Miami County Heritage Days
Saturday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
5th St. and Broadway, Peru

The event will feature Miami Indian and Civil War encampments, a pre-1950s car and tractor show, historical homes tour, entertainment, food, storytelling, an art and quilt show and much more.

For more information, please contact the Miami County Historical Museum at (765) 473-9183.

Old Book and Paper Identification and Preservation at the Greentown Historical Society
Sept. 12, 10 to 11 a.m.
Greentown Historical Society Annex, 101 E. Main St., Greentown

Marcia Ford of the Kokomo Public Library, Genealogy and Local History, will present the program. Everyone is welcome to attend and learn about the historical artifacts you may have in your family’s possession.

Admission is free.

For more information, please call (765) 628-3800.

Door Village Harvest Festival
Sept. 12 and 13
Scipio Township Park, three miles southwest of La Porte on Joliet Rd.

The theme of the festival is History Comes Alive Right Before Your Eyes. The Parade of History will include Our First Citizens (the Miami and Potawatomi Indians), Early Settlers of Door Village, A Salute to Veterans from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan, Primitive Agriculture to GPS and Buggies to Convertibles.

Fern Eddy Schultz, La Porte County Historian, will conduct the 14th Annual Living Cemetery Tour in conjunction with the festival. The tour will be at 1 p.m. on Sept. 13.  Featured on the tour will be six ladies who are "residents" of the cemetery. They will offer biographical information about the individual being portrayed in a first-person presentation and will be dressed in appropriate dress for the period they represent.

The cost is a donation of $3 for adults ages 12 and over.

For more information, please visit http://www.doorvillageharvestfestival2009.com/.

Evening of the Arts at the Old Lake Court House in Crown Point
Saturday, Sept. 12, 6 to 10 pm.
Old Lake Court House on the Square, Crown Point

For an evening of theatre, jazz music, food and spirits, the 2009 Evening of the Arts is the place to be. The courthouse will be alive with art, music, dramatic presentations and tours of the historic museum as well. Performances will include a reprise of the historic play presented in 2003 at the first event. This performance will be in the Old Courtroom and will portray the history of Crown Point. 

In the ballroom, Jazz vocalist Alison Ruble and her quartet will perform along with special guest bassist Larry Gray. Available during the evening will be wine and hors d'oeuvres. A silent auction will continue through the evening, as well as the drawing for the grandfather’s clock donated by Prime Time Clocks.

Tickets for the evening are $30 in advance or $35 at the door. Tickets may be purchased at Sweeties on the Square, the Courthouse Foundation office, Carol Drasga, The Lake County Museum in the courthouse, and Copper Butterfly on the Square. 

For more information, please call (219) 662-1126.

Programs at the Indiana State Library
These programs will be offered at the Indiana State Library, 140 N. Senate Ave., Indianapolis.

• The Porter-Griffin Papers
  Sept. 14, noon to 1 p.m.
  
  The Porter-Griffin papers hold keys to studying American political and social history.  This collection includes business records, political correspondence, legal and personal papers of the Porter family daughters and their descendants from 1845 to 1940. 
  
  
• Early Indiana Genealogy Resources
  Sept. 17,  5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
  
  Finding information about your ancestors prior to 1850 can be tough.  Learn about Indiana related resources and techniques for conducting early family history research.

These programs are free to the public and require no registration. For more information, call (317) 232-3675 or visit http://www.in.gov/library/events.htm.

Brown Bag Lunch at the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum
Wednesday, Sept. 16, noon
Scott County Heritage Center and Museum, 1050 S. Main St., Scottsburg.

Local historian Dorothy Rice will share her recollections and research on local people, places and events at the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum’s Brown Bag Lunch program. Those attending the event supply their own lunch and the museum will provide drinks and desserts.

The program is free to the public.

For more information, please call (812) 752-1050.

Chief Menominee Statue 100th Anniversary Ceremony
Sept. 18, 4 p.m.
Peach Rd. south of Plymouth, with a supper to follow at 6 p.m. at Menominee Elementary School at 815 Discovery Lane in Plymouth.

To reach the ceremony at the statue, travel south of Plymouth on U.S. 31, turn west at the Chief Menominee Monument sign, go six miles and turn north on Peach Rd. The statue is on east side of Peach Rd.

Chief Menominee and his band of Potawatomi were forcibly removed from Indiana to Kansas in 1838, and so many died it is called the Trail of Death. The statue was erected in 1909 and paid for by the State of Indiana.

The cost for the supper is $6 per person.

For more information, please visit http://www.potawatomi-tda.org/.

Too Many Ghosts! from the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum
Sept. 18 and 19 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 20 at 3 p.m.
First Southern Baptist Church, W. McClain Ave., Scottsburg

The play deals with the problems of two young couples who have purchased a lakeside vacation cottage, only to find it over-run with ghosts.  Their lives are further complicated by a superstitious cook who is determined to leave, and a neighbor who adds fuel to the fire by relating gory stories of spectral activity in the past.

The cost is $8 per person, and tickets may be purchased at the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum at 1050 S. Main St. in Scottsburg or by calling (812) 752-1050.

History Hunters and Cemetery Tour for Kids in Greentown
Saturday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m.
103 E. Main St., Greentown

This program is for children in grades one through eight. Are you a History Hunter? Want to learn about residents who lived in Eastern Howard County in the past? Come and investigate the exhibit, Clues to Our Past, then travel to the historic Lindley Cemetery and learn about soldiers from the Civil War and other battles, including the War of 1812. Be prepared to be surprised and mystified. Parents must provide transportation to the Lindley Cemetery.

This a free event and is handicapped accessible.

For more information, please call (765) 628-3800.

Blacksnake's Path: The True Adventures of William Wells Lecture at the Fort Wayne History Center
Sunday, Sept. 20, 2 p.m.
Fort Wayne History Center, 302 E. Berry St., Fort Wayne

This lecture and book signing is the first in the 2009-2010 George R. Mather Lecture Series. William Heath will present Blacksnake's Path: The True Adventures of William Wells. Blacksnake's Path is the product of twelve years of research and writing by Dr. Heath, vividly telling the remarkable story of William Wells, an unsung hero of the American frontier, circa 1780 to 1812.

Subsequent lectures in this series will feature:

• Indiana Political Heroes
• The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza
• A Commitment to Excellence in Genealogy: How the Public Library Became a Major
• Tourist Attraction in Fort Wayne Ind.
• Migration of African-Americans from Alabama to Fort Wayne
• The Philharmonic's Story, From Maestros Schweiger to Constantine
• Economic History of Fort Wayne
• Fort Wayne's Women Medical Pioneers
• History of the Fort Wayne Fire Department

For more information, call (260) 426-2882 or visit http://www.fwhistorycenter.com/.

Indiana Organizations Participate in Smithsonian's Museum Day 2009
Saturday, Sept. 26

A celebration of culture, learning and the dissemination of knowledge, Smithsonian’s Museum Day reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free-admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based properties. Doors of participating organizations will be open free of charge to Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors at museums and cultural institutions nationwide.

In Indiana, more than 28 organizations will participate in Museum Day by offering free admission with the Museum Day Access Card, including:

• Center for History and Studebaker Museum, South Bend
  Visitors to the Center for History and Studebaker Museum can see the exhibit, Lincoln: The Man You Didn’t Know and the newly conserved carriage that took President and Mrs. Lincoln to Ford’s Theatre in 1865. At the Center for History, visitors can tour the 38-room Oliver Mansion and view Picturing the Civil War, Appeal to Patriots: The Lincoln Highway and Mishawaka at 175. At the Studebaker National Museum, visitors can also view Harley-Davidson:Building a Legend. For information about these organizations, please visit http://www.centerforhistory.org/ and http://www.studebakermuseum.org/.
  
  
• Howard Steamboat Museum, Jeffersonville
  Visitors can tour the elegant Victorian Mansion and view steamboat memorabilia, models, tools, archives and more. For more information, please visit http://www.steamboatmuseum.org/.
  
  
• President Benjamin Harrison Home, Indianapolis
  Visitors can tour the home and view the featured exhibit William Henry Harrison: Tippecanoe and History Too. For more information, please visit http://www.pbhh.org/.
  
  
• Whitley County History Museum, Columbia City
  Visitors can view a collection of Whitley County artifacts displayed throughout the Marshall House and an exhibit of original artwork by past Columbia City resident Shinzo Okie as well as photographs and memorabilia from the Show You soy sauce factory and other fascinating facets of his life in the early 1900’s. For more information, please visit http://historical.whitleynet.org/.

To download a Museum Day Admission Card and view the complete listing of participating museums, please visit www.smithsonian.com/museumday.

Monroe County History Presentation at the Hinkle-Garton Farmstead in Bloomington
Saturday, Sept. 26, 1 to 4 p.m.

If you have an interest in local history or are involved in history education, you may want to visit the Hinkle-Garton Farmstead during Open Day. The Hinkle-Garton Farmstead is the headquarters of Bloomington Restorations, Inc. and has also been home to a group of young writers over the past year, the Sisters of the Flying Fountain Pen.

The writing circles and camps and other Sisters of the Flying Fountain Pen activities are organized by Writing Unlimited, Inc., a local non-profit. Over the past year, BRI and Writing Unlimited collaborated on a history education grant to create an awareness and appreciation about local history and leadership for the youth of Monroe County. In addition to weekly writing circles, Writing Unlimited hosted four workshops on historic education at the Farmstead during the 2008-2009 school year.

Some of what was written and created at the writing circles, workshops and camps will be shared at the Hinkle-Garton Farmstead Open Day. There will be booklets of poetry created by the Sisters of the Flying Fountain Pen over the past year, and student-created displays about Monroe County leaders, limestone history, and family farms. There will also be lesson plans and timelines for educators to use with Monroe County students. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact Michelle Henderson at (812) 391-3233 or mhenders@writingunlimited.org.

Ric Burns Lecture
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 7 p.m., reception following
Frank and Katrina Basile Theater, Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, Indianapolis

Famed documentary filmmaker and writer Ric Burns will give a presentation based on his latest work, Tecumseh, Native America and the other American Dream. Burns, whose credits include co-producing PBS’s celebrated The Civil War series with his brother Ken as well as Coney Island, New York: A Documentary Film, The Way West and Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film will discuss his latest film about famed warrior and politician Tecumseh – part of the five-part PBS series on the history of Native America, We Shall Remain.

Tecumseh, Native America and the other American Dream tells the story of the Shawnee legend from his birth in southwest Ohio through his death on the battlefield during the War of 1812, including the years leading up to the Revolutionary War and his later confrontations with Indiana governor William Henry Harrison.

The event is free to the public and is sponsored by the Hanover College Capstone Speaker Series. Burns also will appear on the Hanover College campus Monday, Oct. 5.

Reservations are required by Sept. 28 and are limited to two per person. For reservations, please call (317) 233-5659.

For more information, please visit www.hanover.edu/capstone.

La Porte County Historical Society Museum Designated an AAA GEM Attraction
The La Porte County Historical Society Museum has been toured by an inspector from the American Automobile Association and has been designated an AAA GEM Attraction. Gaining special listing in the 2009 edition of the AAA Tour Book, the museum is one of only twenty-three such sites in the state of Indiana. 

According to the AAA Tour Book, a “GEM” is a “must see” point of interest that “offers a Great Experience for Members .” These attractions have been “judged to be of exceptional interest and quality by AAA inspectors.” The museum is seeing an increasing number of visitors from out of the area who have come to La Porte because of the AAA Tour Book listing. 

The La Porte County Historical Society Museum is located at 2405 Indiana Ave.(U.S. 35), at the southern entrance to La Porte. On display is the Kesling Automobile Collection of over 30 antique and classic cars, and the W. A. Jones Antique Firearms Collection of over 1,000 pieces. La Porte County family heirlooms are displayed in 14 period rooms, including a pioneer log cabin, Victorian parlor, 1920’s kitchen, and a 1950’s “modern” living room.  

For more information about the museum, please visit http://www.laportecountyhistory.org/.

In Memoriam: Bill Laidlaw
It is with deep sadness we announce the sudden death of Ohio Historical Society Executive Director and CEO Bill Laidlaw. His passing occurred on Aug. 7 while on vacation with his family in Martha’s Vineyard. He was sixty-six years of age.

His life is remembered and celebrated by his loving wife, Donna, two children, Scott Laidlaw and Christina Laidlaw Kimmel and three grandchildren; his OHS family; and a host of friends and colleagues throughout the state and country.

Bill joined the Ohio Historical Society in August 2003 as executive director and CEO after a career in higher education and nonprofit management. During his tenure at the Ohio Historical Society, Bill was a true advocate for the Society and the value of history, history education, and historic preservation.

Local:

Director, Annual Giving and Membership at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis, Ind.
The Director, Annual Giving and Membership is responsible for the annual campaign and all annual donor groups that support the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) as well as membership acquisition, retention, upgrade, events and departmental administration in order to secure funds via membership dues and event fees.

For a full job description and application instructions, please visit http://www.indianahistory.org/job_postings.html.