Featured image: An artist’s rendering of the Exposition Building in 1874. As part of my job with the Indianapolis Bicentennial Project, I recently processed some materials from the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. Included in that collection are hundreds of original General Ordinances dated from the 1860s to about 1900. Among these, I found (to my […]
For me, this time of year is all about celebrations. Not only are we celebrating birthdays and anniversaries in my family, but we’re also looking forward to the holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and before you know it, we’ll be ringing in the New Year. I recently cataloged a pamphlet […]
According to the Reid Duffy Menu Collection, fine dining in Indianapolis in the 1980s and 1990s can be summed up by five words: steak, steak and more steak. The WRTV reporter hosted a weekly restaurant review segment called “Duffy’s Diner” from 1978 to 1995. Any local eatery was eligible, which is why Duffy’s menus, donated […]
I find old medical books fascinating. They rank high on my list of favorite printed materials to catalog – right up there with yearbooks, cookbooks and maps. I’m no medical expert, but I enjoy reading about various ailments and how they were treated long ago. I also appreciate the accompanying illustrations. Far from being gory […]
I was very fortunate to spend the first week of June attending Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Spending time with fellow bibliophiles in a place steeped in such rich history was a true gift for this librarian. I “lived” on campus, and although dorm life wasn’t as comfortable for me as […]
We typically collect photos, documents, books and other materials that relate directly to Indiana or to the Old Northwest. But sometimes our collections include materials from out-of-state and even overseas. This is especially true with family photograph collections that document vacations Hoosiers have taken over the years. My family and I just got back from […]
A few years ago, a colleague showed me a photo of an Asian man named Harry Sasaki from the Larry Foster Collection she was working on. The photo was dated April 20, 1943, and thanks to Larry’s notes, we know that Harry Sasaki was at that time a vendor at the City Market in Indianapolis. […]
While Indianapolis is considered the Crossroads of America, one of the city’s most significant builders could not have been born further from here. William P. Jungclaus was born February 22, 1849, in a small village near Hamburg, Germany, with a seafaring father and a stepmother whose wish for him was to enter education or the […]
Feature Photo: Repblican Presidential Candidate Wendell Willkie at English Theater in Indianapolis, 1940 (Indiana Historical Society) I spend a lot of time preserving and digitizing historical photographs of Indiana events, but I also like to take advantage of witnessing history with my own eyes when the opportunity presents itself. A big opportunity came this week […]
The Famous Door, Bellflower Clinic, Essex House, Body Works. What do these places have in common? They are just a handful of lost landmarks of the Indianapolis LGBTQ community. Even though the structures are gone, these demolished buildings still share their stories with us today. The Essex House was the youngest mid-rise apartment/hotel building in […]
