On April 12, 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina a war that nearly divided this country forever. Battle names, places and dates are often what we think of: the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861; Antietem in September 1862; Gettysburg in July 1863. […]
Indiana has produced many talented authors throughout the years. Famous examples include George Ade, Theodore Dreiser, Meredith Nicholson, Gene Stratton-Porter, Booth Tarkington, Kurt Vonnegut and Lew Wallace. No list is complete, however, unless it includes James Whitcomb Riley, also known as the “Hoosier Poet” and the “Children’s Poet.” Riley was famous for using dialect verse, […]
“I’M LOOKING FOR THE ORIGINAL RECIPE FOR SUGAR CREAM PIE.” More than once, excited patrons have written to our library in search of this holy grail of Indiana recipes. After all, the chocolate chip cookie has a verified origin story. Why not our official state pie? However, like the Devil’s Lake Monster or the Beast […]
Life is always interesting in the Digitization Department! We discover so many historic treasures that remain relevant today and we get to share them with you via our Digital Collections. This time the treasure is a letter written by Captain David Enoch Beem of 14th Indiana Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War. I had already […]
The IHS library recently received a large addition to one of our serial collections: … Annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration …, asouvenir program issued by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Kevin Barry Division #3, Indianapolis. Our holdings now represent the years 1950-2016, with only a small handful of exceptions. The Ancient Order of Hibernians was […]
To celebrate all the marriage proposals, wedding ceremonies and anniversaries that will be taking place this Valentine’s Day, I present the Wedding Embassy Yearbook, published by L.S. Ayres and Company in 1950. Although times have changed quite a bit, this book must have been an invaluable resource for brides-to-be 75 years ago. Department stores reigned […]
My mom has worked at IHS for more than 30 years with the image collections. Conversations while driving downtown or dinnertime discussions often recalled stories from IHS collections to my mom’s mind. Some have to do with buildings now long gone but still seemingly in living memory because of images, and others have to do […]
In the spring of 2012, I graduated from Indiana University’s Master of Library Science program with a specialization in rare books and manuscripts librarianship. The courses were fascinating, and now, I am lucky to put my education to good use as the cataloger of Printed Collections here at the IHS library. I recently cataloged a […]
I was fortunate to be hired as the cataloger of Printed Collections at the end of 2013. One of my very first projects was to finishcataloging two large collections of Civil War materials. I have always been fascinated by this turbulent period in our country’s history, so I was excited to start my new career […]
I had no idea what to expect upon joining the Archives and Library team here at the Indiana Historical Society this fall, other than I would be working on the Larry Foster Collection. Now, more than two months in, I could not imagine my life without Larry. From my project this fall, I have been […]
