Tag Archives: donations

Building a collection through donations

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The Indiana State Library Foundation provides the Indiana Collection with a small book budget annually. These funds purchase newly-published books, dissertations, plat books and select serial titles about Indiana. However, much of what the State Library hopes to collect can’t be bought. We are always evaluating and accepting donations. Items we’re most interested in collecting are trade catalogs from Indiana manufactures, annual reports from local and statewide organizations, commemorative history publications and event programs. We have the space, knowledge and resources to accept donations of rare and at-risk print items representing Indiana. Our mission is to ensure long-term access to these materials for future generations of Hoosiers.

A recent notable donation was received from the Orange County Historical Society. They had large collection of print newspapers from a local newspaper office. The Indiana State Library accepted 30 years of the Paoli Republican and 10 years of the Paoli News – which fills a gap in our archive holdings. Print newspapers are notoriously fragile and difficult to store because of their size.

Time takes a toll on newsprint quicker than other types of paper so newsprint should be transferred to another format for long term preservation. The Indiana State Library works with the Indiana Archives and Records Administration’s State Imaging Lab to put newspaper to microfilm, which is the preferred archival format. The State Library and IARA will work to put these papers on microfilm and the library will house the older issues with our print newspaper archive. These are services many local historical societies and libraries do not have to resources to complete. Working together to preserve history is an amazing feeling. Thank you to the Orange County Historical Society for their donation!

If you have printed matter relating to the history of Indiana you think would be best housed at the Indiana State Library, please reach out to Monique Howell.

To make a monetary contribution to the Indiana State Library Foundation – which supports our work to preserve the materials – please visit the foundation’s webpage.

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

Introduction to Rare Books and Manuscripts

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The Rare Books and Manuscripts Division at the Indiana State Library includes an estimated 3 million manuscripts in 5,200 different collections ranging from the early 15th century to present day. People often ask, “What is the earliest item in your collection?” Believe it or not, the earliest items are cuneiform (kyoo-nee’-uh-form) tablets dating from 2350-2000 B.C. The division hosts many more treasures, including Civil War-era letters and diaries, family papers and the records of many political figures from the Hoosier state.

Uruk votive cone, circa 2100 B.C.

Our unit comprises of four full-time staff, two volunteers and one part-time contract position. We provide reference services, instructional sessions, scanning and photocopying, collection guides and digital resources for anyone to use. The Manuscripts Catalog, a new database to search our collections, allows patrons to receive generated citations, print PDF versions of collection guides and request materials using an online form.

Rare Books and Manuscripts staff at Crown Hill Cemetery, 2019. Left to right: Lauren Patton, Bethany Fiechter, Brittany Kropf and Laura Eliason.

In 2018, the division was awarded a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant to digitize the papers of Will H. Hays. Hays served as the Republican National Committee chairman during 1918-21, campaign manager for President Warren Harding in 1920 and later became president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America from 1922-45, where he established the Hays Code of acceptable content for motion pictures. Providing digital access to this collection will enable researchers unlimited access, leading to more research and discovery across multiple disciplines. To view our progress, visit the Will H. Hays digital collection.

Lucille Ball and Will Hays at the Film Critics Circle Reception, 1940.

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Division continues to acquire material defining Indiana’s history and culture. Help us preserve it by donating to the collection. For more information, visit our new Donating Manuscripts page.

For more information, please contact  Rare Books and Manuscripts at 317-232-3671 or via email.

Collecting hole or research hole? Where are the minority voices?

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It becomes evident pretty quickly that black and minority Hoosier voices are hard to hear within the collections at the Indiana State Library. Historically, the seminal works on Indiana’s history are heavy with the prominent voices of the day: legislators, lawyers and wealthy white men. The county histories published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries almost completely leave out people of color who were living in the towns in our counties.

That’s not to say we don’t have a lot of neat resources where black lives rise from the pages; we do. For a sample see the black history research guide here. However, most of what we have was published more than 20 years ago. A search in our catalog for Julia Carson or Boniface Hardin retrieves zero results.

We collect published printed material for the Indiana Collection. It’s not until historians seek out and publish about these lives and events that they intersect with the well-trodden histories in the collection.

The Afro-American Journal was edited by Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Schilling, both of whom were founders of the Martin Center and Martin University. The Journal gave voice to policy ideas and issues facing black Americans, as well as historical research on black communities and leaders. Hear Father Boniface Hardin in his own words discussing the aim of the Journal here. The Indiana State Library has scattered holdings from 1973-1976.

I want to put a call out for donations or suggestions to enrich our print collections specifically capturing the voice of black Hoosiers and other minorities. I encourage you to contact me or comment here with title suggestions. Are you researching and writing articles? Self-publishing? I’d like to know. Does your organization have a publication that we lack in our holdings?

Do you have a collection of photos, a diary, a collection of letters, recipe cards? These might make wonderful additions to our manuscripts collections. Don’t toss them or hide them in your attic; consider making a donation to the Indiana State Library. Learn more about donating manuscripts here.

Once added to our collection these publications and documents will be processed, findable and researchable! It starts with you, then the librarians and archivists, then the historians, then the publishers and then comes the Netflix docuseries… oh, wait, I got ahead of myself.

Contact us for more information.

This post was written by Indiana Collection Supervisor Monique Howell. 

Donating manuscripts

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http://cdm16066.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16066coll13/id/1018/rec/483

Sledding in Broad Ripple Park, circa 1900.

This time of year usually brings snow and ice, an overindulgence of baked goods (sugar cream pie, anyone?), tax refund shopping – and hopefully, spending quality time with family and friends. Perhaps you’ve had a conversation with a relative about whether or not to keep Grandpa’s letters from the Korean War? Maybe you opened a couple moving boxes and wondered if you should trash high school photographs?

Think about it.

You are a key part of defining Indiana’s history and culture. Help us preserve it by donating your collection to the Indiana State Library. As the season of spring cleaning quickly approaches, contact us if you find yourself in a dilemma. For more information on what we collect, visit the library’s Donating Manuscripts page.

This blog post was written by Bethany Fiechter, Rare Books and Manuscripts supervisor, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317) 232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Expanding computer access for Indiana libraries

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Since 2011, the Indiana State Library (ISL) has partnered with Net Literacy to offer free, rebuilt computers to libraries in Indiana. Net Literacy is an Indiana-based organization first founded in 2003 by a central Indiana middle-school student, Daniel Kent. The original purpose of this organization was to assist senior citizens by having middle and high school students teach the seniors how to use computers. The group accepted donated computers which the students rebuilt and donated to senior centers to allow them computer access. By 2010, Net Literacy had increased computer access and skills for over 50,000 senior citizens.

Unloading the truck.

Student volunteers strip down and rebuild the donated computers and dispose of the unusable pieces in an EPA-compliant manner preventing computers and monitors from being delivered to landfills. Net Literacy is a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) and installs Microsoft Windows, Open Source and other software on these computers.

Ready to roll.

In 2011, Kent approached ISL about providing refurbished computers to libraries who needed more public access computers. The computers come ready to set up with Windows 7 Professional, a minimum of 2GB ram, a 40GB or larger hard drive, a DVD drive, antivirus software and an Ethernet card, making them internet-ready. These computers come with a flat screen monitors and all of the required cables, mice and keyboards.

Unloaded and waiting to be tested.

Twice each year since that time, ISL has issued an open call to all public, institutional and other Indiana libraries to request these free computers. The requirements are simple: The requests are limited to libraries in Indiana, the computers must be used to assist the public and the library should be willing to pick this equipment up from the state library whenever possible. Since 2011, this partnership between the ISL and Net Literacy has made over 1,400 free, rebuilt computers and monitors available to libraries in Indiana.

Marcus Bullock, a Project Search intern, makes sure the computers are in working order.

For more information about this partnership or instructions on how to request Net Literacy computers, please contact the Library Development Office.

This blog post is by Steven J. Schmidt, Library Development Office supervisor. For more information, contact Steven at (317) 232-3715 or send an email to StatewideService@library.in.gov.