When I was younger, I was lucky to go on vacations with my family which many times included stops at historic sites. As an adult, I have continued that tradition. My husband’s love of the Civil War often leads us to sites related to that topic. Using a sample of the Civil War collections at […]
I am an avid reader, and always have been. The summer between high school and college I read War and Peace…for fun. A couple of years ago, PBS came out with the Great American Read list of 100 books. Since then I have been reading my way through the list, and I’m about half-way there. […]
During this time of social distancing, isolation and solitude, I find myself fantasizing about magical creatures and far off places. So, I’ve returned to watch the Harry Potter series for what is probably the millionth time. My means of escape continues to bring me to my work with researching everyday people, the wealth of information […]
Due to the Covid-19 precautions, our previously scheduled Ethnic Eats: Myanmar on April 16 was postponed. Inspired by our multicultural collecting initiatives, our Ethnic Eats series began in 2017 exploring the food of the many cultures who call Indiana home. While learning together is certainly preferable to virtual gatherings, we can still learn about the […]
When IHS began the collecting initiative, Telling Your Story: Documenting COVID-19 in Indiana, our hope was to capture the experiences of Hoosiers during this historic time so their stories would be documented and preserved for future generations. Within the first week of collecting material, the response has been incredible as people from all over the […]
Prohibiting states and the federal government from denying citizens the right to vote based on sex, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and formally ratified on August 26, 1920. To commemorate the centennial of women winning the right to vote, the IHS Press recently published “We Must Be Fearless”: The […]
Columbia City, Indiana is in the northeast part of the state in Whitley County, just west of the city of Fort Wayne. At a time when the Asian population would be heavily concentrated on either U.S. coasts and select major cities, who would have thought one of the nation’s few soy sauce manufacturers would be […]
Many people know that Covid-19 is not our first pandemic in Indiana. One of the most notable happened about a century ago with the influenza pandemic in 1918-1919. At that time, schools were also closed, as evidenced by this quote from Earlee A. Griffin in a letter to Sergeant Irven Armstrong: “We have had nearly […]
When you visit the Indiana Historical Society to see You Are There 1915 Madam C.J. Walker: Empowering Women you will meet the real characters in Madam Walker’s life. The creators of the Netflix series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker chose not to include many of the real people close to […]
Until about six months ago, the walls of the west freight elevator at the Indiana Historical Society were depressingly blank. Then a photo of a puppy appeared on the wall. Soon, each of the sides were dotted with a parade of staff pets: dogs, cats and even the occasional fluffy white rabbit, each accompanied by […]
