To book Mel Hankla as Simon Kenton or George Rogers Clark, please visit The Kentucky Humanities Council website, that address is: www.kyhumanities.org
Watch for Mel Hankla on KET portraying Cassius Clay in Cassius Marcellus Clay: An Audacious American. Mel is also widely known as Simon Kenton and George Rogers Clark, two Chautauqua characters from Kentucky Chautauqua, a program of The Kentucky Humanities Council. To book Mel Hankla as Simon Kenton or George Rogers Clark, please visit The Kentucky Humanities Council website, that address is: www.kyhumanities.org
ABOUT MEL HANKLA
Mel Stewart Hankla, founder of American Historic Services, is a collector, researcher, speaker and writer of Kentucky’s heritage and an authority on the history surrounding the Kentucky Longrifle. He's been a member of the Kentucky Rifle Association for 25 years, is a past president of the Contemporary Longrifle Association and editor of American Tradition Magazine. He is a builder of traditional Kentucky Longrifles and in 1984 was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant to apprentice with master riflesmith Hershel House.
A historical actor, he has worked 18 years with the Kentucky Humanities Council presenting Chautauqua characters of frontiersman Simon Kenton and General George Rogers Clark.
Most recently he was cast for the leading role in the PBS documentary, An Audacious American, the story of abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay.
A noted writer, he has contributed articles to many publications and is currently working on a book, "Up the Valley & Thru the Gap - Following the migration of Kentucky's Rifle Smiths." Lectures reporting his research towards the publication of this book have been recently presented to: The Kentucky Rifle Association, The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, The Kentucky Historical Society, The Filson Historical Society, The Owen County Historical Society, and will be presented at the 2014 Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) Conference on Southern Material Culture, October 23-25.
Mel Stewart Hankla, founder of American Historic Services, is a collector, researcher, speaker and writer of Kentucky’s heritage and an authority on the history surrounding the Kentucky Longrifle. He's been a member of the Kentucky Rifle Association for 25 years, is a past president of the Contemporary Longrifle Association and editor of American Tradition Magazine. He is a builder of traditional Kentucky Longrifles and in 1984 was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant to apprentice with master riflesmith Hershel House.
A historical actor, he has worked 18 years with the Kentucky Humanities Council presenting Chautauqua characters of frontiersman Simon Kenton and General George Rogers Clark.
Most recently he was cast for the leading role in the PBS documentary, An Audacious American, the story of abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay.
A noted writer, he has contributed articles to many publications and is currently working on a book, "Up the Valley & Thru the Gap - Following the migration of Kentucky's Rifle Smiths." Lectures reporting his research towards the publication of this book have been recently presented to: The Kentucky Rifle Association, The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation, The Kentucky Historical Society, The Filson Historical Society, The Owen County Historical Society, and will be presented at the 2014 Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) Conference on Southern Material Culture, October 23-25.