Video

Kevin Ford was born in 1960 in Portland, Indiana. Ford graduated from Blackford High School in Hartford City, Indiana before getting his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. In this Indiana Astronaut Oral History Project interview, Ford talks about his inspiring journey to becoming an astronaut, his training at NASA, and what it is like being in. Image courtesy ...

An Indiana Legislative Oral History Initiative mini-documentary produced by IHB Oral Historian Ben Baumann, which explores why former Indiana state legislators from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s feel Indiana politics have become more polarized. To listen to the full oral history interviews with former Indiana state legislators from the Indiana Legislative Oral History Initiative, visit ILOHI.IHB....

The life of Hoosier industrialist Henry Ulen seems like a movie-a person of little education and resources who uses his raw talents and savvy to build a massive business empire, who then comes back to his hometown to share the fruits of his success. Perhaps it was his years drifting from town to town on the railroads as a young man that inspired a sense of community, of needing a place to call ...

Purdue's "World's Largest Drum", made by Indianapolis' Leedy Manufacturing Company in 1921, has been involved in many rivalries over its size. Learn more about its unique history from our latest video. Learn more Indiana History from the IHB: www.in.gov/history/ Search historic newspaper pages at Hoosier State Chronicles: www.hoosierstatechronicles.org Visit our Blog: blog.newspapers.library.in...

Detroit, Michigan, March 30, 1965. Two men meet at a small press conference before the funeral of a slain civil rights activist. Their meeting seems like an unlikely pairing for us today-one a slick haired, brash, and controversial labor leader and the other a measured, eloquent, and inspirational pastor who had galvanized the civil rights movement. The former was there to present a check for $...

December 11th marks Indiana's 204th birthday! Learn more about the founding of the 19th state in this video from the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Archives and Records Administration. Learn more Indiana History from the IHB: www.in.gov/history/ Search historic newspaper pages at Hoosier State Chronicles: www.hoosierstatechronicles.org Visit our Blog: blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/ ...

Content Note: This video reproduces a panel of art depicting the Ku Klux Klan. It appears at 10:55 in the video and continues to 11:55. Viewer discretion is advised. Thomas Hart Benton, one of America’s premier artists during the twentieth century, painted series of murals about Indiana for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. A controversial collection of artworks, the Indiana Murals engaged viewers...

Five men are sitting in a jail cell in Terre Haute, Indiana. The leader of the group-a middle-aged, mustached, and unassuming figure-had been arrested on charges of “vagrancy and ‘for investigation’,” according to the local police chief. But it wasn’t a drunk or an unlucky drifter sitting in the cell. It was the leader of an American political party and its nominee for President of the United S...

At the height of World War I, American culture, particularly the press, exhibited an anti-German animus. Propaganda routinely emerged that referred to Germans as “Huns” and displayed German soldiers as “brutes.” In Indiana, this resulted in the widespread closure of German newspapers like the Täglicher Telegraph und Tribüne, the renaming of the Indianapolis-mainstay Das Deutsche Haus into the A...

Summer is upon us, and one of the staples of American summers is fast food. It’s always a blast to roll down the windows, crank up the tunes, and head on over to your favorite drive-thru. Now, we all know about the classics: McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC. But there’s one fast-food giant, wildly popular from 1950s through the 70s, which almost beat them all. That was Indianapolis-based...

Indiana, a state claimed as “free” from its statehood in 1816, was nevertheless the 7th highest non-southern state with racial terror lynchings, with 18 separate incidents. When searching through Indiana newspapers, many stories emerge of outlaw vigilantes who terrorized and brutalized African-Americans, sometimes for nothing more than alleged crimes. Since many were lynched before they receive...

At just 110 pounds, Sullivan, Indiana-native Will Hays was not exactly the imposing figure you’d expect to be the film industry's regulator, but he nevertheless left a substantial mark on the movie industry during the first half of the twentieth century. To learn more about Will Hays and the MPPDA, check out Stephen Vaughn’s article from the Indiana Magazine of History: scholarworks.iu.edu/jour...

Hoosier C. Mervin Palmer was one of 12,000 conscientious objectors who served their country in Civilian Public Service Camps during World War II. Learn more Indiana History from the Indiana Historical Bureau: www.in.gov/history/ Search historic newspaper pages at Hoosier State Chronicles: www.hoosierstatechronicles.org Visit our Blog: blog.newspapers.library.in.gov/ Visit Chronicling America to...

In Indiana during the 1890s, a creature feature known today as the “Crawfordsville Monster” became fodder for newspaper headlines. People throughout the town claimed they saw this “horrible apparition” in the sky. While the monster’s origins were eventually discovered to be earthly bound, the legendary status of the monster speaks to the power of fake news. Learn more Indiana History from the I...

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