Local History Services is trying to assess damage to historical organizations around the state to determine if and how we might be able to help. Has your organization experienced any damage due to the recent inclement weather and/or flooding? 

Please e-mail localhistoryservices@indianahistory.org with a brief description of the damage and what kind of assistance you seek.

Return to Top

South Shore Line Centennial Conference: The Last Electric Interurban Railway
This conference, presented by the Midwest Railroad Research Center of the Indiana Historical Society, will take place from June 26-28 at the South Bend Regional Airport.

Register by June 18.

The cost for the three days of activities is $45.

Schedule of Activities:

Thu., June 26:

• 7-9 p.m.: Reception in the Atrium at the South Bend Regional Airport with light hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. At the reception the poster by Mitch Markowitz commemorating the centennial will be unveiled. Copies of the poster will be available for purchase at the conference.

Fri., June 27:

• 8:30 a.m.: Registration Opens
• 9 a.m.: Sand, Steel, and Rail: The Northwest Indiana Historical Context of the South Shore Line by Steve McShane, Archivist-Curator, Calumet Regional Archives
• 10:30 a.m.: The Development of Railroads in the Region including the South Shore Line by Bill Middleton, Railroad Historian
• 11:30 a.m.: Buffet Lunch – Served by the South Bend Café at the airport.
  (Cost of lunch payable to the restaurant)
• 1 p.m.: The Creation of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) by George Smerk, Professor Emeritus of Transportation, Indiana University-Bloomington
• 2:15 p.m.: The Present and Future of Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District by Jerry Hanas, General Manager NICTD
• 3:30 p.m.: South Shore Freight Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Richard D. Bunton, retired Vice President of Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, Peter Gilbertson, Chairman of South Shore Freight and Henry Lampe, President of South Shore Freight. Moderated by Norm Carlson, Member, Indiana Historical Society’s Midwest Railroad Research Center Advisory Committee

Sat., June 28:

• 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: A round-trip train ride between South Bend and Michigan City with a visit at the Shops. A box lunch will be served on the train.

For more information or to register visit http://www.indianahistory.org/southshoreline.htm.

Return to Top

Please confim events specifics with sponsoring organization, especially if traveling any distance.

2008 Cole Porter Festival
This event will be held at several locations in Peru on June 13-15.

The festival begins on Fri., June 13, with a black tie gala at Peru’s River Walk. There will be music in the museum on Saturday morning and tours leaving the museum going to the Cole Porter Birthplace, grave site and other places of interest to Porter fans. During the day, the Miami County Arts Council is sponsoring an art show at Peru High School. There will be a dinner and show in the evening. The Beck Center Children's Choir from Cleveland, Ohio will be performing at the museum on Saturday morning. The festival concludes on Sun., June 15 with a Father’s Day brunch and show later in the day.

Featured throughout the three-day event will be the music of internationally famous Cole Porter. Money raised benefits the Cole Porter Birthplace and Miami County Museum.

For more information or reservations contact the museum at (765) 473-9183 or admin@miamicountymuseum.com or visit http://www.miamicountymuseum.com/.

 Return to Top

National Endowment for the Humanities Grants
The Division of Public Programs at the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funds humanities projects that are intended for broad public audiences at museums, libraries, historic sites and other historical and cultural organizations.

Grants support interpretive exhibitions, reading or film discussion series, historic site interpretation, lecture series and symposia, and digital projects. NEH especially encourages projects that offer multiple formats and make creative use of new technology to deliver humanities content.

Planning and implementation grant applications from America's Historical and Cultural Organizations may be submitted at two annual deadlines, Aug. 27, 2008, and Jan. 21, 2009. 

Applications will also be accepted at both deadlines for Interpreting America's Historic Places grants, which promote public understanding of American history through interpretation of significant American places.

New application guidelines are now posted at http://www.neh.gov/. 

Program officers in the Division of Public Programs are available to assist you, whether it is to discuss projects or to read a draft of a proposal. You may wish to call the NEH Division of Public Programs at (202) 606-8267 or contact a program officer directly.

Below are the names and contact information for the Division's program officers:

• Bonnie Gould: (202) 606-8307 or bgould@neh.gov
• Clay Lewis: (202) 606-8288 or clewis@neh.gov
• David Martz: (202) 606-8297 or dmartz@neh.gov
• John Meredith: (202) 606-8218 or jmeredith@neh.gov
• Karen Miles: (202) 606-8308 or kmiles@neh.gov
• Karen Mittelman: (202) 606-8631 or kmittelman@neh.gov
• Kathleen Mulvaney: (202) 606-8270 or kmulvaney@neh.gov
• Michael Shirley: (202) 606-8293 or mshirley@neh.gov
• David Weinstein: (202) 606-8308 or dweinstein@neh.gov

 Return to Top

Lunchtime Concerts on the Canal
This event will be held on Wed., June 18, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on the Canal Plaza at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center.

The event is free to the public and is presented by Clarian Health and co-presented by Indy Parks and Recreation.

The featured performer for this concert is The Lathans, with traditional Irish and Celtic music.

Attendees may bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages to the concert. Attendees may NOT bring alcoholic beverages onto the premises.

No pets and no smoking allowed on Plaza.

 Return to Top

AASLH Seeks Input on Small Museum Needs Summary
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Small Museums Committee invites you to comment on the one-page Small Museum Needs Assessment Executive Summary.

The summary is posted on the Small Museums page of the AASLH website at www.aaslh.org/SmallMuseums.htm. (Click on the link to the Small Museum Needs Assessment Executive Summary in the box at the right of the page.)

AASLH formed the Small Museums Committee in 2005 to meet the specific needs of the small museum, give the small museum a voice on the national stage, and advocate for the professional development of the small museum.

To that effect, the committee first focused on creating a meaningful definition of small museums and soliciting annual conference sessions of particular interest to small museums. The Committee is now working to describe what those small museum top priority needs are and how museum service organizations can meet them. Through roundtable discussions at state, regional and national meetings, small museum staff shared their needs with committee members over the past few years. The Needs Summary reflects those issues and needs that came up over and over again in these round tables.

Once finalized the Committee will use the Needs Summary to provide advice and direction for the development of programs and services that benefit small museums within AASLH and beyond.

Please help us steer resources for museums to meet small museum needs.

We invite you to read and comment on the Needs Summary through July 1, 2008.

Please send your comments to Stacy Klingler, SMC Member, at stacy.klingler@gmail.com.

 Return to Top

Association of Midwest Museums Seeking Award Nominations
Nominations are sought for the following awards to be given in 2008:

• The Distinguished Service Award
• The Distinguished Career Award
• The Promising Leadership Award
• The Best Practices Award

All four categories will recognize the outstanding achievements and service of individuals whose work or volunteer contributions have enhanced museums or museum associations and who have consistently maintained high standards of performance in the museum profession.

The deadline for nominations is June 30.

For more information, visit http://www.midwestmuseums.org/.

 Return to Top

Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America Traveling Learning Station Exhibit
As part of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial celebration in 2009, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, in collaboration with the American Library Association and the Tribeca Film Institute, and with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities We the People program, has produced Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America.

Applications to host the learning station exhibit are now being accepted.

While the learning station exhibit is available at no cost to the public, a nominal $500 fee will be required from host institutions to help offset logistical costs.

This exhibit is intended to enable the delivery of valuable lessons and messages to host communities by examining the life and times of America's 16th president.

Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America examines Lincoln's life from his beginnings in the crudest of circumstances to his ascension to the presidency and his assassination. Reproductions of original documents, artifacts, broadsides, prints, photographs, pamphlets and newspapers drawn from our unequalled collection of more than 50,000 Lincoln-related items animate the story of a man who embraced the 19th century notion of self-improvement. The ideal of being "self-made" worked in Lincoln's life in ways that still serve as exemplars to 21st century Americans and characterized America during the 19th century.

This exhibit is composed of seven learning stations and has been designed for public spaces, libraries, historical societies and other cultural or educational institutions that can demonstrate a willingness and desire to showcase the exhibit as an integral part of their community outreach. The learning stations are self-contained and arrive completely assembled. Two copies of the exhibition will circulate to up to forty institutions throughout the United States.

The deadline for applications is June 15.

Please provide your site and community's details in the online application to be considered.

For an application or more information, visit www.lincoln200.net/alplmf/.

 Return to Top

Model of Navarre Cabin Donated to Center for History
The Center for History in South Bend has received three scale models of the Navarre Cabin from Paul and Karen Juday.

When the Center for History announced plans to rehabilitate and restore the Navarre Cabin in 2006, Paul visited the site and then approached the Center for History to see if the restoration project would be producing any remnant pieces of the home’s original 1820s logs. When he discovered there would be, he used them to build three scale models of the Navarre Cabin for the museum. Paul devoted hundreds of hours to the project.

The Navarre Cabin, which is owned by the Center for History, is located in the City of South Bend’s Leeper Park. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the log structure was built c. 1820 by Pierre Navarre, the first European to settle in the area.

The Navarre Cabin is utilized by the Center for History to help interpret pioneer settlement in the area. It is opened during an autumn school program, "Cabin Days," during which staff and volunteers dressed as pioneers demonstrate trades and recreation common in the 1830s. Now in its 26th year, Cabin Days has served over 75,000 area students.

The museum is conducting one of its youth summer camps, Pioneer Days at the Navarre Cabin, at the site July 22-24.

A festival for the community, Family Day at the Navarre Cabin, is being held July 26 and 27.

For information, call (574) 235-9664 or visit http://www.centerforhistory.org/.

 Return to Top

Program Assistant at the Morris-Butler House in Indianapolis
Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana seeks a highly motivated individual to work as a part-time program assistant at the Morris-Butler House Museum, an 1865 property in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis.

Responsibilities Include:

• Providing tours of the Morris-Butler House
• Assisting in development of programming and exhibits
• Completing research assignments as directed
• Managing the artifact collection
• Assisting with public programs
• Assisting with special events
• Assisting with publicity
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• An undergraduate degree and previous appropriate experience related to museums, historic preservation, education, customer service, nonprofits or a related field
• An ability to speak before audiences of various sizes
• An ability to work with various ages of individuals
• Excellent customer service skills
• Ability to work individually and as part of a team

Hours:
The work week will total 29 hours. Flexibility in scheduling is required. As programming needs arise, the museum administrator will determine what adjustments need to be made in the work schedule for each week. The normal work week schedule is as follows:

• Wed.: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (7 hours)
• Thu.: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (7.5 hours)
• Fri.: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (7.5 hours)
• Sat.: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (7 hours)

Must be able to work weekdays, weekends and evenings as needed.

The rate of pay will be $10 per hour.

Resumes with three references should be submitted to:

Shannon Borbely
Museum Administrator
Morris-Butler House
1204 N. Park Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46202

The deadline for applications is July 1, 2008. Position begins Aug. 13, 2008.

  Return to Top

Market Early America
This is a blog that discusses marketing and communications ideas for small museums on a budget.

To access the blog, visit http://marketearlyamerica.wordpress.com/.

 Return to Top

Do you know someone who might want to receive Communique Online? Anyone may join the mailing list by e-mailing col@indianahistory.org.

If your historical organizations, genealogical society or museum has changed its address or phone number in the past six months, please send the updated information to Coordinator, Local History Services, at the above e-mail, or Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.