As Indiana’s Storyteller™, the Indiana Historical Society actively works to preserve historical narratives from Indiana’s diverse population. In 2014, IHS began collecting and preserving the rich history, tradition and culture of the LGBTQ community through the Indiana LGBTQ Collecting Initiative. Since then, it has become one of the largest collections documenting Indiana LGBTQ-related materials and […]
The newly processed D.A. Bohlen Architectural Firm Records span four generations of the Bohlen family – 111 years from 1867 to 1978. The phrase, “A Bohlen on every block,” referring to their popularity in Indianapolis, is reflected in the sheer scope of this collection, which covers roughly 175 separate buildings and multibuilding campus projects. It […]
To celebrate Indiana’s sesquicentennial in 1966, the Indiana Historical Society – in partnership with the Indiana Historical Bureau and with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. – launched the History of Indiana series. To celebrate Indiana’s Bicentennial, IHS is producing the series as ebooks. In the five volumes of this series, published between 1968 and 1998, […]
David L. Smith is the author of a 2006 book, Hoosiers in Hollywood, published by the IHS Press, and a 2011 book, Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb. The wealth of materials he used in his research are cataloged in the David L. Smith Collection. These materials include photographs, lobby cards, movie […]
Not so long ago, in a place not so far away, 3,000 Italians found themselves in a prisoner of war camp in Indiana. In 1943, Italian soldiers captured in North Africa were sent to POW camps across the U.S. A large group of them lived in a compound next to Camp Atterbury, a military installation […]
Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War is known as one of the most important visual records documenting the Civil War. This two-volume set from 1865 includes 100 albumen photographs depicting battle sites, forts, military structures and other sites during the war. The Indiana Historical Society’s copy of Gardner’s two-volume set was in good […]
Retired news anchor Howard Caldwell credits his grandmother and parents for instilling in him a love of movies and the theater, but the English Theatre holds a special place in his heart. “It was Broadway in Indianapolis,” he says. “My father loved a comic named Fred Stone who came to Indianapolis every year, and that […]
Duncan Schiedt married two hobbies and made a career. His union of photography and jazz proved a successful experiment through the decades. The span of his work and his acquaintance with jazz performers and venues, as evidenced in his portraits of jazz greats at various clubs and festivals, was a triumph. Schiedt was born in […]
Since its first issue hit IHS members’ mailboxes, the quarterly popular history magazine Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History has delivered to its readers engaging narrative, shining a light on little-known lives and events from the 19th state’s past. Now, for the first time, the articles featured in the magazine from 1989 through 2013 are […]
The newly acquired Milhous Family Glass Plates and Prints Collection depicts household scenes, family and friends, and views of Indiana and California in the early 1900s. A gift of Gary A. and Shelley Milhous, the collection documents a Quaker family’s life in Southern Indiana and their move to the Whittier, California, area at the beginning […]
