Summer lecture series wrapping up

There is one summer lecture remaining! Join us on Aug. 10, 2019 at 11 a.m. for the final session of our summer lecture series, as Nicole Poletika presents “Unigov: The Creation of Modern Indianapolis and Its Suburbs.” Nicole is a historian with the Indiana Historical Bureau. Her research focuses on minority history and issues of social justice. Her presentation on Unigov will explore the legislation that merged the governments of Indianapolis and Marion County, and the resulting socioeconomic disparities.

This is our first year offering these free summer lectures, and we hope to continue them in the future. If you haven’t been able to join us yet, the series began in June with “How Did We Get Here?: Why History Matters and How to Start Researching It” where  Dr. Michella Marino and Jill Weiss Simins discussed the importance of taking a look at the past, as well as why and how to research history. Our July session included lectures that entailed digging deep into land records, deciphering clues those records provide and how it all fits into your genealogical research, as professional genealogists John Barr and Amber Oldenburg presented “Map Reading for Genealogists: When North isn’t…” and “Land Records: A Family Historian’s ‘Bread and Butter.’”

“Unigov: The Creation of Modern Indianapolis and Its Suburbs” is worth one LEU.  Registration is required. You may register here, or see our events page for more information.

This blog post was written by Stephanie Asberry, deputy director of public services, Indiana State Library.

This Week in Indiana History: Unigov

January 1, 1970

On this week in Indiana history, Unigov went into effect. It consolidated the city of Indianapolis with Marion County, and dramatically increased the size of the city. This let the city keep up with recent population growth and trends.

Due to Unigov, Indianapolis became the 12th most populated city in Amer-ica overnight. However, it wasn’t without opposition. The re-organization and the expansion of the city into the outer suburbs would dramatically in-crease the voting population, and change the political environment of the city.

Unigov graphic

This information packet included important information about Unigov for Indianapolis citizens. You can read it, and many more items like it, at the Indiana State Library.

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