Topics

The Civil War from Gettysburg to Appomattox

Suzanne Hahn — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:55:00 -0400

: This circa 1864/1865 image of the entrance to Camp Morton is featured in the new exhibit in the Rosemary McKee Lanham Gallery on the fourth floor of the History Center.

Abe Lincoln here. Although it has been 100, two score, and eight years since I was shot to death while attending a play with my Mary, Major Rathbone and his fiancée, Miss Harris, I decided to stop by the Lanham Gallery on the fourth floor of the History Center to see the exhibition commemorating the sesquicentennial of our Civil War. The people there have put up the second part of the exhibition, covering essentially the second half of this bloody conflict. Its title is The Civil War from Gettysburg to Appomattox and it includes items depicting the war from the beginning of 1863 through Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. I was killed less than one week after that.

The exhibition includes representations of events, places and people of particular interest to Hoosiers, including myself, as it was in Indiana where I spent my formative years. These include Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan's raid into Indiana; a panoramic photograph of an 11th Indiana Battery encampment at Chattanooga, Tenn.; photographs of Camp Morton in Indianapolis, which held Confederate prisoners of war; a diary entry from a Miami County soldier in the 26th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment; and an emancipation record of a former slave who became a member of the Weaver Settlement in Grant County.

There are also prints illustrating battles at Vicksburg and Gettysburg; 1864 election-year political cartoons; a couple of illustrations by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly; maps; letters; lithographs of my generals and admirals and of my little speech at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, Penn. (which I am surprised to find has been remembered all these years); and depictions of the fall of Richmond, Va., and Gen. Lee's surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. There are some likenesses of me hanging on the walls of this gallery, but it was a strange experience to encounter a life-size statue of myself.

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Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. When not performing as the rapper One-Cent, he enjoys attending Civil War reenactments to point out to participants what they are doing wrong.

Beekeepers and Bank Robbers

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:50:00 -0400

So, I never knew my great grandparents were bee keepers.

This might not sound like a big deal, but when you are researching your family history, finding fun facts like these can make the story that much more complete and interesting. I found a reference to their involvement in a beekeeping convention in a 1920 newspaper article from the Mooresville Times.

We have been discovering a lot of interesting facts about people and events with our new newspaper database. Researchers have found ancestors on both sides of the law (both arrest records and reports of stopping crime). We have found texts of speeches made to the state legislature, how Hoosiers coped with the 1913 flood, and advertisements to early businesses in the state.

Newspapers can be a great source for research and now they are much easier to search and access. The Indiana Historical Society recently partnered with Newspaper Archive to digitize 5,625 reels of microfilm, which represents more than 2.5 million newspaper page images dated 1924 or earlier. Now, 760 individual Indiana newspaper titles representing the vast majority of the state are now available for research on the web. Researchers can search newspaper pages by keyword or browse particular issues. To make the news even better, folks can access the database for free in the reference room of IHS’s William Henry Smith Memorial Library.

The Library is open to the public fro 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. If you are unable to visit, personal subscriptions are available for purchase through NewspaperArchive.com. Come and try the new database – maybe your ancestor was a beekeeper or a bank robber!

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Suzanne Hahn is director of reference services for the IHS Collections and Library. She loves helping people find the information they seek and is perhaps the only librarian ever to get shushed for laughing too loud in a library.

Stuff of Life: Bowling Trophies and Gadgets

Becca Beck — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:10:00 -0400

: Gramps

My grandfather passed away three weeks ago. I'm 31 years old, and this is the first grandparent I've lost. I consider myself very lucky.

After the funeral, we gathered at the house to start going through his stuff. The voice behind the stories was gone but the stuff remained. The bowling trophies and golf equipment. The clocks and wind chimes. The crazy as-seen-on-tv gadgets. Pieces of a life well lived.

In the history field, we work with objects from the past all the time. Artifacts are categorized, labeled, assessed and conserved. Decisions about what to keep are based on a collections policy. But I didn't know how to translate my professional knowledge to this personal situation. It was overwhelming to see all of his things knowing he wasn't there.

We each handle death and grief in our own way. I chose to remember my grandpa by taking his bowling pin clock, the 1963 newspaper announcing Kennedy had been shot he had shoved in the rafters of the basement and the teddy bear I made for him when I was little. Each triggers memories of him so they remain out of sight for now. That's how I assigned value to his things – what reminds me of him the most?

So, until I find a great spot for that bowling pin clock, here's to the memory of my grandfather, Kent Loofbourrow. Rest in peace, gramps.

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Becca Beck is the assistant director of education and communication engagement at IHS. She loves making Indiana history fun for students.

Defining a History High

Wilma Moore — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:45:00 -0400

: Indianapolis High School was located on Pennsylvania the years that Mary Rann attended. The school moved to the Pennsylvania building in 1872, the year that Rann started her freshman year. (Bass Photo Co. Collection, IHS)

One of the things that I enjoy about my work at the Indiana Historical Society is the interrelatedness of our collections and, through those collections, my introduction to ordinary people – the common men and women of history, many who have done extraordinary things.

Though we have much material at the William H. Smith Library dating from the Old Northwest Territory period and earlier until the present time that focuses on the famous and infamous, most of our more than 50,000 printed cataloged items (including books, pamphlets, periodicals, broadsides, sheet music and maps), 1.7 million photographs, 5,400 manuscript collections, 3,400 artifacts and paintings, and 57,000 online digital images give evidence to the lives of little- or lesser-known individuals.

: Records from Indianapolis High School in 1876 reflect that its first African-American student, Mary Rann (see line 25), graduated with an 84 average. Her highest grades were in chemistry and literature. (Click to see larger image.)

Several years ago when Laura Sheerin Gaus wrote Shortridge High School, 1864-1981, in retrospect, she included a reference to Mary Rann, the first African-American student to gain entrance to Indianapolis High School (later Shortridge). Prior to Gaus’ 1985 book, Pastor Moses Broyles (History of Second Baptist Church) detailed the advocacy work of he and others to get Rann enrolled in the high school in 1872.

The school was located on the northwest corner of the Circle and Market Street, later moving to Pennsylvania Street, before opening at 3401 N. Meridian St., its current location. With help from Abram C. Shortridge, then superintendent of the Indianapolis Public Schools, Rann enrolled and graduated in 1876.

One day when I was in the vault researching an unrelated reference inquiry, I looked at the Record of Examinations, 1868–1883 (M0482, Shortridge High School Collection). As my eyes scrolled down a page, I came across some 1876 student grades. Before I thought to look for it, Mary Rann’s name stood out on the page. I was ecstatic.

It was a history high moment.

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Wilma Moore is senior archivist, African-American History at IHS. She loves her family – especially those grandchildren – and helping her patrons find historical context, facts and texture for their story boards.

Governor Morton: Much Heralded But Not Elected

Amy Vedra — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:00:00 -0500

Gov. Morton is known as the man who guided Indiana during the Civil War. However, he was not the man elected to carry the people of Indiana through the tough times that were brewing during the 1860 election that would shortly develop into the Civil War. As a governor, Oliver P. Morton was seen by many as a strong leader, while others saw him as a political opportunist or much worse. Considering the way that he obtained the governorship of Indiana, both views may be valid.

Henry S. Lane and Oliver P. Morton, competing for their party’s nomination, struck a deal to keep from having a drawn out nomination process that could cause problems during the fall election. In the event that the Republican Party took over the Indiana General Assembly and won the governorship, the governor, Lane, would be elevated to the U.S. Senate and Morton, the lieutenant-governor, would take over as governor. Henry S. Lane, 13th governor of Indiana, was in office for two days.

Only one four-year term was possible within an eight-year period during Morton’s tenure as governor. Morton, however, ran and attained a second term because he had not been elected to the position in 1860. Regardless of the length of his predecessor’s governorship, Morton had not served a full four-year term. Because he wasn’t technically elected to that first term, the governor who took us into the Civil War was able to see us through to the end of the war. Interestingly enough, Morton never served a full four-year term – he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1867 and served in that capacity until his death in 1877.

For more information about Oliver P. Morton and other Indiana governors, see The Governors of Indiana published by the Indiana Historical Society.

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Amy Vedra is a cataloger in Printed Collections at the Indiana Historical Society. She enjoyed going to historic sites when she was a kid, and even now few vacations pass without a visit to a Civil War battlefield or other equally historic site.

The 1940 Census

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:10:00 -0400

April 2, 2012. The wait is over. If you are a genealogist, you have had this date circled for some time. For those of you wondering the importance of April 2, 2012 – no, it is not a new day after April Fool’s holiday – it is the release of the 1940 Census!

For privacy reasons, censuses are not available for public use for 72 years, so when one gets released, we all get a little excited. Census records can provide a wealth of information if you are researching a family, person, neighborhood or community.

One note – when the 1940 census is first released there will not be a name index. So, if you are trying to find a specific person, you will need to know where they lived and their enumeration district. Several websites have tips for tracking down enumeration districts:
National Archives: www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/start-research.html or
Stephen Morse: www.stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

Over the next few weeks, several online databases and websites will be frantically indexing the census records so you will be able to search by a specific name. We have several of the databases available for free in our library, if you want to visit and explore the 1940 Census.

For more information on the 1940 Census, including tips and tricks for using it in your research, join us for our Learning the 1940 Census workshop on April 14. For more information or to register online, click here.

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A Letter to Grandma

Suzanne Hahn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:30:00 -0500

It amazes me how early children learn that grandmas are one of their biggest allies. Maybe it is because they don't hear the word "no" as often or they get chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, but grandchildren know they have a special bond with grandma. So when I came across this letter from Mary Stewart to her grandma, it made me smile to see that bond has existed for a while in history.

The letter is part of the Slawson-Tarkington Papers, a collection that documents the lives of two Indiana families. The Slawson family settled in Switzerland County, and the Tarkington family settled in Greensburg. In the letter, young Mary Stewart writes to her grandmother, Maria [Slawson] Tarkington. She pleads her case about buying candy but not getting to eat sugar and talks about family matters. She ends the letter with love to all at grandma’s house and asks for a letter in return.

Do you think grandma would have let her have some sugar?

Man Once Thought Dead Elected Governor

Amy Vedra — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0400

When you think about elections, you don’t often consider electing an official who was thought to have died years before the election ever took place. The people of Indiana do not appear to have had any qualms about doing just that in the fall of 1928 for the state’s highest office.

Harry G. Leslie was the governor of Indiana from 1929 until 1933. However, more than 25 years prior to the election, he was lying in a morgue. On Oct. 31, 1903, the Purdue University and Indiana University rivalry game was scheduled. Two special trains were heading south from West Lafayette to Indianapolis where the game was to be played.

At the time, Leslie was captain of the football team at Purdue and riding with the other players in the first car. After rounding a bend, the Big Four Railroad's engine 350 collided with a coal train which had not been notified of the special’s presence on the tracks. The cars were destroyed and several bodies were taken to the morgue, among them the body of Harry G. Leslie.

Hours later, it was discovered that Leslie still had a pulse albeit faint. Although in grave condition immediately following the accident, he slowly recovered with the help of several operations. He carried the scars and limped as a result of that day for the rest of his life. Seventeen people lost their lives in the crash, including 14 players.

Incredibly, Harry G. Leslie was able to graduate from Purdue just one year behind schedule, continuing onto Indiana University to complete a law degree. He became involved in politics, holding various offices and was elected governor of Indiana just as the Great Depression was about to start. He served one term as governor.

For more information about Harry G. Leslie and other Indiana governors, see The Governors of Indiana published by the Indiana Historical Society.

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Civil War Sesquicentennial

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:00:00 -0400

With the 150th anniversary underway, the American Civil War is getting a lot of attention. New books are being published, websites launched and events planned to commemorate the sesquicentennial. Indiana played its part in the war, supplying more than 200,000 men for service in the military. Our library has thousands of items concerning Indiana’s role in the Civil War, ranging from soldiers’ diaries to sheet music. Check out our new Civil War Researcher’s Guide. It explains how to search our collection and the types of materials we have.

Want to see the items but can’t visit in person? Our Digital Image Collection has a growing collection of over a thousand items concerning the Civil War, available to view online here.

To learn more about upcoming events or other resources throughout the state, visit the Indiana's Civil War 150th Commemoration 2011-2015 website.

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Can We Take Your Order?

Suzanne Hahn — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:05:00 -0500

I love looking at old menus and recipe books. Historically, they can tell a lot about a time period and how people lived (and there is also the yum and yuck factor that can be a lot of fun). We recently catalogued several menus from the restaurant in Hotel Bates, all dating from the mid 1870s. Commonly known at the Bates House, it was considered one of the finest hotels in the Midwest. The Bates House could actually claim that Abraham Lincoln stayed there – and even gave a speech from the hotel balcony – while traveling to D.C. for his inauguration as president. The restaurant in the hotel was quite the fine dining experience.

The menu and wine list offer a variety of choices but still nicely fits on one sheet, unlike the tomes we get today. Relishes like tomato catsup and French mustard had to be ordered. There is also a distinction between pastries (which sound amazing) and desserts, many of which we might not term desserts today.

Food tastes have changed over the years (not too many calves brains or knuckle of veal on menus these days). It makes you wonder how menus from today will be viewed a hundred years from now.

Bon Appétit!

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Have You Ever Read a Book by a Ghost?

abelcher — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 09:40:00 -0400

Have you ever read a book by a ghost? It is unlikely that many of us have, but at least one author of the late 19th century has presented us with one we can. Being the cataloger of printed items here at the Indiana Historical Society has its advantages. On a regular basis, I get to see interesting items spanning the 18th century and sometimes earlier continuing up through current times. One day, I was a little surprised by what came across my desk.

The book, written in 1890, is Psychopathy, or spirit healing: a series of lessons on the relations of the spirit to its own organism, and the inter-relation of human beings with reference to health, disease and healing. While the title relates to the many spiritualist writings of the late 19th century, what really stood out for me was the author, who was listed as the Spirit of Dr. Benjamin Rush, through the Mediumship of Mrs. Cora L.V. Richmond. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Spiritualism, according to Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary, “it is the belief that departed spirits hold intercourse with mortals usually through a medium or by means of rapping and other physical phenomena or during abnormal mental states (as trances).”

Dr. Rush, one of the founding fathers of the United States and a physician, died in 1813. Cora L.V. Richmond was one of the most famous mediums/spiritualists of her time, traveling extensively beginning in her teen years, going into trances and communicating information on topics of which she supposedly had little knowledge. It was through this type of collaboration with Dr. Rush’s spirit that this book was created. According to the preface, also by Dr. Rush, this work was a more than 20-year process between himself and his medium.

Interestingly enough, another item in our collection was written by Dr. Rush during his lifetime on another type of spirits: An inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind with an account of the means of preventing, and of the remedies for curing them. Our copy, the eighth edition, was printed in 1823, 10 years after his death.

So, although you may have never read a book by a ghost before, feel free to stop by the William H. Smith Memorial Library, check that item off of your bucket list, and start a conversation with your friends on this very interesting subject. If nothing else, this book gives a whole new meaning to the term ghost writer, doesn’t it?

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Amy Belcher is a cataloger in Printed Collections at the Indiana Historical Society. She enjoyed going to historic sites when she was a kid, and even now few vacations pass without a visit to a Civil War battlefield or other equally historic site.

Lard Art, Anyone?

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:50:00 -0400

Ah, it is State Fair time in Indiana and we all have our favorite activities. Most of mine involve the various food booths. I recently saw some unique images of a different kind of “food” booth from fairs in the years past – the Lard Art exhibit. Yes, instead of deep-frying it, Hoosiers used to create these wonderful displays of lard. Sculptures ranging from dancing pigs (below, 1941) to political figures (below, 1940) were created from lard and displayed at the fair.

These images are from the J.C. Allen and Son Collection, a recently processed collection that contains thousands of images documenting the Indiana State Fair from 1926 to 1951. Dorothy Nicholson, visual collections archivist, has been selecting a number of items from each year to include in our Digital Image Collection.

In addition to the wonderful images of lard art, there are pictures of prize-winning show animals, band day competitions, the midway, and all the other things that makes the Indiana State Fair so special. So, enjoy the State Fair and enjoy these images from state fairs in the past. And next time you open that jar of shortening – don’t just think Fry Daddy, think artwork!

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The Narcissus, Squealer and Tattler, Too!

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:05:00 -0400

I just got my invitation to my high school reunion – I won’t go into to details but it is a, <gulp>, significant number. The reunion Web site has some pages from our senior yearbook, and it brought back a lot of fond memories. Yearbooks can be a great tool – whether you are looking for a specific person, trying to learn more about a school, or to just get a better understanding of what life was like during that time period. I think if a researcher looked at my yearbook they would wonder how we all got our hair so big. I recently worked with a genealogist who found her grandfather listed in a yearbook from the 1920s. She had never met him but learned he was involved with music (as was she), his nickname and even his quote for the class. Often these early yearbooks include descriptive paragraphs about each senior – like these seniors listed in the 1915 Logansport Tattler.

I love the description of Thelma Sines, who besides being earnest and sincere could make a great banana pie. You just don’t get that kind of wonderful information from a census record.

We do not have a yearbook for every school in Indiana or for every year – but we do have a nice collection. So if you are looking for the Narcissus (Peru), the Squealer (Martinsville), or the Kay Aitch Ess (Kendallville), let us know.

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Calling All Corn Cultivator Experts

Suzanne Hahn — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:30:00 -0400

Tell me you label your images with names, dates or some kind of identification.

I admit, I am horrible about labeling my pictures. I currently have almost 600 images on my digital camera and when the memory card maxes out I will finally get around to making some prints. Usually these prints are enjoyed and placed in a photo archive box. Even now, I will go through photographs a mere 10 years old and wonder the event or year. When working with images in our collection, it is wonderful when they have some identification or information with them. I came across a great image in our collection that I wanted to use in an upcoming Destination Indiana journey on farm machinery.

Unfortunately, the photograph had no info – except it was in a collection of Henry County items, and it probably dated circa 1910. It looks like it could be an interesting story – why would a family get all dressed up and pose on a piece of farm machinery. But, what the heck was that machine? I checked farm books, farm websites and with farmers and got answers ranging from a potato planter to sodbuster to rutabaga picker (I think the person just liked incorporating rutabaga in a sentence whenever possible).

Turns out, we had this same print in another collection. However, this time it was part of an album that included labels. According to the album, it was a demonstration of a patented corn cultivator that took place at the Esterbrook farm in 1917. I am still trying to verify if it is a corn cultivator (if we have any corn cultivator experts out there, let me know) but it certainly gives me several leads to explore.

So, thanks to all of you who identify your images. Librarians in the future will thank you too!

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How Will Your Diary Help Historians?

Suzanne Hahn — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:30:00 -0400

Do you keep a diary, journal or daily blog? I often think about how researchers hundreds of years from now will use these items to document what life was like during our time.

When I was young, I briefly kept a diary and although I don’t think historians will consider who I had a crush on in the sixth grade as historically significant, these first-hand accounts can be a goldmine of information.

For example, on this date in 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. This event has been the topic of hundreds of books written over the years. However, I think looking at the diaries and letters from people at that time can often show a unique perspective. I took a peek at some our diaries and letters on this date (click on them to see the full-size image):

: In this April 10, 1865, letter, N.B. Tower describes the rejoicing on the streets when the news reached Fort Wayne – cannons firing, bells ringing and 'jolification.'

: John Sherwood was serving in the Indiana 66th Regiment when he found out the news. According to his diary, he found out three days after the event.

: Marie Brandt documents the news reaching Madison, Ind., on April 10.

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