Entertainment for the Great Indoors

April 1, 2020

Just your friendly neighborhood archivist here, checking in with our readers to see how you are all doing? I know that we are all glad to practice being good neighbors and are staying home to help protect our most vulnerable populations from the spread of COVID-19. However, in times like these when we are all working to adjust our schedules and expectations, as well as to find some happy distractions, I am taking some inspiration for activities and new hobbies while browsing our Digital Image Collection.

For instance, these folks, Rose McClure Milhous and Charles Wright Milhous of Seymour, Indiana look really cozy playing a board game next to their beautifully elaborate fireplace.

Indiana Historical Society

These women at the Indiana State Fair Girls School in 1946 are displaying and working on a variety of handicrafts, like weaving, painting, and decoupage. Perhaps these types of handicrafts are a bit more advanced that we are comfortable with, but it is still important to cultivate your creativity. Maybe that involves fingerpainting with your children or breaking out an old sketchbook.

Indiana Historical Society

Maybe you have always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, or maybe you have gotten a bit rusty because you haven’t been able to make time to practice in a while. Even better, perhaps you are already a skilled musician and can host a porch concert for your neighbors or play the piano with the windows open on a nice day so that people walking by can hear a delightful melody. It could be, just as in this photo of J. Irwin Miller of Columbus, Indiana playing the organ for his cat, that your pets might also be glad for a musical distraction.

Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Family Collection, Indiana Historical Society

Finally, there is always the option to turn on the radio or create a fun playlist so you can have a dance party. In the privacy of your own home. Where no one but your pets or significant other or kids or the four walls of the room you are in will see your moves, however sharp or tragic they may be. Although they are not showing proper social distancing, this photo of dancing girls taken at Flanner House in Indianapolis is the cutest inspiration to have a dance-off!

Indiana Historical Society

I hope these photos from Indiana’s past are helping you in the present day to lift your spirits while also encouraging everyone who is able to stay home. Wishing everyone good health and riotous living room dance parties.

Maire Gurevitz is an archivist at IHS. In her free time she can be found at the yoga studio or working on her Hoosier themed romance novel.

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