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Researching Hoosier History
This guide provides information on and links to open Indiana history resources. Created in collaboration with Indiana University's Center for Rural Engagement, IU Libraries and public libraries throughout the Indiana Uplands region, it is intended to be used by Hoosiers researching state and local history on any level.
General History
Open State History Resources
Here you'll find more than 95,000 digital images that are available for research, with more added every week. The Preservation Imaging Lab scans materials covering a variety of subjects and formats.
Indiana Legislative Oral History Initiative
ILOHL isn't online yet, but when it is, you will be able to access a repository of interviews from legislators in the Indiana General Assembly about the work they did there.
Read more about it here: ILOHI: The Oral History of the Indiana General Assembly and Its Relevance to You.
Photographs, military records and other digital resources made available to the public by the Indiana Archives and Records Administration
The American Folklife Center: Indiana
Indiana's folk culture is well represented in the collections of the American Folklife Center, facilitated by the Library of Congress. Among the Center's recordings are fiddle tunes and other folk music; oral histories and storytelling about life in Indiana at the turn of the century; the Indiana field recordings and notes by well-known folklore collector Alan Lomax; Amish and French songs; and blues music from Indianapolis.
Stories from around the state available to you from the comfort of your home!
Newspapers
Open Newspaper Resources
INSPIRE is Indiana's Virtual Online Library. INSPIRE is a collection of online academic databases and other information resources that can be accessed by Indiana residents. INSPIRE began in January 1998 as a project of the Indiana State Library, funded by a one-time development grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. Since that time, INSPIRE has been supported by the Indiana General Assembly through Build Indiana Funds and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and through a partnership with the Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI).
INSPIRE includes full-text magazine and journal articles, websites, pamphlets, images, almanacs, full-text historic newspapers, multimedia, library catalogs and much more. In most cases, INSPIRE provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts of all articles that appear in every periodical with the exception of some newspapers. Only letters to the editor, advertisements, and some images are excluded for copyright reasons.
INSPIRE is a free resource available to all Indiana residents who have Internet access. Other states may offer similar services to their own residents.
Indiana Memory is a collaborative effort to provide access to the wealth of primary sources in Indiana libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions. It is a gateway to Indiana's history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, maps, and other media. As a portal to the collections, Indiana Memory assists individuals to locate materials relevant to their interests and to better appreciate the connections between those materials.
This project is made possible through grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Indiana State Library under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act.
Hoosier State Chronicles is operated by the Indiana State Library and funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. This database seeks to provide free, online access to high quality digital images of Indiana's historic newspapers by digitizing the collection and consistently assisting other organizations in making their collections digitally available.
From IU, For You!
Indiana University Resources
The largest and most comprehensive source of information on the history and culture of Indiana University
Collaborative showcase for various image collections curated by the libraries, departments, and cultural institutions of Indiana University
Contributors
Guide Contributors
Emily Alford, Head of GIMMS at IU Libraries & IU CRE Faculty Affiliate
Nicholae Cline, Scholarly Services Librarian and Librarian for Media Studies at IU Libraries
Wendy Spacek, Library Assistant for Arts and Humanities at IU Libraries
Brett Hoffman, Library Assistant for Arts and Humanities at IU Libraries