Aaron Spolarich - Present Indiana Project participants spent May 11 scouring through the annals of Indiana history at the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Historical Society. With a brief introduction to the library, interns coursed through the library viewing rare books, Indiana population information, and collections of periodical clippings. 

The highlight of my day came when a research librarian allowed me access to the Indiana Authors room, which is typically closed to the public. This room contained first editions of all of Kurt Vonnegut’s works, along with first editions of almost every book published by any Hoosier author. After spending a challenging morning of research at the state library, students were treated with an Indian lunch in downtown Indianapolis. The majority of interns, who never had ate traditional Indian food, quite enjoyed their first foray into a different culture’s culinary style.

We were then treated to a brief introduction to the Indiana Historical Society and the multiple resources which were available. The library of the Historical Society contains unique Indiana items not available any where else in the world. The Society’s oldest piece is a map of the new world that dates back to the early 1500s.

Interns were turned loose in the library; using a computer database to locate pieces of interest. In order to obtain these unique items, interns had to request a librarian to retrieve them from the collection, and then enter a locked room where no food, drink, pens, or cameras were allowed. We kept the librarians busy with constant searches which included early 1900s maps of the Wabash River, journals of French fur traders who used the river for transportation, unique information on Native Americans in Indiana, and even the original celebratory book which was given to those gathered for the 75^th anniversary of Vonnegut Hardware almost a century ago. 

Interns were greeted with a much needed day away from campus and unique research materials not available any where else in the world during their day in Indianapolis.

In photo: Andy DeRolf listens to library staff give instructions on how to conduct research at the State Historical Society.