Madam C.J. Walker (M 0399)

Madam C.J. Walker was a self-made businesswoman who became a national figure and philanthropist. In 1910 she moved to Indianapolis, setting up a factory and beauty school. The collection contains the personal and business papers of Madam Walker, A’Lelia Walker, Freeman B. Ransom, and others who worked for the company, company records relating to operations and the beauty schools and agents, and materials from businesses located in the Walker Building in Indianapolis. This digital collection is a sample of the materials found in the collection.

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The Indianapolis Recorder (P 0303)

The Indianapolis Recorder is the longest continuously operated African-American newspaper in Indiana, and it regularly carried articles of interest to the African-American community statewide. The collection dates from circa 1900 to 1987. The digitization of this collection is a work in progress.

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Robert F. Kennedy's Visit to Indianapolis, 4 May 1968

U.S. Senator (D-NY) Robert F. Kennedy of New York declared his candidacy for President on 16 March 1968. In April and early May he made many campaign stops throughout Indiana. On 4 May he attended an event at the Hotel Sheridan-Lincoln and then visited several Indianapolis neighborhoods including one at 21st and Harding Streets depicted in these images. Katherine “Katie” Palmer was a resident of the neighborhood and took these pictures. This visit is exactly midway between the dates of two tragic events in American history: a month earlier on 4 April, Kennedy spoke to an Indianapolis crowd that had just learned of the assassination and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Kennedy himself would fall to an assassin’s bullet a month later on 5 June.

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Flanner House Collection

Flanner House, a social service agency, was founded in 1898. It was the first agency in Indianapolis devoted solely to meeting the social service needs of the African American population in Indianapolis and is nationally recognized for developing groundbreaking programs that foster a spirit of self-reliance among those served. The collection provides insight into this historic organization and its important role in shaping the social and economic landscape of Indianapolis. This collection is part of an LSTA 2006 Digitization Grant in which IHS partnered with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Their Flanner House collection can be viewed at this link: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/special/collections/philanthropy/mss004

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