Traveling Exhibits

Visitors will take a ride through Indiana’s rich automotive past as they discover the Hoosier State’s prolific contributions. From inventors and innovators like Elwood Haynes and Ralph Teetor to automakers like Studebaker and Duesenberg, Indiana has left an indelible mark on the industry for more than a century – and vice versa.

The exhibit illuminates ties between the automobiles and the development of many other economic opportunities for the “Crossroads of America,” such as the iron, steel and glass businesses. It also explores how the automobile became part of American Dream and popular culture, from movies to making personal memories. Guests can also gaze down the road ahead for Hoosiers, from environmental impact of automobiles to a look at manufacturing today. Made possible by Kroger.

Ideas for use: Showcase automobile items from your collection or have a car show at your site while the exhibit is on display. This is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring approximately 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

A single narrative cannot define the experience of many, but it can give us insight into what it is like to be part of a cultural community within the Hoosier context. This exhibit offers a glimpse of more than 100 hears of Asian heritage in the state.

Be Heard: Asian Experiences in Indiana is based on interviews of individuals of varying cultural backgrounds who recall what it has been like to be Asian in the Hoosier State throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Content in the exhibit and overall collection reflect on their culture, as well as their contributions to local communities and the state.

Be Heard: Asian Experiences in Indiana is made possible by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Ideas for use: Display local items that represent the Asian community in your area. Partner with a local organization to present a joint program.

Be Heard: Asian Experiences in Indiana is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

The experience of a single immigrant cannot define the collective experience of many. But it can add insight into what it is like to uproot oneself, plant new roots, and become part of a growing community. This is not a new narrative for the many ethnic communities that make up the cultural identity of Indiana.

Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana offers a glimpse into the stories of individuals of varying cultural backgrounds who recall what it has been like to be Latino in the Hoosier State throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The stories reflect on the Latinos’ cultures as well as on their contributions to local communities or to the State of Indiana.

Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana is made possible by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Ideas for use: Display local items that represent Latino culture in the area. Partner with local organizations to present a joint program.

Be Heard: Latino Experiences in Indiana is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Endangered Heritage, a collections care advocacy exhibit, educates local communities and potential funders about the need for good collections stewardship and to encourage contributions for collections care. It also gives examples of the dangers to objects in collections and information about the collections care needs of Indiana’s organizations.

Endangered Heritage gives examples of some of the most common dangers to objects and documents in Hoosier history collections. The exhibit focuses on the needs of heritage collecting organizations for humidity and temperature controls, adequate storage, and funds to care for their collections. Fortunately, there are solutions to the problems facing Indiana’s heritage collections, and the exhibit suggests ways to help. Visitors to the exhibit will learn how they can assist in preserving Indiana’s history.

Ideas for use: A curriculum/program plan to educate your members and community about the causes of deterioration and how to care for personal collections is also included with the exhibit.

This exhibit consists of 12 one-sided, 2-foot wide, freestanding banner stands. In addition, an exhibit table with a secure vitrine (clear display cover) that you can use to feature items from your collection is available upon request. It can be arranged to fit different floor configurations. It requires at least 100 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Faces of the Civil War brings to life the stories of many Hoosiers whose lives were touched, and in some cases taken, by the Civil War. Not all are well-known or revered – many were just everyday citizens fulfilling their duties to their friends, family, state and country. Rather than focusing on statistics and large-scale battles, Faces of the Civil War illustrates how regular people coped with the tragic experiences of the day – all from an Indiana perspective.

Ideas for use: Showcase Civil War items from your collection or host Civil War events at your site while this exhibit is on display. 

Faces of the Civil War is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

From the antics of fat-cat Garfield to the cracker-barrel philosophy of Brown County savant Abe Martin, the many creations of Hoosier cartoonists are highlighted in this colorful exhibit designed to amuse and intrigue your audience. The exhibit explores the amusing goings-on of characters from comic strips like “Chic” Jackson’s “Roger Bean,” which featured the lives of a typical Hoosier family, to the editorial musings of Pulitzer Prize-winning artist John T. McCutcheon, who was a fierce opponent of America’s entry into World War II.

Drawn from the collections of the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Library, and other institutions throughout the state, the exhibition also examines the life and work of such Indiana cartoonists as “the dean of America’s editorial cartoonists,” Evansville’s Karl Kae Knecht; artists from the Crawfordsville area known as the Sugar Crick School of Art; “the first black political cartoonist,” Henry Jackson Lewis, who worked for the Indianapolis Freeman; Abe Martin creator Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard; Richmond’s Gaar Williams, who earned a designation as the “James Whitcomb Riley of the pencil”; and Muncie’s Jim Davis, responsible for bringing Garfield to life.

Ideas for use: Showcase cartoons and drawings from your collection or have a cartoon contest while this exhibit is on display.

From Pencils to Pixels is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 180 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Indiana’s contributions during the First World War went far beyond the men and women who were drafted or volunteered for overseas duty. Tens of thousands left home for European battlefields, hospitals, and training camps, and several thousand never returned. The scale of the war and the vast amount of mobilized resources unavoidably drew Hoosiers statewide into the war effort with long-lasting effects.

The exhibit explores the roots of World War I, America’s entrance into the war, Indiana’s participation in and contributions to the war effort, the evolution of warfare, the role of Hoosier women both at home and abroad, Germans in Indiana, efforts for lasting peace, the construction of the American Legion building and the Indiana War Memorial, and more. Made possible by Kroger.

Ideas for use: Showcase photographs and items from your local military history or World War I efforts while this exhibit is on display.

This is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring approximately 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

This exhibit tells the stories of Black Hoosiers who broke ground for their community and paved a path for future generations while making contributions to Indiana. Through the images and stories in this exhibit, far from an encyclopedic look at Black excellence or accomplishment, instead present compelling examples of the important role that Black people have played in Hoosier history, a role that has too often been erased.

Ideas for use: Display local items that represent the black community in your area. Partner with a local organization to present a joint program.

Groundbreaking Black Hoosiers is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Visitors will be taken through the rise and fall of prohibition in Indiana and throughout the entire country. The exhibit spans the dawn of the temperance movement of the 1900s, the roaring 1920s and the unprecedented repeal of a constitutional amendment during the Great Depression.

The era’s conflicting cultures are demonstrated through colorful historic figures such as Edward S. Shumaker of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League, as well as the bootleggers, moonshiners and bathtub gin distillers who found their way around the law in Indiana. Guests can also take a look at how the prohibition movement is reflected in current issues. Made possible by Kroger.

Ideas for use: Showcase prohibition-era items from your collection or have a prohibition program at your site while the exhibit is on display. This is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring approximately 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

In Indiana, extreme weather such as floods, tornadoes, blizzards, and drought persist year to year. The way humans interact with their environment also leave people vulnerable to disasters, causing accidents like fires, crashes, spills, and explosions. Disasters of all kinds—biological, violent, or bizarre events such as epidemics, bombs, and squirrel migrations—are forever remembered in local communities.

In this traveling exhibit, photographs from various IHS collections and institutions all over the state capture unforgettable Indiana catastrophes while newspaper headlines, illustrations and survivor accounts show how Hoosier’s persevere in the face of disaster. Made possible by Kroger.

Ideas for use: Showcase items or newspaper clippings from your collection, host a science fair or have a meteorology program at your site while the exhibit is on display. This is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring approximately 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Because of the way we use them, we assume maps to be complete and accurate. No map, however, can show all aspects of reality, so the mapmaker chooses the information that will best convey his message and sometimes slants the information to serve his purposes. 

Indiana Through the Mapmaker’s Eye?examines four ways people have used maps through the years: as documentation, as tools, as political images and as art. Some of the maps included in the display are an 1833 tourist pocket map of Indiana, a 1910 Sanborn Company fire insurance map of Bloomington, Thomas Kitchin’s 1747 map of French settlements in North America, a circa 1880 scale model map of the University of Notre Dame, and an 1881 bird’s-eye view of Mount Vernon, Ind. 

Ideas for use: Showcase maps from your collection while this exhibit is on display.?Indiana through the Mapmaker’s Eye?is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 220 square feet of floor space. 

Indiana Through the Mapmaker’s Eye is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy stopped in a neighborhood in the near north side of Indianapolis to make a speech while on his presidential campaign trail. The folks in the crowd had no idea they would hear of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death that very day. In an effort to comfort the crowd and come to terms with the senseless violence, Robert Kennedy gave an impromptu speech that encouraged peace, hope, bravery and reconciliation. This exhibit explores the impact of Kennedy’s words and King’s legacy on several Indianapolis residents, while also looking at the Civil Rights Movement in Indianapolis, today’s MLK Jr. Park marking the speech’s location, and King’s impact on the National Civil Rights Movement.

The second major element of the exhibit showcases themes brought out in Kennedy’s speech and King’s civil rights work by exploring the lives of several human rights defenders working around the globe. The nonprofit advocacy group, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, provided the displayed biographies and images.

The Indiana Historical Society and the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative collaborated on this exhibit to honor the 50th anniversary of King’s death and Kennedy’s speech.

Ideas for use: Showcase items related to the Civil Rights Movement or partner with a local human rights group while this exhibit is on display.

Local Speech, Global Reach is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

Until the 1960s it was widely accepted that buildings had a shelf life. Buildings were demolished for a variety of reasons. This exhibit explores the important buildings and neighborhoods of Indianapolis that have been lost. See how the demolitions of the mid-twentieth century led to a movement that challenged ideas about what should be destroyed and what should be saved.

This exhibit has been made possible through a Historic Preservation Education Grant from Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Supported by the Emerson B. and Jane H. Houck Endowment for Hoosier Photography.

Ideas for use: Display items that represent the lost buildings in your area. Partner with a local organization to present a joint program.

Lost Landmarks of Indianapolis is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

From the first Indiana Woman’s Rights Convention held in Dublin, Indiana, in 1851 to the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, Hoosier women fought hard for more than 70 years to gain the right to vote. Securing the Vote: Women’s Suffrage in Indiana explores how women all across Indiana passionately labored for suffrage through countless meetings, campaigns and other grassroots efforts. Despite many defeats and setbacks, they persisted towards the goal of full citizenship and the power to make change through voting.

Securing the Vote: Women’s Suffrage in Indiana is a project of the Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial, catalyzed by Indiana Humanities, the Indianapolis Propylaeum, the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana Historical Bureau, with support from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Ideas for use: Display local items that represent the past or current fight for women’s rights. Partner with local League of Women Voters or other women’s rights organizations to present a joint program.

Securing the Vote: Women’s Suffrage in Indiana is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

This traveling exhibit celebrates 30 years of LGBT history as seen through the lens of photographer Mark A. Lee. His photographs give visitors a front row seat to events, both public and private, that shaped the lives of many Hoosiers. “A Visual Journey: From AIDS to Marriage Equality documents members of the AIDS community, past and present Bag Ladies, members of Pride, and those who fought for marriage equality,” said Lee. “It also pays tribute to five very special people who are no longer here (for reasons other than AIDS) and takes a sneak peek into our future, as it takes a closer look at the transgender community.”

The traveling exhibit, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company and Cummins, also highlights IHS’s work with the Indiana LGBT Collecting Initiative. First announced in 2014, the initiative includes oral histories, photographs and research materials donated to the IHS archives. The Indiana LGBT Collecting Initiative is supported by the Efroymson Family Fund and a grant from The Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate.

View the content of this exhibit.

Ideas for use: Showcase items from your collection or partner with local LGBT or Gay-straight alliance groups while this exhibit is on display.

A Visual Journey is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring at least 180 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.

The makeup of Indiana’s communities has changed over time, molded by the contributions of a wide range of ethnic groups. Many people ask “What is a Hoosier?”—and Indiana natives take pride in their nickname. Today people with many different backgrounds now identify themselves as Hoosiers.

In this traveling exhibit, maps and informational graphics highlight the statistical impact of changing ethnic groups, while photographs from various IHS collections and institutions all over the state bring to life the personal stories of immigration. Made possible by Kroger.

Ideas for use: Showcase photographs and items from the major ethnic traditions in your area while this exhibit is on display. This is a 7-foot tall, freestanding exhibit requiring approximately 200 square feet of floor space.

See detailed layout specifications.

To book an exhibit, please email localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org.