Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts and Archives Department

JOHN LINZA GIBSON
PAPERS, 1926-ca. 1969

Collection #
M 0113
F 0137

Table of Contents

Collection Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information

Processed by
Charles Latham
April 1990, 4 January 1993
Additions
Alexandra S. Gressitt
20 October 1994

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION:

3 manuscript boxes, 1 roll of microfilm

COLLECTION DATES:

1926-ca. 1969

PROVENANCE:

John Linza Gibson, Borden Indiana, 1962 and 1966 and Charles Hunter, Beech Grove IN, 1974

REPRODUCTION RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material from this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE FORMATS:

Box 1, Folder 8 on microfilm (negative), F 137

OTHER FINDING AIDS:

None

RELATED HOLDINGS:

John L. Gibson, Early Wood Township (1964), pam F 532 .C5 G5 1966

ACCESSION NUMBER:

1962.0010, 1966.0802, 1974.0209

NOTES:

This collection was originally divided into two separate units. They were combined into one collection in 1994

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

  John Linza Gibson (1886-1969) was born in Wood Township, Clark County, Indiana, the son of James K. Gibson, a farmer, and Indiana Goss Gibson. He was educated in local rural schools and graduated from high school in nearby Borden. He then taught for a number of years, largely in rural one-room schools. He gave up teaching when he became deaf, and worked during World War II at the boat works in Jeffersonville, which was then producing LSTs. After retiring, he did a good deal of traveling in the United States and Canada.

In the 1920s Gibson wrote a series of historical articles titled "Legends and Lore" for the Indiana Farmers Guide. Through the rest of his life he wrote voluminously on both local historical and family matters.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection filling three manuscript boxes consists of photocopies and typescripts of Gibson's writings. Box 1 Folders 1-7, contain "We Gibsons" (454 pages), which has three chapters on Gibson's ancestors and forty-seven more on his autobiograpy. The detailed accounts of his teaching experiences give a good picture of the life of a rural teacher, with detailed descriptions of each year's class in a one-room school. There are several chapters about his work at the boat works at Jeffersonville. The final chapters describe his travels after his retirement. Folders 8-13 contain miscellaneous writings by Gibson including "The Silver Bullet" chapter XXV from "When Indiana Was Young" (see the microfilm, F 0137, for the first twenty four chapters); on "Morgan's Ruse" and five chapters on Morgan's Raid (1926).

Box 2 contains several of Gibson's literary efforts: an educational paper on "Sounds and symbols of speech"; two travel pieces, "As We Travel" and "Frosty Florida"; a reminiscence of his daughter Helen; and "Aab's Golden Tomahawk," a fictional account of an Indian in the 1790s. In Box 3 are more historical pieces, including "Rustic Reflection", "The Silver Legend" and "Legends and Lore".

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder Contents

1-7

We Gibsons

8

The Silver Bullet (see also F 137)

9-12

Morgan's Ruse

13

Morgan's Raid (1926)

Box 2
Folder Contents

1

Sound and Symbols of Speech

2-5

Aab's Golden Tomahawk

6-9

The Book of Helen

10-12

As We Travel

13-14

Frosty Florida

Box 3
Folder Contents

1-4

Rustic Reflections

5-7

The Silver Legend

8-11

Legend and Lore

F 0137*When Indiana Was Young (first 24 chapters)

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

  1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog
  2. Click on the "Local Catalog" icon.
  3. Search for the collection by its call number, using the letter or letters designation and four digits (e.g., M 0715, SC 2234).
  4. When you find the collection, go to the "Holdings" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

END