Topics

Using Social Media for Your Museum – Is it Worth It?

Jeannette Rooney — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:25:00 -0400

I’m a fairly private person, so it has taken me a while to warm up to social media. I’ve only been on Facebook for three years (yes, only three!), and I only have about 100 friends (yes, only 100!). I haven’t yet sent my first tweet or created a profile on LinkedIn. But even so, social media has now become a daily part of my life. I check out what my friends and favorite organizations are doing every day. I watch everything and anything on YouTube. I log on to Pinterest when I’m in need of aesthetic nourishment. In short, I can interact at the level I want, with the content I want – and I have tailored my social media use to fit my life.

So how do museums fit into this picture? Even though, by many standards, I’m a social media newbie and minimalist, I am engaged with the world virtually in many ways I couldn’t be offline. Often, I only learn about new animals at the zoo or what happened this day in history or an event I really want to attend at our local museum through social media. This, I suppose, is the crucial point. I don’t have to search for the news – it comes to me. And it makes me feel connected to these people, sites and organizations on a personal level because they are taking the time to share their world with me.

Even if I hadn’t decided to sign on, social media is here to stay. The sites may change, and perhaps Facebook (currently with 1.06 billion monthly active users), Twitter (500 million users), YouTube (4 billion views per day), Flickr (8 billion photos) and others will be replaced by new outlets in the years to come (data source: Digital Marketing Ramblings). But no matter the platform, museums who want to continue to engage with their audiences in creative ways are using social media to achieve this. Of course, social media can never replace the value of face-to-face communication and the authentic experience in a physical space, and it won’t reach everyone. Yet these virtual platforms, when used well, can be powerful tools to help you make new friends and keep more people connected to your museum.

Here are a few interesting resources to check out:

Do you use social media for your museum or history organization? Share your thoughts with us below or on our Local History Services Facebook page. Like us and we’ll like you back! And watch for our first tweet soon!

I hope you already like the IHS Facebook page. If you're on Twitter, you can follow IHS at @IndianaHistory.

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Jeannette Rooney is the coordinator for Local History Services at IHS. She travels the state with her LHS team members to assist local history organizations. Why? Because history rocks (and we get to make lots of ice cream stops)!

Those Darn Kids: Texting in Museums

Tamara Hemmerlein — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:30:00 -0400

Often when I visit museums, I overhear bits and pieces of conversations and random comments. Frequently I hear people complaining about kids walking around museums, holding their phones and texting.

“Those kids are not paying any attention.”
“They’re being disrespectful and not listening.”
“How can they be in a museum and not be completely absorbed by the history and art that’s right in front of them?”

I have one of those kids. She’s attached to her phone. It’s her connection to the world beyond school and family. I’ll admit that I’ve been frustrated on occasion because I want her to communicate the way I did when I was 15. But, she doesn’t. She is very much of her generation. And, she texts when we’re at museums.

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who also happens to be the director of a small museum. Our conversation was about kids, cell phones and museums. She said that very often those kids are texting about what they’re doing at that very moment. They’re sharing information about their world. My friend told me that if they’re texting about her museum, that’s great. She says that a kid will listen to another kid and that they’re communicating with each other in a way she never can.

In fact, my daughter volunteers at the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County. At their recent Pi Day event, she texted some friends about what she was doing that day. Later, those friends came to the museum. It seems to me that we should stop being frustrated by those kids and their phones and embrace the fact that they are our connection to new audiences.

Kids communicate better with each other than with adults. They do what their peers do. They share their cool moments. When those cool moments include museums, they’ll text/tweet/chat about it.

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Tamara Hemmerlein is the Hoosier Heritage Alliance coordinator at IHS. She will be traveling all over Indiana to advocate for good collections stewardship. Tamara loves mashed potatoes and ice cream, but not together.

Online Games of Today = Secret Societies of the Last Century?

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:00:00 -0500

At a recent In Your Neighborhood meeting, Erin Kelley (our director of Education and Community Engagement) noticed an interesting collection of costumes and props from a secret society on display at the Dearborn County Historical Society. She compared the way people would dress up and take on a role in those secret societies to what today's online gamers do in creating an avatar or virtual character and playing a role within the game.

Her observation really made me think. When I've read about historical secret societies (like The Supreme Tribe of Ben Hur), they've seemed so foreign to me. How strange to imagine grown men dressing in costume or performing rituals. And there is also the darker side of many of these groups which frequently excluded people of color, non-Protestants, and women when they were formed. While it was clear that the appeal of "being a member of the club" was compelling, I just couldn't see the attraction.

But I know lots of people who really enjoy creating avatars and interacting with each other. In the gaming world, you have the chance to be whatever kind of person (or creature, for that matter) you want to be. You can do things you wouldn't normally do in your regular life. And you belong to a community.

Now when I imagine a secret society functioning in the same way, I get it. Erin's comparison suddenly opened up a new way for me to connect to an unfamiliar piece of the past. That is what all good historians, storytellers, docents and teachers do.

I shouldn't have been surprised that Erin might make this kind of observation, because she is often thinking about ties between popular culture and history. We always benefit from stealing some time from other IHS staff members to talk with local history organizations. I can't wait to see how her summer program, which includes public health response to disease outbreaks (like polio), disaster response (like that to the Flood of 1913), zombies, and oral history turns out!

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Stacy Klingler is assistant director of Local History Services at IHS. Along with the other LHS team members, she travels the state assisting local history organizations. She loves her job because it’s never the same thing twice, unless she has to make a U-turn at Main Street.

Museum Heroes

Tamara Hemmerlein — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Lately I’ve been fascinated by stories of people and communities who have worked together to save our cultural heritage when it has been at risk. During World War II, people all over the world sandbagged, packed, transported and hid works of art and artifacts. There was a group of men and women – museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators, artists, architects and archivists – many with the military, who served as Monuments Men. Their job was to save as much of Europe’s culture as they could. More recently, I’ve read news reports of men and women in the Middle East who have stayed at museums and cultural sites to try and save as much as they can from destruction.

It’s made me think about how important our culture is to us. If people are willing to risk everything to save art and history, then, at some level, we must really recognize its importance. In the United States, our cultural institutions haven’t faced the kind of threat that museums and libraries have in other parts of the world. We are fortunate in that.

Our libraries and museums face a different kind of threat. Our cultural heritage may disappear if we quit caring about it. I don’t know if I would have the courage that the Monuments Men had. But I do know that I can be a different kind of museum hero. I can volunteer at my local museums. I can write a check. I can encourage my children to spend less time with video games and more time with real objects.

Can you be a museum hero?

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You like us! You really like us! At least we hope you do.

Tamara Hemmerlein — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:40:00 -0500

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, Flickr, CafeMom – the list goes on and on and on. You probably already know what these names have in common. Not so long ago, I wouldn’t have had any idea what these were. Of course, my teenage daughter could’ve filled me in if I were willing to risk the eye-rolling when I asked her.

Social networking sites have become a really important way for people to pass along information and catch up with each other. Social media has also become a way that individuals and organizations change history. Just think about recent world events. Keep track of how often someone mentions a Facebook post or something they saw on Pinterest in one day. It’s astounding!

A lot of history organizations are using social media to keep in touch with their members and communities. And, we’re joining them. IHS Local History Services has launched a Facebook page so that we can share the information about the resources and workshops offered by LHS and, hopefully learn about what Hoosier history organizations are doing. We’re a very social department and want to share the love.

Consider clicking on the “like” us on button on our Facebook page - www.facebook.com/IndianaLHS.

You’ll connect with LHS and your colleagues around the state. You might be surprised by what you discover. And, we might be convinced to share some of our favorite Indiana places to eat.

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Great Expectations!

Jeff Harris — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:05:00 -0400

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 a red quinoa tabouli with a lime and ginger vinaigrette. Really good but different!

But I also attended presentations and meetings about a lot of different history topics. I learned about new ways to run meetings, what field services offices like ours are doing in different states, how to use new media technology and many other things.

One main theme that kept emerging as a kind of undercurrent in many of the presentations, speeches and hallway discussions with colleagues was that people who visit history organizations are expecting more of us. When I was growing up, my parents were history geeks. We visited more Civil War battlefields and house museums than I could count. Most of what I learned left me shortly after the trip. What remained were a few impressions, perhaps a rare fact but otherwise nothing else. Not so today.

People who visit history organizations today want to be engaged, excited, leave wondering about a subject and have a discussion with their family on the way home. What changes can we make to our exhibits, programs, newsletters and other points of public contact to excite visitors, challenge them or just make them wonder and want to learn more?

What do you think? What do you do?

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.

Cemetery Tour!!! REALLY?

Jeff Harris — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:45:00 -0400

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 Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. The cemetery is gorgeous – a trend-setting cemetery for its time. The day we visited it was quite hot – more than 90 degrees. Everyone had a great time commiserating about the heat but enjoying the beauty of the site all the same.

In 2012, we visited Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville. As the name implies, the cemetery has caves and plenty of hills. It was another fascinating and beautiful historic place.

People often wonder why some of us are so intrigued by cemeteries. They are filled with history, interesting stories of people with local and national importance, beautiful landscapes and buildings and great sculptures. What more could a history lover want?

In Bedford, Jennifer and I met with local historians, tourism and museum leaders to begin to lay out the plan for the Bedford portion of the trip. Bedford and Bloomington are in the limestone area of Indiana. As a part of next year’s trip, we have a limestone expert and stone carver as speakers and other interesting things planned.

Just after our meeting with the Bedford folks, Jennifer and I had lunch at the Stone Pig, a barbeque place on the courthouse square. Great food! Jennifer and I both had a pulled pork sandwich with a side. We didn’t talk much on the way back, but we had the contented smiles on our faces that follow a good and tasty meal!

Keep June 6, 2013, open for a wonderfully informative and interesting trip.

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.

The Wild Ones

Jeannette Rooney — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:55:00 -0400

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 the various aspects of the exhibit together. What I liked was that many of the patrons appeared to be “motorcycle” geeks and not the usual “art museum” geeks. Jeff hands the blog to Tamara ...

Tamara writes: I was particularly struck by the way the exhibit gave me a new perspective on an object I see almost every day. Thinking about the intersections of motorcycles with different types of culture makes me think about the way that objects and cultures can collide to form something extraordinary. I’m also thinking about how powerful it would be if museums explored those extraordinary combinations more often. I didn’t expect motorcycles to be thought provoking (I have to admit that I harbor a secret desire to own a big, shiny, bright red motorcycle) but they were. And now, to Stacy …

Stacy writes: I didn’t expect Steel Ponies to bring memories to the surface … but that’s just what it did. My father had a Honda 300cc dirt bike, and we used to take weekend rides around the mountains of Colorado together. My dad and I didn’t generally have deep conversations, separated by a chasm of 40 years and gender, so traveling together with no real need to talk was quality daddy-daughter time. I felt a tiny bit of insight into my father – a small-town boy from Iowa – as the exhibit described how the motorcycle symbolizes freedom and adventure. I could imagine why, having fled the Midwest for New Mexico and then California, the motorcycle drew my father in. And he chose to share his motorcycle, his freedom and a few adventures with me. When we create exhibits, we don’t necessarily design or write for evoking memories, but they are a powerful (if uncontrollable) part of sharing history, art and discovery with visitors. And to Jeannette, for the final hand-off …

Jeannette writes: I loved how Steel Ponies captures the excitement of the open road, but I was particularly captivated by how the exhibit seamlessly created a collective history of people who are, and were, otherwise very diverse. Usually, when I visit the Eiteljorg, I tend to view things as categorically segregated: American Indian culture and art before European influence, the clash of cultures in the early West (depicted by both sides), contemporary Western art, and contemporary American Indian art (which often deals with the identity of American Indians today). Thus, the art of American Indians and the art of the American West always seem to me to be two very distinct things – often overlapping in theme, but still coming from two extremely different perspectives. However, through the history of motorcycles in Steel Ponies, we seem to have found a commonality that bridges this gap – it is something that unites every bike owner, no matter their cultural background. It is like the little wave that all motorcyclists give to one another on the road – an acknowledgement that no matter who they are, they share this one thing that belongs to all of them equally.

How Much Do You Care About the History of Another? – The Sequel

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:30:00 -0400

The Local History Services blogs don't usually generate a lot of comments, so when my April post prompted several responses, I finished the last crumbs of my cookie pie from Hoaglin To Go (a too-convenient elevator ride to the Stardust Terrace Café on the canal level of the Indiana History Center) and eagerly read them.

The commenters responded to the question in the title with a resounding, “YES!” Several commenters were names I recognized as those of some of the most dedicated volunteers we have at the Indiana Historical Society: the county historians. They are the hubs of local history, connecting anyone seeking information about a county with either the answer or the right place to look to find it. (This joint program of IHS and the Indiana Historical Bureau just celebrated its 30th anniversary last year and is as active as ever!)

The comment that really struck a chord with me was from Elkhart County Historian Marcia Brenneman: “I think we get so involved with the process [of doing local history] that we forget or ignore what we are preserving and saving for.” Marcia echoed something I remember from a Seminar for Historical Administration session I attended in 2006. Bob Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum, said that he started every board meeting with a five-minute (or less) story of an object from their collections. He thought that reminding the board about WHY they were sifting through budget information or discussing conflict of interest policies made the meetings more focused and productive.

So, while we may not be able to solve the mystery of “The Lincoln Eagle” at our next workshop or meeting, we can make a point to share some compelling history. Since my time is short today and I now know that our readers are looking for a local history fix, I will send you an interesting story dug up by Amy Vedra in the IHS Collections Department about a Man Once Thought Dead Elected Governor.

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LHS Staff - Compulsive Tinkerers or Just Nuts?

Jeff Harris — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:45:00 -0400

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 about managing paid staff.

Each talked about their philosophy for about 15 minutes and then took questions from the audience. It was time for a snack break including Tanis’s delicious homemade coffee cake. After that the participants shared tips, techniques and habits they use in managing people. Another round of questions from the audience followed. We solicited questions in advance so some of the topics were presented anonymously including how to deal with conflict and how to break up projects into manageable chunks. The questions moved towards integrating new people into the organization and leading by example. The best piece of advice was to find people better than you and they would make you look great.

The half-day workshop wrapped up with all of us heading to the restaurant Almost Home in Greencastle. The conversations during lunch were great. The food was fabulous. The restaurant is known for their desserts – I had grasshopper pie. My end of the table also had strawberry pizza, lemon meringue pie and other choices.

I liked the casual and conversational format and it seemed so did the participants. We also know that not all topics would work in this style of presentation. What do you think? Would you like this style of presentation? What topics would you like to see in this type of format?

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.

How Much Do You Care About the History of Another?

Stacy Klingler — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:55:00 -0400

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 questions answered about which Indiana county sent the most solders to fight in the Civil War or why the town of Madison isn't in Madison County. But the truth is, when someone asks those specific local history questions, we send them to the IHS reference desk.

What we do in LHS is talk about how local history is collected, preserved and shared with the public. We talk about engaging exhibit techniques, attracting new audiences to history organizations, fundraising for new roofs and archival boxes, and defending the value of local history. We may pick up fascinating details about a particular place on a site visit – like how all of Starke County smelled lovely during the mint harvest and how important that industry was. But rarely do we purposefully talk about the history or a particular place when we are with groups from different sites.

Is that a mistake on our part? Would we engage more local history organization presidents and directors if we made a space for these local history stories to be told in our In Your Neighborhood meetings or during workshops? Would you, Dear Reader, be more likely to read our blog, subscribe to Communique Online or visit our LHS department webpage if we share interesting tidbits of local history? Would you like to hear about another town or county's history?

We're not sure (although Jeff leans one way and I lean the other). Can you help us decide? Tell us if you would like to hear more about the local history of others!

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Field Services and Soul Food

Jeff Harris — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:30:00 -0500

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 conference, In Your Neighborhood meetings and other get-togethers of colleagues, it was a great way to borrow ideas, talk through potential projects and get reinvigorated.

During the FSA meeting, IHS Local History Services talked about a few of the things we are doing:

The Hoosier Heritage Alliance project and the various components – especially the Collections Advisor, the new Endangered Heritage traveling exhibit that aims to help organizations raise money for collections care, and the site-specific collections care site visits.
The cemetery preservation workshops we offer in coordination with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources-Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. It is a great example of an uncommon public/non-profit partnership to train people in preserving historic cemeteries.
We also talked about a pilot project that pairs two local history groups with LHS for in-depth conversations about setting priorities. Look for more information on this project as it rolls out in a finished form.

The last part of the meeting was lunch at Maxine’s Chicken and Waffles, a great soul food restaurant in downtown Indy. I had chicken tenders with BBQ sauce, a sweet potato waffle with peach butter and mashed potatoes. I wouldn’t call it health food, but it was fabulous!

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.

Connecting to Indiana’s History Collections

Tamara Hemmerlein — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:30:00 -0500

The Hoosier Heritage Alliance Connecting to Collections project is one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever been involved with. It’s all about working with Indiana’s history organizations to help preserve Hoosier history. I didn’t know before I started that an estimated 1,028 organizations in Indiana hold more than 20 million historical objects and 424,000 linear feet of primarily historical documents. That’s a lot of important stuff.

The Hoosier Heritage Alliance project was designed to address some of the needs of the organizations that care for those objects and documents. All of the activities are intriguing and have been fun to help plan and design. There are collections care training site visits, an Endangered Heritage traveling exhibit, the Collections Advisor monthly email and, coming soon, regional conferences and online training. As coordinator of the project, I get to do very cool stuff with lots of talented people.

Of all the project activities my favorites are the collections care training site visits. I spend a day at a local history organization, and we work together on their collection. We talk about concerns and problems; we also share success stories. I get to travel all over the state and meet museum staff and volunteers who are dedicated to taking care of Indiana’s history. The visits are free to history organizations and are tailored to fit the organization. I also get to leave presents – $100 worth of archival supplies.

I see wonderful objects and documents that help me connect to Indiana’s heritage – like a trough used by Francis Slocum, gorgeous pottery made by the Overbeck sisters and objects used at Lyles Station, a settlement of freed slaves in Southern Indiana. I wish that people who think of Indiana as a “flyover” state would stop and take the time to see what I’ve seen and meet the people I’ve met. The people who spend their time caring for Indiana’s history are taking on an honorable and important task. I admire their dedication and care. It’s a privilege to work with Indiana’s museum people. Plus, I’ve gotten to sample some great home cooking at lunch time.

For more information about the Hoosier Heritage Alliance Connecting to Collections project activities, go to www.indianahistory.org/hha.

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Tamara Hemmerlein is the Hoosier Heritage Alliance coordinator at IHS. She is traveling all over Indiana to advocate for good collections stewardship. Tamara loves mashed potatoes and ice cream, but not together.

Vive la difference

Jeff Harris — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:20:00 -0500

The Local History Services Department recently went out on an afternoon of team-building to Petite Chou, a French café 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 Stacy had Nutella™. The crepes were all different and we each enjoyed our own.

Spending that afternoon together reinforced to me how different we all are as people. Not only did we all eat different food, we all have very different personalities and bring very different outlooks and skills to the LHS team. We are each able to do many different things, but we each our have own strengths (and weaknesses).

I’m the strategist. I think long term; lots of “what if ... ” kind of thoughts. Stacy is the tactical mind. She breaks up the path to the long distance target into small doable pieces. Jeannette is the visual and logistical thinker. She manages the county historian program, schedules most of our trips and keeps many different projects on course. Tamara is the “integrator.” She helps people with different viewpoints to come together and agree.

The fact that we are all so different has pluses and minuses. We each look at a potential issue facing the department differently. That means we sometimes disagree but we seldom overlook something important. We often suggest different approaches to challenges we face, but that means we have lots of options to choose from and we usually choose the right path.

I appreciate the various skills and experiences of my colleagues on the LHS team. While it would be easier for my mental health to have everyone think EXACTLY like I do, it wouldn’t create a strong team. The LHS team would be much weaker if we all had the same skills and outlook.

Local history groups have the same challenges fulfilling their missions as our department. It’s often easiest to work with people that are similar but it is not as effective in achieving your goals. Celebrate the differences we all bring to our organizations. Work to bring in folks that disagree or have different skills. It will make the organization stronger.
As they might say at Petite Chou café, “vive la difference.”

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.

A Compelling Story Part II

Jeff Harris — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:10:00 -0400

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 them connect to some of the broader themes they were interested in presenting. Many students at the

: Keith Selke, Indiana Deaf Heritage archivist, at the entry to the new museum.

Indiana School for the Deaf looked at the school as a second home – a place where they were able to communicate easily and where they had friends. Many students felt isolated and had difficulty communicating with non-deaf friends and even their own families who didn’t understand sign language although many families did learn sign language.

The new museum, although small, is filled with compelling stories of students learning, growing, and figuring out their place in the world – something we all struggle to do, whether deaf or not. One area tells the story of A Girl Named Annie.

Annie Cooper came to the Indiana School for the Deaf as a child (in 1911, if I remember correctly). She wore large black-rimmed round glasses. In highlighting Annie, Indiana Deaf Heritage brought the story of the new kid at school to a very personal level. I viewed the Indiana School for the Deaf and its students through Annie’s eyes. What could have become a rather impersonal story about a building and the people that used it became a touching story about one kid leaving home and going to a boarding school with all the worries and concerns that any one of us would have.

: Jerry Cooper, Indiana Deaf Heritage president, next to A Girl Named Annie.

History museums have the power to use objects and photos to connect us to a particular story and then use that story to bring the broader picture into focus.

There is a lesson to be learned by history groups – the story is not about the building; the story is about Annie.

The Indiana Deaf Heritage Museum is in the Indiana School for the Deaf, 1200 E. 42nd St., Indianapolis, IN 46205 and open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Jeff Harris is director of Local History Services. He constantly travels the state for his job, giving him the opportunity to pursue his dream of finding the perfect mashed potatoes.