Category Archives: Collections and Library

Celebration Days in September

September is probably best known for a celebration like Labor Day. Continuing our National Days blog series, I’ve highlighted two other day celebrations in the month as illustrated by materials from the IHS digital collection. In 2022, the American Hotel and Lodging Association along with National Day Calendar began celebrating September 1st as National Hotel […]

County Extension Agents during World War II

In the Fall/Winter 2023 issue of Connections magazine, available through the IHS Member Login tab, Purdue University Extension specialist Frederick Whitford writes of the beginning of the Purdue Extension Agent program and the agents’ work through the Great Depression and World War II. The article is based on a book Whitford authored about the same […]

Celebration Days in August

April may be the cruelest month, but August is surely the sunniest! Warm days and clear azure skies make me think of two seemingly unrelated subjects that reach great heights: aviation and rollercoasters. Perhaps by coincidence, perhaps by intention, two days in August celebrate these wildly different marvels of human engineering. August 19th is National […]

Are We Related?: Cleveland

Many family historians are thrilled when they can connect famous people to their own genealogy. This month I attempted to tie my 4x great-grandmother with a presidential surname to Grover Cleveland (trivia: His first name was actually Stephen). The president in question had several Hoosier connections. Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president, uniquely he […]

Hoosier History At Your Fingertips

Have you ever wished for the ability to shop online for images depicting Hoosier History? Well, now you can! Just this month the Indiana Historical Society has made over 90,000 digital assets more accessible by launching our high-resolution image ordering system. Previously, if you wanted to order a high-resolution image from our digital image site […]

Indiana’s Oldest Latino Hoosier Tradition Turns 100

Sunday, September 15, 2024, will be the 100th anniversary of the Fiestas Patrias parade in Indiana Harbor (East Chicago). One hundred years ago, this Mexican American community, coupled with the smaller community in Gary, gathered to celebrate Mexico’s Independence from Spain (1821). However, this inaugural Indiana parade had a deeper meaning. The early Mexican American […]

Haunting and Elegant

Director of Collections Management Maire Gurevitz (aka my supervisor) and I have spent most of 2024 processing the records of the Junior League of Indianapolis, or JLI. The JLI is a women’s service organization that uses the power of voluntarism to affect positive change in our community. The Junior League has its roots in the […]

1945: Indianapolis Women’s Department Club Hosts Academy Awarding Winning Chinese American Film Producer, Li Ling-Ai

The Women’s Department Club was started in Indianapolis in 1912 by Mrs. Luella McWhirter. While still presently active, this club and its members focus their efforts on community service, arts, and education related causes and projects. This club was and still is presently known to host a public lecture series. On October 10, 1945, the […]