“Great Is Thy Faithfulness: A Bicentennial History of the Meridian Street Methodist Church” is the latest release from the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) Press. To mark the church’s bicentennial, authors Andrea Neal and Jason Lantzer examine the buildings, the people and the faith journey of the oldest church in Indianapolis. In doing so, they identify […]
It’s that time of year to cuddle up inside with a good book — and the Indiana Historical Society’s (IHS) annual Holiday Author Fair is just the place the find the perfect read for you! Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Holiday Author Fair is taking place online Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, […]
Since leaving office at the end of his second term, former president Dwight D. Eisenhower had been living in retirement at a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Although busy in 1967 with the publication of his final book, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, Eisenhower took the time to write a personal letter to a […]
In addition to the museum exhibit, You Are There 1920: Celebrate Indianapolis!, the Indiana Historical Society has launched an augmented reality mobile app to help Hoosiers and history buffs celebrate the city’s bicentennial. The app, “Celebrate Indianapolis,” transports users back in time. After downloading it, they can choose to visit 10 Indianapolis residents who left […]
Many of us have experienced the joy of taking a family vacation. When I was young, my father, mother, brother and I took yearly road trips to the Florida panhandle to visit my grandparents during Spring Break. The twelve-hour car journey was never ideal, but we made the most of our time together. We listened […]
Redlining – the discriminatory practice by which banks refuse or limit mortgages to people of color, ethnic minorities, and low-income workers within specific geographic areas- still defines much of where we live or can live in Indianapolis. These federal government policies, established by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in 1933, reinforced segregation and disinvestment in […]
Probably unknown to most Hoosiers is Indiana’s rich history with cryptids, animals that claim to exist but have never been proven. With Halloween just around the corner, now is the best time to learn about the 3-foot-tall creature lurking in the forests near you. Many Indigenous people have legends of the Pukwudgies, but one of the most popular places to see […]
How does a historian whose work focused on those “boring railroad presidents” end up collaborating on a memoir of a living Hoosier businessman, philanthropist, and politician? Some would say the answer was dumb luck. Others would argue it was fate. But it surely was both memorable and invaluable to my development as a historian, writer, […]
On a usual day, the morning bell would start the beginning of the school day. On October 2, 1970, the morning bell would start something else for East Chicago’s Washington High School as nearly 600 students walked out of their first period class. The students, a multiracial collection of ethnic Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, African Americans […]
During Hispanic Heritage month, it is always important to remind people that Latino and Hispanic cultural heritage is not monolithic. When looking at the size of Latin America we see 30+ combined countries and territories. Within these countries and territories are vast differences in spoken language and cultural norms. Fundamentally speaking, no two Spanish speaking […]
