Sallie Clay Lanham, award winning artist and teacher, is a graduate of the Cincinnati Art Academy. She is a resident of Frankfort with ties to the founders of Frankfort, Henry Howe and Charlotte Watson living in the Carneal Watson House in the Corner in Celebrities. Charlotte built Watson Court in honor of her husband and was a founding member of the Frankfort Equal Rights Association. Sallie designed the Votes for Women medals that have been put on the graves of the women suffrage leaders who are buried in the Frankfort Cemetery. Lately, she has given talks on the twelve Kentucky women who were leaders in the suffrage movement. These women include her great grandmother, Mary Barr Clay, who brought Susan B. Anthony to Kentucky. Sallie is the co-editor of Portrait of Early Families: Frankfort Area before 1860 and a winner of the People's Choice Award - Frankfort's Best Artist/Author.
As a community leader, Sallie has been on founding boards of the King Center, Capital Expo, Save the Grand, Franklin County Arts Consortium, Capital Area Art Guild, and Beautify Frankfort, etc.
Portrait of Early Families, Frankfort Area before 1860
Three women who were descended from early families of Frankfort—Becky Darnell Bolton, Nash Cox, and Sallie Clay Lanham--compiled Portrait of Early Families, Frankfort Area before 1860. They were assisted by other descendants who came to a series of public meetings and brought family stories, information, artifacts, and photographs. This book is the result, a visual and narrative record of families who developed Frankfort and the surrounding land. Bob Lanham was indispensable in the design and in travelling across the state, photographing family portraits hanging on the walls of private homes. The Kentucky Oral History Commission provided a grant to tape family stories now in their archive, and Nell Cox videotaped some of these interviews. Excerpts are interspersed in the book. Richard Taylor wrote the introduction.