Table of Contents:

Training Opportunities and Conferences

German Immigration Workshop at the Indiana Historical Society

Oral History Institute on the Campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio

Programs

Jasper Corporation Reunion Day at the Dubois County Museum

Robert May Presents Beyond Kansas: Lincoln’s Election in 1860, Southern Ambitions for a

          Tropical Slave Empire, and the Coming of The Civil War

Early Bird Registration for President Harrison Home’s 14th Annual Wicket World of

          Croquet®

International Museum Day

Echoes of the Shenandoah: 10th Biennial Clan Ewing in America Gathering

Help

AIM-IHS Joint Survey

Lincoln Highway Association Seeking Roadside Art

Dearborn County Historical Society Receives Multiple Grants

OFBCI Training Resources

Digitization Matters: Breaking Through the Barriers—Scaling Up Digitization of Special

          Collections

Orphans Corner

Typewriter
Still Available: Abstracts of the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana

German Immigration Workshop at the Indiana Historical Society
This workshop on the history and nature of German immigration will be offered on Saturday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.

According to the 1990 census, people of German descent constituted the largest of the ethnically identified groups in Indiana. The immigration of German-speaking people to the shores of the United States began in the 17th century and reached a peak in the late 19th century, but continues to this day. The workshop will explore the nature of the German immigration through the years with a special emphasis on the Midwest and Indiana.

Giles R. Hoyt, the workshop’s presenter, is Professor of German and Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis where he has been since 1976. He received his Ph.D. in German Studies at the University of Illinois after study at the University of Göttingen, Germany and has published extensively in the area of early modern German literature and language, German culture studies and in German-American relations. 

Hoyt serves on the board of several organizations dealing with international and intercultural matters and is the director of the Max Kade German-American Center at IUPUI, a research center dedicated to the study of the German cultural heritage in America.

Cost for this workshop is $10 for the general public and $8 for IHS members.

Registrations must be received by Feb. 29. To register for a workshop, or for more information on other upcoming workshops or IHS programs and events, call (317) 232-1882 or (800) 447-1830 or e-mail welcome@indianahistory.org.

Information is also available at www.indianahistory.org.

Oral History Institute on the Campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio
This program will take place from June 3 through June 5, 2008.

If you are doing an oral history project or are thinking about doing one, you should apply to attend this year's Institute.

The program trains participants in planning and conducting successful oral history projects.  Emphasizing hands-on experience, topics covered in the two-and-a-half-day schedule include framing questions, interviewing techniques, transcribing, archiving, and devising public programs based on oral history. To develop these skills, participants will work on a practice project that encompasses all stages of oral history and will also have time to consult with experts about planned projects. Sessions will also be available on videotaping interviews and on fundraising.

The faculty consists of professors from the fields of history, sociology, archiving and telecommunications who all have extensive experience with oral history.

We encourage volunteers or paid staff from local historical organizations, libraries, schools, colleges and universities to apply. Admission to the institute is limited to thirty and is competitive.

The cost of the institute is $250, which includes two nights stay, six meals and all workshop materials.

The Oral History Institute is co-sponsored by the Ohio Humanities Council and The Rural Life Center at Kenyon College, in cooperation with Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums and the Ohio Historical Society.

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

Jasper Corporation Reunion Day at the Dubois County Museum
This event will take place on Sunday, March 9, from 1-4 p.m.

Former employees and interested members of the public are invited for a grand tour of the former Jasper Corporation, now the largest county museum in the state of Indiana.  The Dubois County Museum has been located in the former Jasper Corporation building since 2004.  This building was the birthplace of what is now Kimball International, Inc. 

Museum volunteers will lead guided tours and seek information through optional interviews from former employees to obtain an oral history of the day-to-day workings of the factory during its production days.  Please bring along any photos or artifacts to share of Corporation days or bring them in beforehand.  Former employees are encouraged to reminisce and gather with friends. Refreshments will be served.

The Jasper Corporation developed from an effort in the late 1940s to save a small manufacturing company, the Midwest Manufacturing Co., from receivership.  Arnold F. Habig saw an opportunity to fulfill his dreams of creating his own company and employing many of the highly skilled woodworkers found in the area.  In March of 1950, the firm was reorganized and its name changed to The Jasper Corporation. That was the company’s name for 24 years until it was changed to Kimball International, Inc. in July 1974. The company, of course, went on to achieve high success in the business world.

Additional Events at the Dubois County Museum

Wood Carving Event
Feb. 24

See an expert carving wood, the well-known “Swampy” (Schoenbachler).  Also visit the old Meyer Planing Mill in the museum and meet Melvin Meyer, its fourth generation woodworker-owner, and see the many wood working tools in the museum’s artifact collection.

Annual meeting and Symposium of the Indiana German Heritage Society
March 15

A German Immigration display will be highlighted in the museum.

Behind Barbed Wire:  Midwest POWs in Nazi Germany
April 17

The Traces tour bus with an on-board exhibit will be open 11 a.m.-6 p.m.  Learn about local POWs with a speaker at 10 a.m.

The museum is located in Jasper at 2704 N. Newton St. (U.S. 231).  Call (812) 634-7733 for more information.  Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday hours are 1-4 p.m. Closed Mondays. Admission is free; donations are accepted.  Please allow two hours to view exhibits.  

Robert May Presents Beyond Kansas: Lincoln’s Election in 1860, Southern Ambitions for a Tropical Slave Empire, and the Coming of The Civil War

This lecture will be given on Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne.

Robert May, author and professor of history at Purdue University, will argue that in the aftermath of the 1860 election Lincoln and his party rejected a last-ditch plan (“Crittenden Compromise”) to save the Union because of their fears that the plan would unleash new attempts to spread slavery into the tropics. His talk is based on his research for his books The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire and Manifest Destiny’s Underworld.

Robert May specializes in mid-19th century U.S. history, especially the Mexican-American War and the Civil War, as well as the U.S. South and U.S. foreign relations. His research and teaching has focused, to no small degree, upon Civil War causation.

As an expert on U.S. 19th-century “filibustering” (illegal private military expeditions against foreign countries), Professor May has written three books and many articles about the subject. His most recent book about filibustering, Manifest Destiny’s Underworld (paper rpt.; University of North Carolina Press) was recognized as a “Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2003” and is being translated into Spanish. Professor May lectures widely on the subject and in 2006 gave five presentations about filibustering in Costa Rica. Professor May is especially involved in the Purdue Undergraduate Honors Program at university, college and departmental levels. Currently, he is involved in a collaborative research project in late-19th-century art history with his wife, a professor in the College of Education at Purdue. He is also a member of the Camp Tippecanoe Civil War Round Table.

The Lincoln Museum is located at the corner of Clinton and Berry Streets in downtown Fort Wayne. Call (260) 455-3864 for additional information.

Early Bird Registration for President Harrison Home’s 14th Annual Wicket World of Croquet®
Early bird registration is due by April 30.

The competition will be held on Saturday, June 14 from 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on the south lawn of the Presidential site at 1230 N. Delaware St. in Indianapolis. 

Registration for a team of two is $100.  Early birds who register by April 30 will qualify for one free bisque (mulligan) valued at $5. 

Teams of men and women dressed in traditional white will compete on the south lawn in the spirited Victorian sport for the first-place team prize.  The White River Jazz Band will provide music, and a lunch will be served.  Croquet equipment will be provided for all participants.

Reservations are required and can be made by calling (317) 631-1888 or e-mailing David Pleiss at education@pbhh.org.

Proceeds from the Wicket World of Croquet® will be used to fund educational programs at the Harrison Home which welcomed approximately 16,000 students over the past year.

More information is available on the home’s web site:http://www.pbhh.org/.

International Museum Day
May 18, 2008

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) cordially invites all members of the global museum community to participate in International Museum Day with activities in their museums based on our theme Museums as Agents of Social Change and Development and to join us at the Tech Museum of Innovation on SECOND LIFE for the first-ever International Museum Day celebration in the virtual world. 

In 2007, approximately 20,000 museums in more than 70 countries participated in the 30th International Museum Day with activities, partnerships and events connected to Museums & Universal Heritage. This year, to better express changes in society and explore development, ICOM is inviting the world museum community in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, North America, Latin America and Europe to create activities in their museums based on this theme and to gather in new ways to celebrate International Museum Day.

The highlight of the suggested online activities on http://icom.museum is hosted by The Tech Museum of Innovation on May 18 in the replica of its Silicon Valley museum of technology on SECOND LIFE, the virtual 3-D platform created by Linden Lab. From real-world museums, museum professionals and the public will be able to communicate with colleagues, artists and "residents" in the virtual world. They will therefore be able to participate in the collective development of exhibits in The Tech in SECOND LIFE.

For more information visit http://icom.museum/imd.html, or e-mail communication@icom.museum.

Echoes of the Shenandoah: 10th Biennial Clan Ewing in America Gathering
This gathering will be held Sept 18-21, 2008. in Winchester, Va.

The theme of the gathering, Echoes of the Shenandoah, reflects an emphasis on the Ewing families who migrated to, settled in and traveled through the northern Shenandoah Valley.  Hear the stories of early pioneers, Civil War soldiers from both North and South and citizens of today.  Catch the footsteps of folks walking through the valley and the sounds of wagon wheels rolling along the ruts in the road.  Be open to the spirits in the slave kitchen of the Wayside Inn.  Listen to the music of Patsy Cline.  Taste the delicacies of southern cooking.  Savor the Shenandoah Valley's fall colors in September. 

For a schedule of activities, registration materials or more information about Clan Ewing in America, please visit www.ClanEwing.org.  For information about the gathering, you may also contact Registration Chair James E. Ewing Jr. at jimandevelyn@telpage.net or by phone at (434) 634-9227 or (434) 594-4199.

Dearborn County Historical Society Receives Multiple Grants

The Society received $500 from U.S. Bank, $7,500 from AEP Generating, $6,000 from Dearborn County and $10,000 from Lawrenceburg’s Municipal Development Fund.  The grants will allow the Society to continue with projects such as repainting the trim and re-pointing the brick at the National Register 1818 Samuel C. Vance House, as well as maintaining and preserving the artifacts in their collection.

Note from the Editor

If your historical organization, 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 col@indianahistory.org or 450 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN 46202.