Author Archives: indianastatelibrary

Copyright and AI; an update

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In recent years, the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law has become a hot topic, especially as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent. The U.S. Copyright Office plays a crucial role in shaping the legal landscape for these emerging technologies. The U.S. Copyright Office administers the national copyright system and provides guidance on copyright law to Congress, federal agencies, the courts and the public. As AI technology advances, the office has been active in addressing the unique challenges it presents.

Historically, the U.S. Copyright Office has maintained that copyright protection is reserved for works created by humans. This means that purely AI-generated works, without any human involvement, are not eligible for copyright protection. However, the landscape is evolving. In March 2023, the Copyright Office issued formal guidance stating that if a human significantly contributes to the creation of a work in which AI was used, it may be eligible for copyright protection. The office has been receiving applications for the registration of works that include AI-generated content, reflecting the increasing integration of AI in creative processes. As a result, preliminary guidance has been issued for those seeking to copyright works that involve AI content and that guidance can be found here. The office has also received complaints regarding the use of copyright protected art and text in the training of AI tools.

Recognizing the growing importance of AI in content creation, the Copyright Office launched a new initiative in early 2023 to examine the copyright issues raised by AI. This initiative aims to explore the scope of copyright in AI-generated works and the use of copyrighted materials in AI training. As AI continues to transform the creative landscape, the U.S. Copyright Office’s efforts to adapt copyright law to these new realities are crucial. By providing clear guidelines and exploring the implications of AI in content creation, the Copyright Office helps ensure that copyright law remains relevant and effective in the digital age.

This blog post was written by Sylvia Watson, library law consultant and legal counsel, Indiana State Library.

Call for entries for Indiana Statehood Day Essay Contest

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The Indiana Center for the Book is hosting an essay competition to commemorate Indiana’s 208th Statehood Day. This year’s theme is “Learning IN Indiana.” The Statehood Day Essay Contest takes place annually in the fall and is open to all Indiana fourth graders.

Essays should be well organized and reflective of the theme “Learning IN Indiana.” Judges are looking forward to seeing students’ interpretation of the theme. The theme can encompass all kinds of learning, like travel, reading, experiences, passions and more. The committee hopes that the theme will build awareness and appreciation for the Hoosier state.

Winners of the essay contest will be honored on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at in-person ceremonies at the Indiana Statehouse and the Indiana State Museum. The winners will be expected to record their essays as well.

Each winner – first place through fourth place – will receive a CollegeChoice 529 deposit of $529 made possible by the Indiana Education Savings Authority.

The essay contest rules are as follows:

– The competition is open to any Indiana fourth grade public, private or homeschooled student in the 2024-25 school year.

– A panel of judges, including Indiana State Library staff and volunteer educators, will choose the first, second, third and fourth place winners.

– Essays must range from 100 to 300 words; handwritten or typed and must be submitted with an entry form.

– Individual entries should use the 2024 individual entry form and class sets should use the 2024 class entry form. The following information should be included on each essay for class sets: student name, teacher name and school name.

– All entries may be mailed or emailed and must be received by Friday, Oct. 25.

– Mailed entry forms can be sent to: Indiana Center for the Book Indiana State Library 140 N. Senate Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46204.

– Emailed entry forms can be sent to this email address as an attachment.

Click here for more information about the 2024 Statehood Day essay contest, including lesson plans for teachers, and to view the 2023 winning essays.

Please contact Suzanne Walker, Indiana Center for the Book director, with any questions.

This blog post was submitted by Indiana Young Readers Center librarian Suzanne Walker.

New Directors Workshop 2024

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On Aug.15, 22 new Indiana public library directors attended the annual New Directors Workshop at the Indiana State Library. The workshop is a chance for new directors to meet each other, as well as Indiana State Library staff, and to receive an orientation to their many duties. Public library consultants Hayley Trefun and Angela Fox hosted the workshop, and various other State Library staff and Indiana public library directors presented on multiple topics.

The workshop offered an orientation to the many resources of the guidebook and its 19 chapters that inform directors on the many tasks and responsibilities necessary for the day-to-day management of public libraries.

The opening presentation focused on the distinct roles of the director versus the board, including standards and library laws. Additional presentations covered certification and resource sharing – including Indiana Share, INSPIRE and Evergreen Indiana. The morning concluded with a walking tour of the Indiana State Library, where participants visited and met staff from the state’s Talking Book and Braille Library, Genealogy, Indiana and Reference divisions.

In the afternoon, directors learned about employment practices and workers’ rights from Beka Lemons, director of the Huntington City-Township Public Library, and budgeting from Lynn Hobbs, director of the Pendleton Community Public Library. Directors received an overview of the E-Rate program and State Board of Accounts. Finally, Kyle Hickman from the Indiana Library Federation closed out the day with an inspiring invitation to participate in the state’s professional association and activities.

A second-day follow up conference was held via Zoom on Aug. 20. The follow-up conference included presentations from Jamie Scott, director of the North Madison Public Library; Michella Marino, deputy director of the Indiana Historical Bureau; and Amy Christiansen, records management liaison at the Indiana Archives and Records Administration. The workshop concluded with an overview of the Professional Development Office and Children’s Services from the Indiana State Library by Paula Newcom.

New directors who begin after this year’s workshop was held can expect to receive an invitation to the annual workshop in the summer of 2025, or can contact Hayley Trefun for more information.

This blog post was written by Jen Clifton, Library Development Office.

A not-so-brief history of the United States passport

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Durable passport books that can easily fit in a pocket are a relatively recent invention. Prior to the 20th century, travel papers were just that: letters or single-page documents from a monarch or government requesting safe passage for their citizens. These travel documents can be traced back millennia to about 450 B.C.E. in ancient Persia. Other early instances of such documentation have been found in India and China as early as the third century B.C.E. In the Middle Ages, travel documents for moving between regions within a country, or to visit colonies or foreign nations were issued in many places around the world, including the Islamic Caliphate, Italian city-states and England. An example of one such document is the secretarial letter of safe conduct issued in the name of King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland and given to Anselm Adornes, a merchant from Bruges acting as a diplomat for the Duke of Burgundy, on his way to Persia in the 15th century.

Anselm Adornes secretarial letter of safe conduct from King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland, ca. 1470. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

King Louis XIV of France popularized the modern use of passports – still a letter of request for safe passage – by providing a personally signed “passe port” to many of his court favorites. The English word “passport” derives from the French term meaning “to pass through a seaport,” harkening to the days when ship travel was the dominant means of journeying between countries. Most European states likewise developed systems to issue passports to their citizens and visas to visitors.

By the 19th century, passports in European countries had evolved from personally granted letters from monarchs into large, one-page documents issued by authorized government entities. In the United States, passports could be issued by states, cities and notaries public in addition to the Department of State until 1856, when the latter became the sole authority by an act of Congress.

19th century European passports, 1832, 1854. Sources: DuFour family papers (L046) and John B. Stoll collection (L149), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.

At that time, the United States and most European countries did not require their citizens to obtain passports to traverse national borders except in times of war. Passports were issued on an ad hoc basis – often to government officials, the wealthy and people of prominence – to smooth the way for their voyaging citizens, but they were not necessary or viewed as long-term forms of identification. The passport of Russell B. Harrison, the son of President Benjamin Harrison, is an example of simple travel papers supplied to someone with high connections. His passport has no identifying information save, “Russell B. Harrison of Montana, a son of the President of the United States, is about proceeding abroad.”

Russell B. Harrison passport, 1889. Source: Benjamin Harrison collection (L063), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.

Nineteenth century Euro-American passports were typically a single-sided page with the name of the traveler, their country of origin, a signature from the issuing authority and the issue date, at minimum. They might also include where the holder intended to travel or their purpose in doing so. The papers were not intended for long-term use or identification and often only utilized for single trips. Over the next few decades, passports would often indicate expiration dates, usually six months to two years after issuance. Many passports also included the age and physical description of the document holder, as illustrated by Watson J. Hasselman’s passport from 1873. Photographs would not be utilized for identification on passports until 1914.

Watson J. Hasselman passport, 1873. Source: Hasselman and Blood family papers (L385), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.

According to the National Archives, the U.S. State Department issued 130,360 passports between 1810 and 1873. The majority of those passports were issued to white men. After reviewing countless passports, archives specialist Rebecca Sharp of the National Archives only encountered two passports granted to free Black men before the U.S. Civil War. Her finding is unsurprising, since African Americans, free or enslaved, did not have indisputable citizenship until the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868.

The rise of tourism in North America and Europe in the mid- to late 19th century caused difficulties for the existing passport and visa systems in Europe and in 1861, France abolished passports and visas, with the rest of Europe following suit. The U.S. continued issuing passports and many Americans still requested them to travel abroad for business, pleasure and to visit family. Over 369,844 passports were granted between 1877 and 1909, indicating the growing popularity of world travel in the late-19th and early 20th centuries.

Until the mid-1800s, it cost nothing to obtain an American passport. The first passport fee of $3 was imposed by Congress in 1862. The fees fluctuated wildly over the next several decades: first rising to $5 in 1865; dropping to zero during 1870-1871; up to $5 again in 1874; then $1 in 1888. The fees then stabilized until 1917 when they rose to $2, before jumping to $10 in 1920 – the most dramatic increase since passport fees were implemented 58 years earlier. Passport fees often made attaining them a luxury for many Americans, especially when they were not required to travel.

U.S. Department of State, “General instructions in regards to passports” document (S3463), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.

By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, passport requirements were nonexistent nearly everywhere in Europe and the United States. The First World War brought new concerns for international security, prompting the requirement of passports and visas to travel abroad. In 1920, the League of Nations advocated the concept of a worldwide passport standard, introducing the modern passport format of a small booklet with pages for stamps. Most countries around the world began implementing the new uniform passport guidelines set forth by the League and agreed to continue or add passport requirements. In contrast, the U.S. passport requirement was only a war measure that officially ended when President Wilson left office in 1921. The U.S. was not a member of League of Nations – despite it being the brainchild of its aforementioned president – and did not require passports for international travel again until Nov. 29, 1941, mere days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

During the early 1920s, passports were still seen as ephemeral forms of identification so most early booklet passports were not meant to last. Passport covers made of paper were commonplace, as indicated by the 1923 German passport of Erich L. Riesterer, which was taped several times as it fell apart.

Post-World War I, the United States began issuing passport booklets with cardboard covers, but early on, the pages were large foldouts as seen in the 1922 passports of Margaret B. Pierson and the Marshalls in the next section. Regardless, passports were becoming necessities for American travelers if they wanted to visit countries that required them for entry. Interest in leisure travel surged after the war’s end, and when passport application fees dramatically increased in 1920, international travel grew far less feasible for people of limited means. Effectively, the passport requirements of other countries made obtaining an American passport a necessity to cross their borders, sometimes with the addition of costly visas.

Women with wanderlust
During the mid-19th century, men comprised 95 percent of passport applicants. If they were accompanied by dependents – such as wives, children, servants or female wards- their companions’ names, ages, and relationship to the man were stated on the application, if not the passport itself. Oftentimes, women were not even named on a man’s passport, simply denoted by “and wife.” Until the early 20th century, passports for married women in the United States and elsewhere were generally considered unnecessary. Instead, women continued to appear as mere afterthoughts on their husbands’ passports. The idea that a married women might need or desire to travel without their spouses was apparently inconceivable to their governments, while men could cross borders freely without their partners.

The following passports illustrate the differences between travel documentation for women based on their marital status. The first image shows the passport of a single woman, mathematician Margaret B. Pierson, issued on June 7, 1922. It includes her full name, physical description, date of birth, occupation and photograph, as well as the countries she intended to visit.

Margaret B. Pierson passport, 1922. Source: Margaret B. Pierson papers (S1038), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.

The second example is the passport of Thomas Riley Marshall, former Indiana governor and Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, which includes his wife, Lois Kimsey Marshall. The only indications of her inclusion in the document are her photograph and the addendum that Marshall would be “accompanied by his wife Lois K.” on the first inside page.

By 1923, American women comprised over 40 percent of passport applicants, according to the National Archives. The passport of Mrs. Cora Calhoun Horne illustrates the new independence a married woman achieved by having her own travel document when she set off to tour Europe in 1929 accompanied, not by her husband, but by her female friend. Aside from the prefix of “Mrs.,” the only mention of her husband on her identification is the contact information provided “in case of death or accident.”

Unlike Horne, who took her husband’s surname, American women who retained their own names after marriage still had a bone to pick with State Department. The same year women attained the right to vote, writer Ruth Hale was issued a passport identifying her as “Mrs. Heywood Broun, otherwise known as Ruth Hale” despite having applied under her maiden name. In response, she cofounded the Lucy Stone League, which fought for a woman’s right to her maiden name. These women viewed passports as vital to their independent identities: if the State Department recognized the use of their birth names, then other government entities would surely follow. Despite a token victory in 1925 when press agent Doris Fleishmann, after several failed attempts, received a passport issued under her birth name, most women’s passports still recorded their identity as the wife of their husband. Finally, Passport Division supervisor Ruth Shipley unceremoniously dropped marital information on passports in 1937.

Horne’s trip abroad was noteworthy in another way. A middle-class African American woman living in Brooklyn, New York, Horne had both the means and the ability to apply for a passport and to travel abroad. Considering the immense legal and economic hardships facing Black Americans during the 1920s due to racial discrimination, Jim Crow, and the scarcity of educational and financial prospects, she had opportunities that many did not. Due to the discrimination facing them at home, having a passport and the resources to travel afforded many African American women and men – some of them performers, athletes and pioneers in their fields – greater opportunities outside the United States in the early to mid-20th century. World-renowned singer, actress and activist Lena Horne, Cora Calhoun Horne’s granddaughter, exemplified this trend.

“Recent” history
As illustrated by the above images, passports grew less ephemeral, undergoing a rapid transformation from the single-page document to a booklet. Beginning in 1926, American passports transformed into true pocket-size booklets with numerous pages and covers composed from more durable materials like the passports of today. Lengthier validity periods took a while to catch up to the more hardwearing form. The period until expiration for American passports increased from two years to three in 1959; to five years in 1968; and to the current ten years sometime after 1976. In essentials, the U.S. passport’s design essentially remained unchanged until a redesign in 2007. The most notable additions to passports and travel control in the 21st century have been the incorporation of technology, specifically microchips and biometrics. These changes in durability and longevity were the result of changes in how passports were utilized.

Following World War II, many countries used passports as a means of travel control due to subsequent global conflicts and national emergencies. In 1952, U.S. passport policy finally changed, requiring all American citizens to have passports to depart from or re-enter the United States, except for certain countries in North and Latin America. By this point, passports had become essential proof of citizenship and identity, particularly in terms of national security. Today, passports are treated as the highest form of identification and used to obtain a driver’s license, open bank accounts and secure housing and employment.

“Your Trip Abroad” pamphlet (U.S. Department of State), 1978. Source: General federal documents, Reference and Government Services, Indiana State Library.

Dramatic changes to society – caused by complex factors such as industrialization, increased access to education, the enfranchisement of women and people of color and war – shaped the role of U.S. passports, and their appearance, during the 19th and 20th centuries. Travel documents evolved from optional, transient means of protection and mobility for the mostly male Euro-American elite, to methods of establishing identity. For the newly enfranchised, like BIPOC and female Americans, passports became symbols of their full citizenship and offered access to opportunities abroad when their rights as citizens were denied them at home. From the perspective of governments, passports became necessary instruments of national security and mandatory forms of identification for people crossing their borders. In this way, the passport was an instrument of protection and freedom to some, while others came to view it as a method of control.

Author’s notes:

  • The title for the post was inspired by another one dated October 18, 2016 from fellow Manuscripts librarian Lauren Patton called, “A Brief History of the United States Passport.” It provides more detailed information about Watson J. Hasselman’s passport from 1873.
  • This post is a companion piece to my exhibit, The Hoosiers Abroad, on display in the Manuscripts Reading Room at the Indiana State Library until mid-September.
  • The history of passports is far broader and more complex than can be fully conveyed here. As our collection centers on Indiana history, and thus provides an abundance of European and American experiences through the mid-20th century, the focus of this post is necessarily limited and does not explore the history of passports in other cultures or parts of the world, nor the impact of imperialism and colonialism upon those cultures. There is much more to study on this topic, including the experiences of Americans of color and the working classes. Particularly, I wish to see more scholarship related to African Americans’ use of passports during the late 19th and 20th century as most of works I encountered ended at the Civil War period. Hopefully, this gap in the literature will eventually be addressed by scholars, allowing for an updated “Not-so-brief history” sometime in the future.

This blog post was written by Rare Books and Manuscripts librarian Brittany Kropf. For more information, contact the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division at 317-232-3671 or via “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Sources
Items from the Indiana State Library collection.

Government of Canada. “History of Passports.” Canada.ca. Modified April 10, 2014. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadians/celebrate-being-canadian/teachers-corner/history-passports.html

Knisely, Sandra. “The 1920s Women Who Fought for the Right to Travel Under Their Own Names.” Atlas Obscura, March 27, 2017. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/us-passport-history-women

Little, Becky. “See How Women Traveled in 1920.” National Geographic, August 24, 2018. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/women-equality-day-history-politics-passport

Pines, Giulia. “The Contentious History of the Passport.” National Geographic, May 16, 2017. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/a-history-of-the-passport

Puckett, Jessica. “How the U.S. Passport Evolved from Status Symbol to Essential Travel Document.” Condé Nast Traveler, May 1, 2020. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-the-us-passport-evolved-from-status-symbol-to-essential-travel-document

Sharp, Rebecca. “A Rare Find: Passport Applications of Free Blacks.” Rediscovering Black History blog, July 22, 2020. https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2020/07/22/a-rare-find-passport-applications-of-free-blacks/

United States Passport Office. The United States Passport: Past, Present, Future. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.

United States National Archives and Records Administration. “Passport Applications.” National Archives. Last reviewed October 27, 2021. https://www.archives.gov/research/passport

United States National Archives and Records Administration. “Passport Applications, 1795-1925.” National Archives. Last revised November 2014. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/naturalization/400-passports.pdf

Wikipedia. “Passport.” Wikipedia.org. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport.

Wikipedia. “United States Passport.” Wikipedia.org. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_passport.

I always feel like someone is watching me – the citizen spies of the American Protective League

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The book “German Settlers and German Settlements in Indiana; a Memorial for the State Centennial, 1916” was written to celebrate German Americans in Indiana for the state’s 100th anniversary. Yet, by 1917, much had changed. The United States had entered World War I on April 6, 1917 and Germans in the country were under new scrutiny.

A Spy is Born
In 1917, an idea was birthed at Indiana’s doorstep in Chicago by Albert M. Briggs, a wealthy businessman. Briggs became concerned about the abilities of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation to handle the demands of their jobs; so he started a volunteer group of fellow businessmen to drive Bureau of Investigation agents in need of automobile transportation. The group, known as the American Protective League, eventually donated motor vehicles to the Bureau.

The gift of the automobiles opened the door to Briggs making a proposal to the chief of the Bureau that the American Protective League further assist the Bureau by looking for German spies.

Volume 1, Number 1, June 4, 1918.

Approval was given on March 20, 1917. Bureau of Investigation agents were informed that a volunteer committee was being formed to co-operate with the department for gathering information of those foreign persons unfriendly to the government. The American Protection League would provide information to the agents at the agents’ request and would also gather and provide information on their own volition.

The American Protection League’s day-to-day concerns involved tracking down draft dodgers – in the slang of the time, known as slackers – and German spies ensconced stateside. Specifically, the American Protection League was concerned with enemy aliens, first-paper aliens (i.e., those Germans that had filed their intention to become a naturalized citizen), pro-German “radicals,” native-born Germans, naturalized Germans, possible spies or German agents and pro-German applicants for government positions.

To achieve their many and varied goals, since they had no legal or official authority, agents would sometimes tar and feather suspects, drive the suspect out of town, burn down a suspect’s home or lynch the suspect. Complaints were made to the Attorney General’s Office that accused the American Protective League of wiretapping, illegal arrests, extortion, kidnapping, rape and murder.

Over concerns by the Attorney General that the American Protective League with their vigilante tendencies had violated individual rights – and since the war was over – the American Protection League was shut down and disbanded by the Federal Government in February of 1919. However, the American Protective League unofficially kept the hate alive by easily transferring the hatred from German Americans to Russian Americans suspected of being Bolsheviks.

Good Old Hoosier Hostile-ality
During World War I, all over the nation, anti-German sentiment was seen as patriotic, and Indiana was just as patriotic as any other state. In the Hoosier state, anti-German sentiment included the cessation of teaching German in schools, the death of German newspapers and the suspicion of German names.

The Hammond Lake County Times, April 9, 1918.

The Hoosier state saw German spies everywhere, as demonstrated by this editorial from the Richmond Palladium newspaper:

Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 42, Number 316, Nov. 16, 1917.

In Hammond, a girl turned in her boyfriend to the police whom she suspected of being a German spy; he also had a wife in Chicago.

German Hoosiers wrote letters to their local newspapers decrying their innocence of espionage.

Even Kurt Vonnegut’s grandmother Nannette Vonnegut was spied on by the family’s chauffeur.

The American Protective League in Indiana
American Protective Leagues were formed in many Indiana communities; including Howard County, Huntington, Elkhart, Evansville, Lake County and, of course, Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Protection League boasted of the internment of 50 alien enemies and the handling of over a thousand cases.

The work of the Indiana American Protective League can be found in the American Protection League’s authorized history: “The Web – A Revelation of Patriotism:”

“Though wireless scares are most frequent on the seaboard, almost every city can boast several of them. An Indianapolis operative thought he had discovered certain wireless antennae on the property of a family with a German name. A pole was found fastened to the roof of a shed, wires being used to connect it with the attic of the house. It was noticed that the attic had close-drawn blinds, whence lights were occasionally seen. The whole thing simmered down to an outfit put up by some young men to practice telegraphy.”

And

“On this same expedition we stopped to see the Lutheran minister as private citizens, and told him that the people of Jasper County wanted no more German preaching and no more German teaching in the schools; also they would like to see Old Glory floating from the mast-head. We told him also that this was the last time that he would be notified. In about three hours we returned that way and stopped again. Old Glory was floating at the mast-head; the German school books had disappeared, and there has been no more German teaching nor preaching.”

If you are wondering if anyone in your family was accused of being a German spy or even someone that did the spying; you are in luck!

Ancestry – available for free when you visit the Indiana State Library – has the following collections: American Protective League Members Record Cards and Registers of Members, 1917-1919 (and yes it includes the state of Indiana!) and American Protective League Correspondence, 1917-1919 – Correspondence on Investigations.

The Indiana State Library also has in its collections the Indianapolis American Protective League Membership List; American Protective League of Indianapolis During World War; call number: [Vault] ISLV 940.3772 I388B.

You can also search the Indiana State Library’s various newspaper databases for ancestors’ names in the results that are returned with the words “German spy” and “American Protective League.”

This blog post is by Angi Porter, Genealogy Division librarian.

Additional Resources
Alien Enemy Index, 1917-1919.

American Protective League. Issues of the Newsletter “Spy Glass,” 06/04/1918–01/25/191. Series A1 16. NAID: 597894. Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1896–2008, Record Group 65. The National Archives in Washington, D.C.

“Genealogical Records of German Families in Allen County, Indiana 1918;” call number: ISLG 977.201 A425BL.

Genealogical Records of German Families in Allen County, Indiana 1918.

Huntington County in the World War. Volume 1, number 21 – American Protective League.

The Web – “A Revelation of Patriotism.”

“800 ARE NAMED AS ENEMY ALIENS: Complete List Given of Local Residents Affected by Government Order – Names of Unnaturalized Germans Registered Here;” The Indianapolis Star, December 7, 1917, page 12.

Gordon Tanner, former State Librarian

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Established in 1825, the Indiana State Library is approaching its 200th anniversary. The head of the agency is the State Librarian. There have been 33 State Librarians in position since 1841. From 1825 to 1841, the role of State Librarian was played by the Indiana Secretary of State. Nineteenth century State Librarians held the appointed position for only a few years, and the appointment was usually as a political party favor of some sort. Demarcus Brown changed that legacy when he held the position for twenty years, between1906 and 1926. The position is now hired by a board, no longer appointed by the legislature. This is a brief sketch of one of the early politically-appointed State Librarians, Gordon Tanner. Tanner served as State Librarian from 1854-1856.

Image taken from Library Occurrent, vol. 26, no. 12, November 1980.

Tanner was a young man when he served as Indiana’s State Librarian. He was only 24 years old. Tanner’s annual reports as State Librarian are critical about the lack of support the library was receiving. He reports, if the wages are not increased, he’ll have to abandon the post and seek other work, or he’d starve to death. He took over the books of the Indiana Law Library without authority, claiming they weren’t being cared for properly. He reports the State Library was not being given sufficient appropriations to continue to loan books, which required repair or replacement when damaged, lost or stolen. He wanted lending to cease. Ironically, the State Library report of 1862 lists Tanner among those with overdue books. Interestingly, Governor Morton was also guilty of not returning library material. Morton borrowed the Koran in 1861 and is on the overdue list in the 1862 report.

Tanner’s role as State Librarian is a blip in his whirlwind of life. Tanner served in the Mexican American War. He was active in Indiana Democratic party politics. He was Assistant Secretary of the 1850 Indiana Constitutional Convention. He was elected by the legislature as State Librarian between 1854 and 1856. Then, elected by the people of Indiana as Reporter of the Supreme Court between 1857 and 1860. He immediately and dramatically resigned that position at the Democratic State Convention when he learned he did not win the nomination for a second term. His final service was as a Major of the 22nd Indiana regiment in the Civil War. He was killed in Missouri in 1861, at the age of 32. Fast and furious, 1850s style.

Plymouth Democrat, Jan. 17, 1856.

While Tanner is described as bookish and intellectual, the newspaper record leads one to believe he was also an assertive and confrontational man of the times. There are reports of arguments at state party conventions, a public argument with Speaker of the House, Johnathan Gordon, and at one point the New Albany Ledger essentially calls him a jackass. A newspaper published his response to a request to use the State House lawn, which the State Librarian had authority over in those days. He grants approval to a rival political faction, acknowledging he did so because refusal would be “misrepresented as dictated by party spirit alone.” He ended the letter with, “you will please see that no damage is done to the shrubbery.”

It seems he was not shy about voicing his opinions which left him open to criticism, but also served him well in gaining him notoriety and influence in some circles. Major Gordon Tanner died in 1861 from wounds sustained in a skirmish of the Civil War. He was shot in the groin. The Indiana State Sentinel, who had a tumultuous relationship with Tanner, reports his death sympathetically “We have not time nor have the heart to say more than Gordon Tanner is dead, and that he died in service of his country – defending its honor and its flag.”1

Rest in peace Mr. Tanner. It sounds like you had a wild ride.

Tanner is buried at Crown Hill in Indianapolis, Loc: Sec 2, Lt 65.

Image found online at an auction site which said the photo is thought to have been given to the G.A.R. Tanner Post, Jackson County, by his son. The photograph is listed as sold.

Note: Stevenson’s Roll of Honor has a wonderful biographical sketch of Tanner. Accessible online here. The sketch says Tanner could read and write at the age of six and used his local library in Brownstown, Indiana regularly.

This post was written by Monique Howell, Indiana Collection supervisor.

1. Cited in the Lafayette Courier Journal, Oct. 1, 1861.

Lucy Way Sistare Say

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On Thursday, Dec. 8, 1825, a keelboat titled The Philanthropist pushed away from a dock in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began its long voyage west along the Ohio River. The ships passengers were among some of Pennsylvania’s most prominent intellectuals. Comprised of scientists, educators, social reformers and artists, the ship was dubbed the Boatload of Knowledge by Robert Owen, whose utopian ideals formed the basis of the endeavor. The passengers were en route to settle in New Harmony, Indiana and were the initial participants in Owen’s experiment in cooperative and socialistic communal living.

Among the many talented individuals on the Boatload of Knowledge was a young woman named Lucy Way Sistare, who had been educated in Philadelphia under the tutelage of a progressive educator named Madame Marie Fretageot. While a student, Sistare studied scientific illustration and even received instruction from famous American naturalist, John James Audubon.

Lucy Say towards the end of her life. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Among the other passengers was the entomologist Thomas Say. By 1825, Say had been on numerous scientific expeditions into the American frontier and was one of the first scientists to officially document many specimens of North America. He helped found the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia and was made captain of the Boatload of Knowledge.

Portrait of Thomas Say by Rembrandt Peale from Wikimedia Commons.

The boat reached Mount Vernon, Indiana on Jan. 23, 1826 and the travelers continued by land to the settlement in New Harmony.

Sistare had likely met Say in Philadelphia prior to the voyage to Indiana, but the long journey combined with the arduous task of living in a frontier community must have caused a bond to develop between the two as they were married less than a year later on Jan. 4, 1827. Lucy spent her time in New Harmony teaching illustration techniques while Thomas continued to explore the natural world.

The couple’s distinct talents came together to produce the book “American Conchology, or Descriptions of the Shells of North America.” Thomas’s descriptive text was accompanied by Lucy’s meticulous illustrations, many of which were hand-colored either by her or two of her New Harmony students. Printed by the New Harmony School Press in 1830, it is one of the earliest books published in the state of Indiana.

Title page for “American Conchology.”

Two examples of Lucy Say’s work from “American Conchology.”

Thomas would die in 1834. Lucy left New Harmony soon afterwards. She would become the first female member of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, the scientific society her husband helped to create. She continued to be involved in scientific endeavors until her death in 1886.

The book Thomas and Lucy created in the frontier community of New Harmony continues to be highly sought after by book collectors. Among early American scientific books, it stands out primarily due to Lucy’s meticulous and delicately rendered illustrations.

This blog post was written by Jocelyn Lewis, Catalog Division supervisor, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at 317-232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Sources
Pitzer, Donald E. (1989). “The original Boatload of Knowledge down the Ohio River: William Maclure’s and Robert Owen’s transfer of science and education to the Midwest,” 1825-1826. Ohio Journal of Science, 89(5), 128-142.

Say, Thomas. (1830). “American Conchology, or Descriptions of the Shells of North America.” New Harmony School Press.

“Say’s creative process.” American Philosophical Society. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2024 from https://www.amphilsoc.org/museum/exhibitions/lucy-says-shells/says-creative-process

How the Indiana State Library supports state correctional facilities

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Did you know that one of the responsibilities of the Indiana State Library’s regional coordinators is visiting correctional facilities within their region? Our newest Southwest regional coordinator Meg Adams and I will be visiting one of these institutions this coming Friday. I like to accompany new regional coordinators, or ask one of the other coordinators to go with them on their first visit, because it can be a bit intimidating.

Most correctional facilities don’t employ librarians with a Master of Library Science degree, so the regional coordinators visit the correctional facilities in their region to consult with the person who oversees the library and see if they need any support from the Indiana State Library. They also send a letter to the library staff after confirming their visit which is required so the facility can maintain their accreditation through the American Correctional Association.

Another ACA requirement for library staff in correctional facilities is to obtain a certain number of continuing education credits. To help with this, the Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office has planned the last two Institutional Workshops to share Indiana State Library resources as well as bring in outside presenters to speak about other topics of interest related to their jobs.

Last year, we invited representatives from the Integrated Reentry and Correctional Support – or IRACS – to speak. This program works directly with the institutions to provide peer support and community resources to make reentry easier for those who are leaving incarceration. IRACS started in 2022 as a pilot program with the Family Social Services Administration for Indiana in five counties – Blackford, Daviess, Dearborn, Delaware and Scott. Services have continued for the original five counties, and they have added Clark and Fayette counties. There are an additional 12 counties in progress and eighteen other counties who are interested in IRACS. Visit this map to see if your county is one of these counties. You can learn more about the re-entry program and how it works by visiting their website. Indiana is making great strides by offering this program because 62.5% complete the program and the recidivism rate is 13%.

Indiana State Library also offers interlibrary loan services to institutions so they can request books to supplement their collections. Another service the Indiana State library offers is the Read to Me literacy program facilitated by Terry Black. It provides children’s books, cassette tapes, CD-ROMS, CD Sleeves, mailing envelopes and postage for mailing the tapes/CD-ROMs with cases, and books to the facilities that participate. The Read to Me program provides a chance for the child and their parent to have a shared reading and learning experience.

The Indiana State Library is committed to supporting correctional facility libraries and enhancing the educational opportunities for both staff and inmates.

This blog post was submitted by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor at the Indiana State Library.

SRCS ending Sept. 30

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The difficult decision was made to discontinue SRCS, the Statewide Remote Circulation Service, after nearly eight years. Through SRCS, nearly 200 libraries were able to borrow and share materials via interlibrary loan. Beginning Sept. 1, 2024, these material requests should be sent through Indiana Share, the Indiana State Library’s mediated service hosted by OCLC, as SRCS will cease operations on Sept. 30. Indiana State Library staff will review and process each request received, and requests can be sent to local, Indiana or even out-of-state libraries upon a borrower’s request.

While SRCS was in place, there was a limit to the number of requests that could be sent through Indiana Share. To help with the transition back to Share, all fees for the program will be eliminated and there will be no caps on the number of transactions that libraries can request for the first year. The Indiana State Library will evaluate the feasibility of continuing those changes to the Share program going forward.

The Indiana State Library also encourages libraries that are heavier interlibrary loan users to consider subscribing to OCLC First Search, which allows libraries to place their own requests for materials, as well as lend their own items. The State Library holds a First Search license for the state and provides a subsidy to offset the cost. Interested libraries should contact Stephanie Asberry by Sept. 1, 2024.

A training on Indiana Share is scheduled for Aug. 19, 2024, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to go over the system. Libraries can register for this Zoom training here. A recording will be made available for those unable to attend.

This blog post was written by Jen Clifton, Library Development Office.

Genealogy Fair returns to Indiana State Library in October

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The popular Genealogy and Local History Fair will return to the Indiana State Library on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

This year’s theme is “At the Crossroads of America: Westward Migration and Family History,” and will examine where the ancestors of many Americans went after they arrived in the United States, and how they got there. The fair will feature a full day of genealogy presentations and exhibitors.

Registration is not required but is preferred. Click here to register and to read more details about the presentations and speaker.

Indiana library staff can receive up to three LEUs for attending. Those seeking LEUs should register for recordkeeping purposes.

Parking validation will be available for attendees who park in the Senate Avenue parking garage directly across from the library and bring their ticket in for validation.

Eleanor Brinsko will present “Westward Ho: Migrations Methods of the United States.” Brinsko will focus on the people who have called the land called America “home” and the methods they chose to migrate across the country. Questions like “How did they get to their chosen place of settlement?” and “What modes of transportation were available?” will be answered.

Annette Burke Lyttle will present “How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest.” Business owners, land speculators and communities wishing to grow all turned to various forms of advertising to entice people to migrate to the Midwestern territories and states. Lyttle will look at what kinds of messages these ads used in order to make hard work and pioneer living seem attractive.

Lyttle will also present “The National Road: America’s First Federal Highway.” Built between 1811 and 1837, the National Road was the first federally-funded highway in America. Extending from Maryland to the frontier of Illinois, this migration route allowed thousands of people to settle in the Midwest.

Genealogy and Local History Fair, 2018.

Eleanor Brinsko is a genealogist who does European-American genealogy by looking at genealogical and social trends on both sides of the Atlantic. Eleanor has given lectures for the Wisconsin Historical Society and public libraries, genealogical societies and family reunions around the United States. She taught a graduate-level course on genealogy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s iSchool and is also a contributor to the show “PBS’ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.”

Annette Burke Lyttle, CG® owns Heritage Detective, LLC, providing professional genealogical services in research, education and writing. She speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the international, national, state and local levels and loves helping people uncover and share their family stories. Annette is a course coordinator for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the British Institute. She is a published writer whose research interests include Quaker ancestors and ancestral migrations in the U.S. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and editor of The Florida Genealogist.

For questions, or to register as an exhibitor, please email the Genealogy Division of the Indiana State Library.

This blog post is by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Division supervisor.