Archives March Madness

March 22, 2018

Is your bracket still intact? No, not the one you’re thinking of – it’s Archives March Madness here at IHS. We had staff members choose their favorite image in our collections. And this is no small task – we have more than 2 million in our collections and thousands of those are digitized for everyone to see.

Now we’re asking our social media followers on Facebook and Instagram to choose whose photo is the popular favorite. Each weekday, we posted two games from our Sweet 16.

ARCHIVES MARCH MADNESS STARTS TOMORROW! Our staff members have chosen their Sweet 16 from our collections, and now it’s up to you. Whose will win your vote? We’ll post four per weekday starting tomorrow until we get to the Final Four. Like, comment and share to make your choices.

A post shared by Indiana Historical Society (@indianahistory) on Mar 15, 2018 at 12:57pm PDT

The winners are in for the first round. Below are the images advancing to the Elite Eight. Keep on voting – we’ll be posting two match ups tomorrow and on Monday! Who will be in the Final Four?

Here they are! Your ELITE EIGHT. Congratulations to the winners. The first game is tomorrow. Who will make the FINAL FOUR? If you’re just joining us, our staff is putting their favorite images up against each other. You can get in on the fun by voting for your favorites.

A post shared by Indiana Historical Society (@indianahistory) on Mar 22, 2018 at 11:52am PDT

We have a Final Four! Check out these two matchups on Facebook and Instagram!

Final Four – Game One! This time, hit like to vote for the train wreck and comment to vote for the gas station. If you’re just joining us, check out our #linkinbio to find out about Archives March Madness.

A post shared by Indiana Historical Society (@indianahistory) on Mar 27, 2018 at 11:54am PDT

Final Four – Game One! This time, hit like to vote for Robert F. Kennedy and comment to vote for Girl on Tricycle. If you’re just joining us, check out our #linkinbio to find out about Archives March Madness.

A post shared by Indiana Historical Society (@indianahistory) on Mar 27, 2018 at 11:56am PDT

We have our finalists on Facebook and Instagram!

We have a winner!

Amy Vedra, director of reference, won with her photo of a bridge collapse from Aug. 19, 1920 in Putnam County. People on Instagram and Facebook were concerned for the man peering out of the precarious train. He must have been fine, because a quick search of Newspapers.com revealed only that the collapse happened. The papers used the image that we now have. And we think that is so cool!

From The Hagerstown Exponent, Sept. 23, 1920: Monster Locomotive in Perilous Plight … The collapse of a bridge near Greencastle, Ind. from under a battleship type of locomotive developed an unusual problem for the wrecking crew. The bridge had just been built and had been approved by engineers but the locomotive had hardly brought its full weight on it before it sank with a roar and a crash, the center falling 25 feet to the ground leaving the locomotive suspended with the front wheels on the bastions of one side of the bridge and the rear wheels on the other.

Thanks for joining us for Archives March Madness. We love sharing our collections with you every day. Congratulations to Amy Vedra!

Chelsea Sutton is communications coordinator at the Indiana Historical Society. She started drinking coffee at age 3 with her dad and always stays up too late reading.

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