New IHS Book, Exhibition Features Five Centuries of Treasures from Map Collection

Indianapolis-A long-awaited Indiana Historical Society (IHS) project comes together just in time for Indiana’s Bicentennial, with the release of a new book and the opening of a new exhibition. Mapping Indiana: Five Centuries of Treasures from the Indiana Historical Society features dynamic and treasured maps, painstakingly chosen, from IHS’s own collection.

Starting Saturday, Jan. 16, thirty of those IHS maps, some never before seen in public, will be displayed in the Rosemary McKee Lanham Gallery at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.

Viewers will be taken on such visual journeys as the important events and places in the life of Abraham Lincoln, the Frances Slocum Trail and the first-known state highway map of Indiana. The exhibition, running through Saturday, April 2, will also feature stories about Hoosier mapmakers and their lives.

The Mapping Indiana exhibition is included with admission to IHS’s Indiana Experience. Cost is $7, $6.50 for seniors and $5 for kids (ages 5 to 17). IHS members and children younger than five get in free. The History Center’s regular operating hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

In addition to the exhibition, IHS Press is proud to announce the release of the Mapping Indiana book, a decade in the making. The book, featuring 107 IHS maps, is now on sale at the History Center’s Basile History Market and online at www.indianahistory.org.

With the turn of each page, the beautiful, oversized book highlights the maps with essays written by Erin Kirchhoff, Eric L. Mundell and Amy Vedra. Mapping Indiana also features introductory essays by noted map specialist Donald Creswell and historian Nicole Etcheson, which relate the history of mapmaking from the early days of maps in America to the present, as well as the history of maps in the state.

For more information about the Mapping Indiana book, exhibition or other IHS programs and events, call (317) 232-1882.

About the Indiana Historical Society

Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Society has been Indiana’s Storyteller, connecting people to the past by collecting, preserving, interpreting and sharing the state’s history. A private, nonprofit membership organization and an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, IHS maintains the nation’s premier research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest and presents a unique set of visitor exhibitions called the Indiana Experience. IHS provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups, publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; produces and hosts art exhibitions, museum theater and outside performance groups; and provides youth, adult and family programming.

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For review copies, photos & interview requests contact: Rachel Hill Ponko, IHS director of public relations, at (317) 233-8814 or rhillponko@indianahistory.org

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