Category Archives: Local History Services

Great Expectations!

I spent most of the first week in October in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the American Association for State and Local History conference. Salt Lake City is beautiful, clean and friendly. I heard an organ recital at the Mormon Tabernacle and one night I ate at Squatter?s Brewery, a fun local joint. I had […]

Cemetery Tour!!! REALLY?

For the past two years, IHS has offered a day trip to an area historic cemetery. This last week, Jennifer Hiatt, IHS director of membership and annual giving, and I made a trip to Bedford to begin the plans for the 2013 IHS member trip we call “Grave Matters.” In 2011, we went to Spring […]

The Wild Ones

Jeff writes: The Local History Services department recently took a group trip across the canal to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. We saw an interesting exhibit called Steel Ponies. It was a mix of motorcycle history, motorcycles IN art and motorcycles AS art. It was interesting to see how they blended […]

LHS Staff – Compulsive Tinkerers or Just Nuts?

We tried a new workshop format this week. We had a panel of presenters talk about managing people Dan McCain from the Wabash and Erie Canal Interpretive Center and Museum spoke about managing volunteers; Tanis Monday from the Putnam County Museum talked about managing interns; and Diane Ballard from the Monroe County History Center spoke […]

How Much Do You Care About the History of Another?

A few days ago, while enjoying some chocolate sandwich cookies and walking on the canal, Jeff Harris and I started a conversation about how much (or little) we ever talk about history content with local history groups. As the Local History Services department, you might expect that we’re the place to go to get your […]

Field Services and Soul Food

The Indiana Historical Society Local History Services staff met with members of the Field Services Alliance in Indianapolis at the end of February. FSA is a network of folks from different states who serve local history groups and cultural organizations to help them do what they do better. Like the AIM Conference, AAM conference, AASLH […]

Vive la difference

The Local History Services Department recently went out on an afternoon of team-building to Petite Chou, a French caf? in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis. They have lots of interesting food, but we all had dessert crepes. I had banana and brown sugar; Jeannette had chocolate and berries; Tamara had caramel and apple; and […]

A Compelling Story Part II

Back in March, I blogged about a visit to the Indiana Deaf Heritage Museum located at the Indiana School for the Deaf. They were in the process of moving their museum and setting up a new exhibit. We met and chatted about how they might reach their audience by developing compelling stories that would help […]

No One Way to Learn History

I?ve been talking a lot lately about the variety of ways that people learn. I?m a text learner. I like to read and follow directions because it appeals to my orderly sense of the world or perhaps to the sense of order I impose on the world. (My nickname isn?t Spreadsheet Girl for nothing.) Jeff, […]