Kathleen S. Browning

Kaye Browning is the curator and creative energy behind the Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center in Maysville, Kentucky. Her journey into miniatures started with a gift some fifty years ago, and has since developed into one of the most extensive collections of 1/12-scale miniatures in the world. Kaye’s collection features miniature working instruments and tools, replicas of rare museum works, and furnishings which have been created using the same materials and techniques artisans used centuries ago to create the full-sized items. Thousands of miniatures are displayed in a 3,300-square foot gallery in room boxes, houses, and vignettes that are works of art in their own right.

Love of history and craftsmanship drew Kaye to miniatures, and today she is devoted to publicizing the art form and its artisans. As a prominent collector, she shares her knowledge and expertise through lectures and personal tours of the KSB Miniatures Collection. Her efforts in promoting miniatures and the Maysville region were recognized in 2018 when she was awarded the Buffalo Trace Community Leadership Award for contributing to economic growth in her community and again in 2022 when she became the Governor’s Awards in the Arts Milner Award recipient.

Kaye has been published in four languages and is the author of two books chronicling her collecting experiences, Collectively Speaking: My Passionate Pursuit of Miniatures, Volumes 1 and 2. The KSB Miniatures Collection has been featured in publications internationally including American Miniaturist, Miniature Collector, Dollhouse Miniatures, Dolls House World, Dollhouse & Miniature Scene, Dolls House Nederland and Miniaturas, as well as in Kentucky Monthly, Cincinnati Magazine, Kentucky Living, Esquire, USA Today and Southern Living. She is also a popular subject of television broadcasts, with the collection appearing on such shows as KET’s Kentucky Collectibles, Kentucky Life, and Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum.