Economic terms for the prognosticator in all of us

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It’s a valuable thing – to be able to predict the future.

We all do it. We predict what might happen during our day, and we dress ourselves based on that prediction. We predict what the weekend might look like as we look forward to it. We predict which of our teams might win in the next big game.

One of the most important things statistics can do is project future statistics. We make important decisions based on projected numbers. In fact, it’s vital that we’re able to do this mathematically. It has become the basis for planning and policy.

So, what do you need to know about statistics to be able to anticipate the next month’s, next year’s or next decade’s economic forecast?

If you’re like me, you were required to take an economics course to graduate high school in Indiana, but the class didn’t delve into complex theories. Today’s lexicon requires that we know a few basic terms, even to understand the daily news. So, here is a resource guide to ensure you’re ready to read today’s market and follow its daily fluxuations.

In additional to the resources found in the guide below, researchers can consult with the Indiana State Data Center and our state partner agencies at any time by submitting a request 24/7 here.

Beige Book, formerly known as the Red Book
The Beige Book is a report published by the Federal Reserve. It summarizes economic activity and conditions by sector, and is organized by the 12 Federal Reserve Districts.

CPI, PPI, market basket
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issues the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, for each month at the end of the month. It shows the changes in prices for major consumer categories like food and energy. It can show how the buying power of the dollar increases and decreases over the years. The CPI measures a market basket of items, or purchases of goods and services that usually happen together. For examples of these goods and services, visit Content of CPI Entry Level Items.

The Producer Price Index, or PPI, was once known as the wholesale price index. It measures prices received by producers, before goods and services reach the consumer.

Cost of Living Index and Calculator
The Cost of Living Index, or COLI, differs from the CPI in that it compares basic expenses between specific geographic areas. These measures are produced by the Economic Policy Institute and the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER).

The Indiana DWD provides a Cost of Living Calculator on HoosierData.IN.gov.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500
The Dow Jones, incorporated in 1896, is a measure of the U.S. stock market containing the prices of 30 large cap stocks, which trade at $10 billion or more, while the Standard and Poor (S&P) 500 index measures 500 large cap U.S. stocks. Both indexes are used as general indicators of the financial health of the stock market. Current S&P 500 stocks represent 11 economic sectors classified by the Global Industry Classification Standard.

Economic Agencies and Organizations
Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) Kelley School of Business at Indiana University
Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC)
Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD)
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Federal Reserve System, “The Fed”

Economic Publications
Indiana Business Review Indiana Business Research Center
InContext Indiana Business Research Center
Indiana Economic Digest
Liberty Street Economics Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Monthly Labor Review U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Survey of Current Business U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

GDP, GNP, NNP
The real gross domestic product (GDP) is the volume level of GDP, which is the value of goods and services produced in a year within a country adjusted for inflation. Find quarterly GDP data for the U.S. using the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) website and the FRED GDP page.

GNP is the value of goods and services within a certain country produced by the residents of that country, wherever those goods and services are. It is the GDP plus foreign investments.

NNP, or the net national product, is the GNP corrected for depreciation.

Inflation and recession
By definition, an economic recession occurs when the real GDP falls for two consecutive quarters. However, economists can differ in their descriptions of what constitutes a recession. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the rulings of the Federal Reserve Board, also known as The Fed.

Inflation is a rise in prices over a period of time. Inflation happens naturally over time, but during certain periods, the rate of inflation is higher. You can measure the rate of inflation going back to 1913 with the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator.

Unemployment rate and labor participation
The labor force participation rate, measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is made up of the employed and the unemployed. A third category of workers are those who are not participating in the labor force (unemployed and not seeking work). See the BLS Employment & Unemployment webpage for current U.S. data and HoosierData.IN.gov for current Indiana data.

Hopefully, these resources will aid researchers as they seek out important economic information.

This blog post was written by Katie Springer, reference librarian. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services Division at 317-232-3678 or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.

Sources:
“A Guide to Everyday Economic Statistics,” by Gary E. Clayton and Martin Gerhard Giesbrecht.

Adult literacy resources

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I recently had a request for adult literacy kits that could be checked out for use by public libraries. Although that is a great idea, it is not something that the Indiana State Library currently offers. So, I started searching the internet and found online resources that could be helpful for libraries wanting to start an adult literacy program or wanting to offer additional free online adult literacy resources.

According to a study completed by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in 2019, 43 million people in the United States have low literacy skills. The good news is Indiana has one of the highest percentages for literacy rates at 92% giving it a rank of 12th-highest in the United States. But this doesn’t mean we should stop striving to raise literacy rates in our communities. Research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health that found a mother’s reading skill is the greatest determinant of a child’s future academic success and focusing on literacy education for mothers can pay off with dividends lasting into the future. Adult literacy lessons can also be geared to help English language learners.

The resources listed below come from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy website.

ReadWorks
ReadWorks is a free supplemental resource that provides K-12 and adult educators with a library of curated non-fiction and fiction passages, as well as interactive vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets and teacher guidance. They offer free webinars to help you get started implementing ReadWorks into your classroom.

Click here to view ReadWorks’ content.

Marshall Leveled Reading Program
This program offers an app that contains over 1,000 customizable, mobile-friendly reading resources based on the Reading Skills for Today’s Adults leveled reading library.

LINCS Learner Center – Adult Education and Literacy – U.S. Department of Education LINCS is an acronym that stands for Literacy Information and Communication System. It’s geared toward adult learners and offers a variety of learning options. Users can also learn math, science, English, job skills, how to become a U.S. citizen and ways to stay healthy.

TED-Ed
TED-Ed works with expert educators and TED speakers from around the world to offer high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons every day at no cost.

Click here to view the TED-Ed collections.

TeachRock
TeachRock is a standards-aligned curriculum designed to support arts integration using the history of popular music and culture to interest students through a variety of free lessons. Their lesson plans are arranged by grade, subjects, genre, activities and topics.

Click here for TeachRock lessons.

Unite for Literacy
Unite for Literacy offers a free digital library, with hundreds of books that are written in English or Spanish text and narrated in over 50 languages.

Hopefully, these resources will help libraries in their quest to expand adult literacy offerings.

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

Indiana Public Library Standards – ensuring the best possible library service for Hoosiers

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Did you know that every public library in Indiana is expected to have the following things?

  • A licensed director and staff.
  • Separate collections and spaces for adults, young adults and children.
  • Weekend hours.
  • A collection development policy.
  • Free public computers, and the ability to print or make copies.
  • A resource sharing service, or lending arrangement with at least one other library in the state.

These rules, and more, are known as the Indiana Public Library Standards. This law is found in Title 590, Article 6, of the Indiana Administrative Code, and serves as a list of requirements that libraries must meet to get access to Indiana State Library services, as well as receive state and federal funding.

The standards rules vary based on the size of a library’s population area. For example, large libraries that serve more people are required to be open for longer hours. Smaller libraries serving smaller or rural communities have some relaxed requirements, including education and work experience needed for their director.

The Indiana State Library’s Library Development Office determines which libraries are meeting standards annually by reviewing libraries’ policies and plans along with the self-reported responses to the Indiana Public Libraries Annual Report surveys. Most libraries have no problem meeting the requirement annually. For libraries with standards issues, Indiana State Library staff will follow up with the library and assist them in correcting their issues, if possible. Following this correspondence, the Indiana Library and Historical Board reviews standards issues and may find libraries not meeting the requirements to be “out of standards.” Libraries found out of standards can lose access to state-sponsored services, as well as funding opportunities.

The standards rules have evolved over the years and are evaluated every few years by Indiana State Library staff and a panel of volunteer library staff from public libraries around the state. The most recent review occurred in 2021 but did not result in any recommended changes to the legislation.

This blog post was written by Jen Clifton, Library Development Office director, Indiana State Library. She can be reached via email.

Rules change for professional librarians

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Did you know that in Indiana, professional librarians need to be certified? The level of professional certificate required depends on a combination of the library’s district population size and the librarian’s position within the library itself. Having professional standards not only provides that library patrons are getting a certain level of competence when being assisted by a librarian, but is also the law in Indiana.

The professional rules for librarians are found in 590 IAC 5. The Indiana Library and Historical Board, which governs the Indiana State Library, is responsible for promulgating the rules for librarian certification. Periodically, the Indiana Library and Historical Board promulgates updates to the certification rules. The updates are primarily a result of changes desired by the broader Indiana library community. Prior to promulgating any rule changes, focus groups are created which are made up of librarians from various size libraries throughout the state. Feedback is provided by the librarian focus groups and the rule changes are primarily a result of the feedback from those groups.

As of Jan. 1, 2023, several new changes took effect as a result of the most recent rule changes enacted by the Indiana Library and Historical Board. There were some small tweaks and clarifications made to the certification rule, as well as a reorganization of the applicable definitions. However, several substantive changes took effect.

The amount of professional library work done in the normal course of the librarian’s daily activities which triggers the need to be certified is now 75%. So, if a librarian is doing professional librarian work 75% of the time or more, he or she needs to be certified. Previously, the threshold was 50%.

Indiana librarians must attend continuing education courses and earn a certain number of credits for attending such courses. The credits are known as Librarian Education Units or LEUs. The rules regarding what LEUs can count towards certification renewal were updated to make an additional category of activity eligible for LEUs. Additionally, there is no longer a sub-category of LEUs known as Technology LEUs required. Last, LEUs may be counted that were earned during a limited period of time that pre-dates the librarian actually receiving their first certificate or temporary permit.

There are two lower-level certificates for which specific college courses were required. Now, librarians may use any college level library course taken from an accredited college or university when applying for those lower-level certificates.

Specialist certificates are no longer issued. Specialist certificates were issued to individuals in non-librarian professional roles. There is a small number of folks who have these certificates and those certificates will still be valid at the respective libraries for the individual’s current position. The LEU requirements for specialist certificate holders have decreased.

Starting Jan. 1, 2023, certified librarians must keep all LEU certificates for 90 days after the later of the date their recently renewed certificate expired or the date they renewed their certificate if they renewed it after it expired. This change is to ensure they will still have their LEU certificates to prove compliance if they renew their librarian certificate late and are audited.

Directors of libraries serving a population of fewer than 3,000 who apply for certification Jan. 1, 2023 or later, must qualify for or be working towards an LC 1, 2, 3, 4, or the LC 7 certificate. Previously, the were able to also hold and LC 5 or 6 level certificate.

More details about the new changes can be found here. Questions about the revised rules, or certification in general, can be emailed here.

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

Calling all Indiana poets – INverse Poetry Archive accepting submissions

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From now until April 30, INverse Poetry Archive is accepting its fourth round of submissions from Hoosier poets. Your poetry could join that of many other talented poets from all walks of life and skill levels in building a rich repository of the human experience. Current and former residents of the state are encouraged to apply if they have lived in Indiana for at least five years and their poems meet the spirit of the project.

The digital archive debuted in October of 2019, with the first batch of poems available Sept. 1, 2020. The project was the brainchild of former 2018-19 Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka – now editor of Poetry magazine – and intended to celebrate, capture and preserve the works of Indiana’s diverse poets for future generations. It is a collaboration between the Indiana Poet Laureate, the Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana State Library.

Access to modern poetry, especially online, can be limited due to copyright laws. INverse allows students and poetry lovers to study and enjoy the works of Hoosier poets for free. Each year, living poets, or the heirs of deceased ones, select a few of their poems to submit to the archive, allowing their accessibility while retaining their rights of ownership. Poets may submit up to three poems per cycle, every three years, up to a total of 10 poems. If you’re interested in submitting your poems to INverse, please read the entire list of eligibility criteria.

The following poem, from Suzy Harris of Indianapolis, was added to the archive last year.

“Garage of Amazements”
The neighbors across the street
had a garage of amazements:
a bicycle that folded into an umbrella,
a red car with giant bird wings
that purred like a cat.
And one day something new –
silvery handlebars gloating
over a leather seat that sat
throne-like over a tangle of machinery
and two wide wheels.

The neighbor convinces my father
to ride this heaving machine.
We stand in the grass watching
my father climb on,
the motorcycle moving under him
down the long curving driveway
until, as if in slow motion,
he spills onto the mix of gravel and grass
by the road in front of the house,
blood pouring from his head.
We are afraid to go near,
wonder if he is dead,

but the neighbor, who is a doctor,
strides over, helps my father to a stand,
and walks him into the kitchen
where he pours my dad a whisky
and stitches him up
with a needle and thread
as we watch from the doorway.
The doctor pours himself a whisky too
and they swear at each other
as friends like that do.

Alive, we think, alive alive-o,
humming his favorite song.

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.”

Indiana Voices at the Talking Books and Braille Library

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A sudden hush… clipped sentences… cheerful replies…

Audiobook aficionados know that a storyteller’s voice can create tangible experiences. Narrating is not just the task of reading out loud, but the art of inviting others into the story. For patrons of the Indiana Voices program of the Indiana State Library’s Talking Book and Braille Library, volunteer narrators do just that.

Together with Indiana State Library staff, volunteers bring Hoosier words and voices to persons who cannot use standard printed materials due to a visual, physical or reading disability, and live in the state of Indiana or across the country. Cozy mysteries, local history, true crime, authors from Indiana and more are recorded in the program. But, what goes into the process of recording an audiobook?

Narrators begin work on their titles outside of the studio, reading ahead for thorny sentences and unfamiliar pronunciations. Once they are confident in their preparation, they arrive at the downtown Indianapolis studio to narrate for an hour. A monitor outside the booth follows along in the text to catch mistakes and alert the narrator.

It may take months to finish a title, but when the back cover is eventually closed, the audiobook is sent to a volunteer reviewer for a final examination. Corrections are recorded, mistakes are edited out and the finished book is made available to Talking Books and Braille Library patrons.

Reading out loud may sound easy, but each title represents up to four times as many behind-the-scenes hours as the total runtime of the audiobook. It takes dedication to bring an author’s words to life!

The most popular books of 2023, so far, that were recorded by Indiana Voices are:

  • “Material Witness: A Shipshewana Amish Mystery” by Vanetta Chapman – Fiction DBC17818
  • “Falling to Pieces: A Shipshewana Amish Mystery” by Vanetta Chapman – Fiction DBC13578
  • “100 Things to Do in Indianapolis Before You Die” by Ashley Petry – Nonfiction travel guide – DBC12182
  • “Born to Build: the Story of the Gene B. Glick Company” by Gene Glick –  Nonfiction Biography – DBC17815

Volunteers are needed to do precisely that. Opportunities are open to join the work of providing Indiana-related titles to audiobook readers. Indiana is made up of many individual voices, representing different Hoosier communities, identities and experiences, all of which contribute to authentic interpretations of Indiana books. Volunteers from all the different communities and cultures in the state of Indiana are invited to apply. Volunteers are expected to work at least one hour every other week.

For those interested in learning more about volunteering with Indiana Voices as a narrator or as a monitor, please visit the Indiana Voices website or contact Hannah Arnold, Indiana Voices director, via email.

Patrons interested in audiobook materials from Indiana Voices should contact the Indiana State Library’s Talking Book and Braille Library via email or at 317-232-3684.

This blog post was written by Hannah Arnold, Indiana Voices director,
and Judy Gray, Talking Books and Braille Library supervisor.

Finding that old time religion… where to find ancestors’ church records

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When searching for church records for ancestors, sometimes figuring out where the records are located can be a challenge. The first step is to know the religion or domination, but, what if the religion or domination is unknown? Luckily, there are a few tricks that can help find answers.

Note the place of burial. Is the cemetery your ancestor is buried in associated with a church? Obituaries can list the church location of funeral services as shown in the example below.

Muncie Evening Press, Muncie, Indiana, Friday, Feb. 6, 1914, page 10.

Clues can also be found in marriage records. Look for the name of the officiant performing the marriage ceremony. When examining a marriage for the officiant’s name, it is useful to know the abbreviations that are sometimes used in the in record; M.G. indicates a minister of the gospel, J.P. is for a justice of the peace.

If your ancestors were married by minister of the gospel, research the officiant to see what church he or she is affiliated with. Sources to help find a minister’s affiliation include county histories, city directories and the online List of Pastors and Ministers – with their denomination and years and location of service.

Below is the minister of the gospel’s name: Augustus Eddy. He has signed this marriage record in Dearborn County.

“Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019,” database with images, FamilySearch, Dearborn, 1846-1854, volume 8, image 5 of 652; Indiana Commission on Public Records, Indianapolis.

Eddy’s name is noted in the “Growth of Methodism” chapter in a Dearborn County history.

“History of Dearborn County, Indiana: Her People, Industries and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Old Families” by Archibald Shaw, page 387; call number: ISLI 977.201 D285s 1980, Indiana State Library.

“History of Dearborn County, Indiana: Her People, Industries and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Old Families” by Archibald Shaw, page 388; call number: ISLI 977.201 D285s 1980, Indiana State Library.

Surprisingly, migration routes can be the path to discovering an ancestor’s religion or domination. An ancestor who moved from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas to the Midwest (e.g., Indiana and Ohio) may mean that the ancestor was a Quaker. The Religious Migration web lesson from Family Search provides additional information on these types of migration patterns.

The next step is locating the records. Of course, there are databases such as Ancestry and Family Search.

To find church records in Ancestry; first, select the Search tab, from the Filters list select Directories & Member Lists, next select Church Records and Histories. In the Keyword field add the domination to limit the results. (Don’t forget Ancestry is FREE to use at the Indiana State Library!)

Family Search has some helpful tools for searching Indiana church records through their database. The Indiana Church Records wiki provides tips and links for finding and searching church records in the state of Indiana. Family Search also has a collection of Indiana Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) meeting records.

Stephen P. Morse – famous for his map tools – has provided a list of one-step links for accessing church records through Family Search, the list is organized alphabetically by state.

The next obvious places to find church records are libraries. At the Indiana State Library, you can search the online catalog for Indiana church records. Here is a list of suggested search terms for finding church records in the State Library’s catalog:

  • Church records and registers – Indiana
  • Catholic church – Indiana
  • Lutheran church – Indiana
  • Quakers – Indiana
  • Society of Friends – Indiana
  • Baptists – Indiana
  • Indiana Church History
  • County name (Ind.) registers

Other tools provided by the Indiana State Library; a bibliography of Selected Church and Religious Genealogical Resources and Resources Listing a Variety of Denominations.

The Indiana State Library Digital Collections can be searched at the library or at home. To search, select advanced search, then enter the search term “church.” Finally, from collection lists checkmark Religion in Indiana.

Indiana State Library manuscripts holdings has a Baptist church history collection. To make an appointment to view the collection please send an email to the State Library.

The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center has a collection of church records through their free online Fort Wayne and Allen County Resources (scroll down to see the church records).

Other agencies that may have church records are genealogy and historical societies. The Monroe County History Center’s library has a Church Index for the years 1818-1900, the index is searchable by surname or church name. A resource available from The Indiana State Historical Society is a series of articles about Hoosier Baptists.

Sometimes church records can be found in universities or colleges archive collections, particularly if a university or college was founded by religious group. For example, many Hoosiers have Kentucky ancestors. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Archives has the History of Gilead Baptist Church, Hardin County, Kentucky, 1824-1924 and biographical data re Elder Warren Cash of Virginia and Kentucky, 1760-1849 – view a copy of it online.

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary also happens to have a collection of Indiana Church Histories, 1834-1991. An in-person visit is necessary to view these records.

Here are some examples of where to find church records by the type of church:

African American churches

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 200 Sixth Street, Richmond, Wayne County, IN. Photo: Library of Congress.

A fine repository for information about African American churches in the South is The Church in the Southern Black Community. Some of the oldest African American churches established in Indiana were African Methodist Episcopal churches, and the Indiana Historical Society provides the (Indianapolis) Bethel A.M.E. Church Collection.

If searching Family Search for African American church records, try searching: “African American church records name of state.”

Methodist

Merritt Place Methodist Episcopal Church, Indianapolis. Photo: Indiana Memory.

The United Methodist church provides a guide for searching ancestors that belonged to the United Methodist church. If searching for ancestors that belonged to the United Methodist Church in Indiana, the DePauw University Archives and Special Collections are keepers of the Indiana United Methodist Church Archives.

There is also the Indiana, U.S., United Methodist Church Records, 1837-1970 available through Ancestry.

Roman Catholic

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Indianapolis. Photo: Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

To find Roman Catholic records for ancestors, start by contacting the church (parish) of interest. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis provides some guidance for Roman Catholic genealogy search in Indiana. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has provided access to records for the years 1718-1815 online. The Archdiocese of Boston and American Ancestors have partnered to provide records for the years 1789-1920 online (registration for a free account with American Ancestors is needed to view the records).

Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)

A map of the locations of the meetings, constituting Indiana yearly meeting of Friends. Image: Indiana State Library Digital Collection.

Quaker Archives for the state of Indiana can be found in the Friends Collection and College Archives at Earlham College. Try searching the Friends Manuscript Series record group, Friends Record Group and Names. When visiting the archives in person, please make a research appointment via email three business days before arriving.

For Quaker research outside the state of Indiana, try the Haverford College Quaker and Special Collections. To research in person, contact the staff via email before a visit. Researching at home, try Haverford Colleges’ online obituary index: the Quaker Necrology Database. To search index, select “obituary index” located on the top bar of the page.

Protestant Episcopal Church

St. James Church, South Bend, Indiana. Image: The Church Record, April 1895, page 2; Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

A healthy collection of online records for the Protestant Episcopal Church can be found from the Protestant Episcopal Church of Northern Indiana Archives.

To find Church records in other states besides Indiana; try the Colonial Society of Massachusetts for many online Massachusetts church records. The New England’s Hidden Histories: Colonial-Era Church Records contains an online collection of Congregational church records for early New England. For online Maryland church records covering all denominations, there is The Bob Fout Collection of Frederick County, MD Church Records.

Finally, a useful source for all things religious there is the Duke University Divinity School’s Divinity Archive.

Hopefully, these resources and search methods will help you discover your ancestors’ church records and aid you in your overall genealogical endeavors.

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

Get started in historical business research!

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Librarians in the Indiana Division of the Indiana State Library frequently get questions on how to find historical information about an old building or where to find the location of an old business. There are several online resources that we usually check first: fire insurance maps, online newspapers and city directories. The search strategy can take different angles, depending on what information is already known and what information is sought. It is always helpful to have a general time range in mind before starting any search.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps can prove useful. Fire insurance companies created these detailed, building-by-building maps of most urban areas to assess fire risk for insurance pricing. Many Indiana towns and cities were surveyed from the late 1880s through the mid-1950s and have maps available. An excellent free source of pre-1923 digitized Sanborn maps around Indiana is the Indiana Spatial Data Portal and its new public viewing interface. The Indiana State Library also subscribes to the Indiana maps within the Fire Insurance Maps Online Database, with access available within the building. The Indiana Division also has Sanborn maps on microfilm that includes years after 1923, just check with the staff at the second floor information desk.

Additional years of online Sanborn maps of Indianapolis are available through the Indianapolis Sanborn and Baist (IUPUI) Digital Collection. Thanks to a special project, the text descriptions (metadata) of each map sheet are searchable by keyword, landmark type and intersecting street names. For example, a keyword search for “Lyric” yields six results including Indianapolis Sanborn Map #37, 1915 that shows the location of the Lyric Theater along Illinois Street.

Lyric Theater – Indianapolis Sanborn Map 37 (1915)

Hoosier State Chronicles is an excellent online collection of newspapers from around Indiana, and the best thing about them is the text-searching capabilities. Using quotation marks around search phrases can yield very precise results. To discover when the Indianapolis Lyric Theater first opened its doors, search for a phrase that might be included in an article, such as “Lyric Theater opened.” The best result from the Oct. 10, 1922 issue of the Indianapolis Times tells of the theater’s 10th anniversary, placing its opening year of 1912.

Indianapolis Times, Oct. 10, 1922.

Why not try searching the city directory? Leafing through the pages can be tedious, but many directories have been digitized for access and preservation. Large cities tend to have earlier years and long runs of directories that were published. The Evansville City Directory online collection contains digitized and searchable volumes hosted through the Evansville Vanderburgh County Public Library. Other organizations such as the Allen County Genealogical Society maintain a guide with links to all known digitized copies of Fort Wayne and Allen County directories. More online copies of historical directories for Indiana cities can be found in Ancestry Library edition, Internet Archive, Google Books and Indiana Memory.

The Indianapolis City Directory Collection is hosted on Internet Archive. It is possible to narrow down and choose a single year’s volume and search the text. The entire set of 149 volumes can also be searched by toggling the search option “Text contents.” Keeping up the search for the “Lyric Theater” in Indianapolis, the results might yield advertisements and even names of theater employees who appear in the residential listings. This search produced 24 results.

While it may take some trial and error to find that perfect phrase for searching by street address, studying how the addresses are shown on the pages can help. Also check for abbreviations used by the publisher. Don’t search for “2234 North Main Street” when the directory lists the address as “2234 N Main.” Keep in mind that the entries might change format over the decades, so the search phrase may need to be adjusted to catch all variations. Business storefronts may expand or shrink, and the Post Office may assign a slightly different address number. Cities and towns have been known to rename their streets too, so use the directories in conjunction with Sanborn maps or other street maps.

Once the maps, newspapers and directories are searched, it doesn’t hurt to go back with any new information and search it all again. As always, the librarians can assist researchers getting started or needing additional guidance with online and print resources. The Indiana Division of the Indiana State Library collects county and city histories, maps, city directories and newspapers from all 92 counties. Let us know how we can help!

This blog post was written by Indiana Division librarian Andrea Glenn. For more information call (317) 232-3670 or “Ask-A-Librarian”.

Montgomery bus boycott

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Most Americans know how the Montgomery bus boycott began: On Dec. 1, 1955 an African American woman in Montgomery, Alabama named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white man. This seemingly innocuous act of civil disobedience led to a year-long boycott of Montgomery’s bus system by the city’s Black population and ended up being one the early battles in this country’s civil rights movement, a campaign which sought to promote and ensure racial equality after centuries of abuse.

Shortly after the arrest, Montgomery’s religious and civic leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association. Led by Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Edward Nixon, the MIA quickly organized travel alternatives for the boycotters. Privately-owned cars were used for carpools and people were encouraged to walk or bike when possible. Frequent rallies were held in local churches to help bolster the public’s resolve.

First article on the boycott in Indianapolis’s preeminent African American newspaper, the Indianapolis Recorder (Dec. 10, 1955).

Running a months-long boycott of this kind required a great deal of money. Not only did the MIA need hundreds of vehicles for their carpools, but those vehicles also required gas and frequent maintenance. Retaliation against the boycotters was endemic. Many carpool drivers were habitually pulled over and ticketed for minor or non-existent traffic violations. Some lost their jobs for participating in the boycott and needed financial assistance to survive. Representatives of the MIA made their way to other cities, particularly those in the north, to explain the situation in Montgomery and appeal for both public support and funds.

In March 1956, an MIA representative named Johnnie Carr appeared at a fundraiser in Indianapolis, hosted by the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Carr was a particularly appropriate person to represent the boycott. Born Johnnie Rebecca Daniels, Carr was a childhood friend of Rosa Parks. She also had been involved in civil rights activism for several years prior to the bus boycott.

Announcement of Carr’s meeting in the Indianapolis Recorder (March 31, 1956).

Program for Carr’s Indianapolis meeting from the Indiana State Library collection (ISLO 325.26 no. 5).

According to The Indianapolis Recorder’s coverage of the event, Carr spoke to a crowd of over 600 people at the Philips Temple Church and received a standing ovation. Her speech was one of absolute resolve, an assurance that the boycott would continue and that the rights and dignity of Montgomery’s citizens would prevail. The event managed to raise over $1,300 for the boycott cause (approximately $14,000 adjusted for inflation).

Indianapolis Recorder headline quoting Carr, April 7, 1956.

Carr’s prediction was correct. After lengthy legal maneuvers, the United States Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Montgomery’s practice of bus segregation was unconstitutional. The boycott officially ended in December of 1956.

The Montgomery bus boycott was an early and important victory in the civil rights campaign. Despite being a local issue to Alabama, it ended up garnering worldwide attention. Much of that was thanks to the tireless work of people like Carr and others in the MIA.

Complete digitized issues of the Indianapolis Recorder, documenting African American life in Indianapolis from 1899 to 2005 can be found on Hoosier State Chronicles.

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.”

Indiana Games Roundtable to hold first in-person meeting

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While the summer of 2020 may hold a lot of traumas for many library employees across the state, it also was a perfect storm of events for me personally. I had just begun my term on the American Library Associations Games and Gaming Roundtable as treasurer and chair of the International Games Week (now Month) Committee. We had seen the Indiana Library Federation, Midwest Collaborative for Library Services and Indiana State Library hosting countless virtual discussion groups to support one another through the early days of the pandemic. Lastly, the State Library switched the systems for hosting Listservs. Now, that last one might not seem too earth shattering, but as someone who was new to my role at the State Library, it sparked a question about these Listservs… can we have new ones? And thus, the Indiana Games Roundtable was born.

After almost two-and-a-half years we are ready to meet in person! This meeting will be for anyone around the state, whether your library already has games or not, to come together and talk and learn from each other. Here is our current plan, but we are interested in building this learning opportunity with you.

The Indiana Games and Gaming Round Table is planning our first in-person event! Come join us for “The Benefits of Library Gaming” on April 17, at the Pendleton Community Public Library. We will have a keynote presentation in the morning and two break out discussion opportunities, so the event will be eligible for three LEUs for Indiana Library Staff. Registration will be capped at 40, so be sure to sign up before April 5 by 5 p.m. The Pendleton Community Public Library will be providing lunch from Fazoli’s.

Tentative schedule:

Registration/opening:     9:30-10 a.m.
Keynote:                        10-11 a.m.
Bio break:                      11-11:10 a.m.
Discuss topics:              11:10-11:30 a.m.
Lunch:                           11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Breakout 1:                   12:45-1:30 p.m.
Bio break:                     1:30-1:40 p.m.
Breakout 2:                   1:40-2:25 p.m.
Play games:                  2:30-3:30 p.m.

Please note that all times are Eastern Time.

Feel free to post questions to the Listserv, and if you would like to reply with any games you would be willing to bring let us know that as well. If you are not yet a member of the Listserv, visit the Indiana State Library’s webpage to sign up.

This post was written by George Bergstrom, Southwest regional coordinator, Professional Development Office, Indiana State Library.