Tag Archives: Indiana State Library

Genealogy Division Provides ‘Family Search’ Service

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The Indiana State Library Genealogy Division has many resources and services to make your family history search easier and more productive. An often overlooked and little known service is the ability to order microfilm from Family Search and view it at the Indiana State library. The library acts as a Family Search Affiliate location. Family Search’s microfilm ordering service is your gateway to a vast collection of genealogical and historical records.
familysearch

Family Search is the world’s largest repository of free genealogical records and is managed by the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has amassed billions of birth, marriage, death, census, land, and court records of genealogical significance from over 130 countries. Family Search is extending access to its collections by circulating microfilms of the historic records through select public library affiliates. The Indiana State Library is one of the Family Search Affiliates. The loan is free, but there is a small shipping and handling charge for each film. To order films from Family Search, create an account with family search and select Indiana State Library Foundation, Inc. as the destination for your microfilm order. To find records and microfilm available for loan, follow the easy steps below.

  • Go to the familysearch.org and select Search and click on Catalog
  • Search Place clicking on the tab
  • Search for a location such as Indianapolis, Indiana or any other location
  • Pick a topic and select available microfilm

#GID15 is Government Information Day

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By now you’ve seen GID15; wonder what it means? GID15 is Government Information Day 2015!

Government Information Day (GID15) is a FREE, one day conference for librarians, library professionals, attorneys, legal professionals, and the general public to learn more about Government Information, access, and current trends about information dissemination, collection, and preservation. This year’s theme is E-access: The Changing Face of Government Information. GID15 is a collaborative planning effort with the Indiana State Library, Indiana University-Kokomo, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University Bloomington, Maurer School of Law, and the Indianapolis Public Library. We are pleased to have Davita Vance-Cooks, Director, of the Government Publishing Office (GPO) as this year’s keynote speaker. Government Information Day is filled with informative, engaging speakers and a variety of topics:

  • Connie Rendfeld, Indiana State Library:   Indiana Memory: Your Gateway to the History and Culture of Indiana
  • Mellisica Flippen, Marion County Superior Court and Dana L. Luetzelschwab, Heartland Pro Bono Council: E-Access for the Unrepresented Civil Litigant
  • Davita Vance Cooks, U.S. Government Publishing Office: Transformation of GPO as a 21st Century Publisher
  • Perry Hammock, Indiana Bicentennial Commission: Indiana’s 2016 Bicentennial:   How you and your Library can be Part of the Excitement
  • Jennifer Morgan and Michelle Trumbo, Law Library. Indiana University Maurer School of Law: Gov Docs 101: The Judicial Branch (finding case opinions, dockets, court records, and briefs)
  • Jane Kirtley, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota Law School: The Digital Paradox: Practical Obscurity, the Right to be Forgotten, and Other Threats to Access to Government Information
  • Andrew Weber, Law Library of Congress:   Exploring Congress.gov
  • Carol Rogers, Indiana Business Research Center: A Working Update on Indiana Data.

Invite_Final Edit_LowRes_edit

GID15 is Thursday, May 7th 9:00a.m.-5:00p.m

This blog post was written by Kimberly Brown-Harden, Federal Documents Coordinator, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Reference & Government Services desk at 317-232-3678, or go to www.library.in.gov.

 

Why Are We Doing This Anyway?! – The Public Library Annual Report

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Every January, Indiana public library directors (or their unlucky designees!) let out a collective sigh as they complete the Indiana public libraries annual report. The survey is lengthy, containing between 600-800 questions (depending on the size of the library), and takes a great deal of time and preparation to complete. However, once the answers are submitted, little is thought about it until it rolls around again the following year. We’d like to share several examples of how the information collected through the report is used the following year and beyond:

Statistics – The resulting Public Library statistics (including the new 2014 statistics) provide data that staff, trustees, and researchers can use to evaluate libraries and make informed decisions. The stats can be used for local or statewide comparisons, or even to compare libraries of similar size/populations (e.g. What’s the average Director salary at Class B libraries? How much are the other libraries in my county circulating?). Our website contains data for the past 20 years.

National Public Libraries Survey – One hundred questions on the survey feed directly to the Public Libraries in the United States Survey. This annual survey gleans information from 9,000 library systems nationwide about their staffing, collections, circulation, revenue and expenditures. The resulting data is used by researchers, journalists, the public, and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.

Standards – One of the primary uses for the survey in Indiana is to evaluate Indiana Public Library Standards For example, does the library have enough computers available for the public? Is the library open for a sufficient number of hours? Are they hosting enough programs throughout the year? After this review, Statewide Services staff follow up with the ‘out of standards’ libraries and offer assistance, with the goal of ensuring Hoosiers have sufficient access to library services wherever they live in the state.

Planning – The statistics can be helpful for projections and planning, for example, in budgeting, technology planning, strategic planning, grant writing, or planned expansions. Statistics can help determine the costs of operating per capita, and help libraries to establish their non-resident fees. The statistics are also a great way of finding out what other libraries are up to. For example, in 2014, we asked libraries to report if they have adopted any non-traditional classification systems, or if they have a makerspace.

Directories – The Annual Reports are used to compile and maintain the Public Library Directory, trustee directories, branch directories, Friends and Foundation directories, and interlibrary loan staff directories.

Historical research – Since the Annual Report has been collected for a century, there are decades of data and stories to be told by the old surveys. They list former library locations, expenditures, collection sizes, librarian and trustee names, and more. Through the old reports, you can follow a library as it evolves from its inception, to their Carnegie building, and possibly on to an entire municipal system.

 Indy PL 1914 AR preview1914 Indianapolis Public Library Annual Report

If you have an idea for a question that should be included in next year’s Annual Report, or if you are interested in serving on the advisory committee, please contact me at jclifton@library.in.gov. I’d also love to hear stories of how you were able to put the stats to use!

This blog post was written by Jen Clifton, Public Library and LSTA Consultant, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Library Development Office at (800) 451-6028 or visit our webpage at http://www.in.gov/library/libraries.htm.

Digitizing Indiana Atlases and Maps

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The Indiana Division has a wide assortment of rare and valuable atlases in its collection, and to make them more accessible to people, we’ve taken the initiative of putting them online. This process involves finding out which atlases aren’t already digitized, and making sure the books are in good enough condition before scanning them.

After they’ve been scanned in at a high resolution, we edit the files with programs like Adobe Photoshop and then upload them online through contentDM. From there, they’re on the web for the entire world to see. You can look at them here: http://cdm16066.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15078coll8

A map of Johnson County, from “An Illustrated Plat Book of Shelby and Johnson Counties, Indiana (1900)”
Map of Johnson County

In addition to providing detailed maps of Indiana counties, these atlases show information on property owners, offer family histories, and provide useful facts about the time period they were published in. When you’re researching your family tree, be sure to take a look at these books because they might even show you a picture of your ancestor along with exactly where they lived!

Photographs of County Officials, as they appeared in a “Descriptive Atlas of Jackson County (1900)”
County Officials

These atlases also had maps of the United States and the entire world, so that readers could learn more about them as well. Not only that, but the world maps had interesting statistics on the power of nation’s armies and navies, their various national debts, and how much railroad and telegraph infrastructure each country had. These maps provide a marvelous portal to the history of the late 19th century.

Map of the World, from “An Illustrated Plat Book of Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties, Indiana (1899)”
Map of the World

This blog post was written by Justin Davis, Indiana Collection Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana Collection Division at (317) 232-3670 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.

Pictorial Maps Depict Lincoln’s Life

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As April 14 approaches, we remember that 150 years ago President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. In the Indiana Division’s Map Collection, we have an interesting illustrated map entitled, “Abraham Lincoln, a Pictorial Outline of the Life of the Sixteenth President of the United States” [Map Rm-s] ISLZ 912.77 NT65S 1865 (1934). Karl Smith was the cartographer and illustrator of this map which includes events of Lincoln’s life from 1809 through 1865. Events of April 1865 include Lincoln’s Assassination at Ford’s Theatre and the Lincoln Funeral Train. These small sections from the map are included below.

Booth - A. Lincoln pictorial outline of the life

Funeral car - A. Lincoln pictorial outline of the life

John Speed of Louisville, Kentucky provided the historical data used in this map. The Speed family of Louisville, Kentucky had a connection to Abraham Lincoln as described in the book, Louisville’s First Families : A Series of Genealogical Sketches (1920). The Speed Family biographical sketch notes, “It was to ‘Farmington’ that Abraham Lincoln came before the Civil War to visit his friend, Joshua F. Speed, the fifth son of Judge Speed. The friendship, which was one of Lincoln’s strongest attachments, was the result of a meeting in Springfield, where Joshua Speed spent seven years in his early manhood.” The sketch continues by explaining that “James Speed, born in 1812, was Attorney General in Lincoln’s cabinet….and was mustering officer for the United States army in the Civil War. All the Speeds were loyal Unionists.” An illustration of Farmington, the Speed home, is also included in the map.

Speed home Farmington - A. Lincoln pictorial outline of the life

The Indiana Map Collection [Map Rm-s] ISLZ 912.772 I34S (1934) contains another map created by Karl Smith, “An Historical and Geographical Map of the State of Indiana ‘The Hoosier State.’”

An Historical and Geographical Map of the State of Indiana

The grave of Lincoln’s older sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby is noted, as is the grave of his mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln. A speculative rendering of the Lincolns’ first lean-to style home is marked. A drawing of a log cabin represents what may have been several evolving residences along Little Pigeon Creek. The nearby town of Gentryville is labeled, although it was not platted until 1854, long after the Lincolns moved to Illinois in 1830. The Spencer County community was settled by James Gentry, Sr., the farmer and merchant who hired Abraham Lincoln in 1828 to transport merchandise by flatboat to New Orleans. The site of the Lincoln log cabin was known much later as Lincoln City, presently an unincorporated area.

Lincoln sites - Indiana map

Karl Smith created a number of illustrated maps including a 1953 variation of the Lincoln timeline map. Commissioned by the J. B. Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Smith created illustrated maps of several states, including Kentucky. More of Smith’s maps can be viewed on website of the David Rumsey Map Collection.  According to Smith’s memorial on Find A Grave, he was also known as the creator of the The Little Colonel Game, a board game and promotional tie-in to the 1935 movie starring Shirley Temple.

The two Karl Smith maps described in this article are among the many interesting illustrated maps we have in our Indiana Collection.

This blog post was written by Andrea Glenn, Indiana Collection Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana Collection Division at (317) 232-3670 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.

 

 

Fun Facts About Talking Books and Braille

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What is the history of Talking Books and Braille? We have compiled a short list of facts that may interest you regarding that very question.

  • The concept of a national library for the blind was developed in 1897 by John Russell Young, the seventh Librarian of Congress, when he established a reading room for the blind.
  • The Indiana State Library first started mailing embossed books to patrons in 1905. The collection was made up of approximately 200 books donated to the library by patrons.
  • The Pratt-Smoot Act, which established a national library service for the blind, became law on March 3, 1931.
  • The first Braille book produced for the new service was for Woodrow Wilson’s “George Washington”, which was in high demand at the time due to the bicentennial of Washington’s birth.
  • A uniform system of Braille was established in 1933. Before that competing forms of embossed print included Braille, Moon Type, and New York Point.
  • The first “talking book” was developed in 1934. It was described as “the recording on a disc of the voice of a good reader, and its reproduction at will through the instrumentality of a reproducing machine or phonograph.”
  • The Indiana State Library became an official NLS Regional Library for the Blind in 1934.
  • The first talking books produced included: the Declaration of Independence; the Constitution of the United States; Washington’s Farewell Address; Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, “The Merchant of Venice”, and “Hamlet” ; Kipling’s “The Brushwood Boy” ; and Wodehouse’s “Very Good Jeeves”.
  • Patrons originally had to purchase their own talking book players which cost between thirty-five and sixty dollars.

PrototypeDTB

This blog post was written by Margaret Ansty, Talking Book & Braille Library Supervisor, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3684 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.

Pets Are Family Too!

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The Genealogy Division at the Indiana State Library does not collect just published books and materials.  They also have a small but growing collection of genealogy manuscripts.  These collections contain family papers, research notes, and other items that cannot be put out on the shelves due to their fragile state or because they are boxes of loose papers.  However, these items are available to researchers and may be requested at the Genealogy Division reference desk on the first floor of the Indiana State Library.

Some of these collections even contain family photographs, such as this studio portrait of chow chows from the Jackman family collection:

Jackman chows

The advent of photography made it easier for people to visually document every aspect of their lives, including their pets.

In the interest of family history… and cuteness, the staff of the Genealogy Division would like to share a few of their furry family photographs:

1 Jack McFarland Duty
Jack McFarland Duty

2 Dwight Hans Dieter Shrute Ward
Dwight Hans Dieter Schrute Ward

3 Odessa Jane and Mosiah Ward
Odessa Jane and Mosiah Ward

4 Julius Caesar JC Dunn
Julius Cesar “J.C.” Dunn

5 Jasper Dunn
Jasper Dunn

6 Liam Bohr
Liam Bohr, the perfect pet for the apart-ment dweller.

Liam would like to invite all Indiana State Library blog readers to Genealogy for Night Owls, April 29th 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Indiana State Library!

This blog post was written by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm

Researching the Photograph Collection

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Staff of the Rare Books and Manuscripts division recently finished re-processing its Photograph Collection and updated guide. The 93 box collection includes images from all 92 counties and is organized alphabetically by location or subject. The Photograph Collection was originally located in the old Manuscripts Reading Room. The natural light and fluctuating temperatures in the room were harmful to the photographs necessitating its move to the library’s temperature and climate controlled vault.
Picture Collection - Mss Boxes aerial view - with caption_edit

Since most of the library’s photographs are not cataloged, researching them can be a little tricky. The general Photograph Collection contains the bulk of the library’s photographs, but we also have specific photograph collections that include a name and call number. Most of these smaller photograph collections include a finding aid (or guide) that provides more specific information. Rare Books and Manuscripts finding aids are all located on the library’s Finding Aid Index page. Staff and patrons still rely on the Photograph Index cards for locating specific information about a particular image.

Picture Index_edit

The Photograph Index cards contain information about individual images found in both the library’s picture collections and in our printed material (i.e. books, pamphlets, etc.). The cards contain information that helps librarians retrieve the item. For images identified in the Photograph Index, the card will contain a location (Benton County) or subject term (Churches). The Photograph Collection also includes many portraits, which are organized by the subject term Portraits and then alphabetically by the individual’s last name. For images located in printed material, the card will contain the call number, title, and page number for the image.

Picture Index - card file example

Moving forward, ISL plans to digitize portions of the Photograph Collection, as well as some specific photograph collections, to upload into Indiana Memory. During the processing of the Photograph Collection, staff identified certain aspects of the collection to be digitized in the future. Stay tuned for updates regarding when these collections are available through Indiana Memory.

This blog post was written by Brent Abercrombie, Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.

 

Planet Herschel: A fun discovery from the ISL Collections

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Today’s solar eclipse over Europe brought to mind a unique atlas recently exhibited in our Exhibit Gallery here at the Indiana State Library. Elijah Burritt’s 1836 Atlas, Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens features beautiful hand-colored renderings of the celestial bodies as seen from the Northern Hemisphere at different times of the year.

atlas_edit1

It also includes a map of our known solar system, circa 1835. I stopped in my tracks, however, when I spotted a planet called “Herschel”.

solar system edit1

This interesting find turned into a brief but amusing lesson in the history of the planet Uranus. Discovered by William Herschel (1738-1822) in 1781, discussion was still ongoing about what to call the new planet when this atlas was printed. While Hershel wanted to name the planetary discovery “the Gregorium Sidus” (or, “The Georgian Planet”) after King George III, others in Europe were likely not convinced they wanted to permanently name a planet after an English king. At the time this atlas was printed, Uranus was still being referred to as “Herschel” after the man who discovered it. It was not until the 1850s that the name Uranus, after the Greek god of the heavens, came into common use.

The General Collections of the Indiana State Library feature some unique and fantastic holdings from the history of art to zoology. If you have a unique or specialized area of research, please contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm. You might be surprised what you’ll find!

Information about Uranus sourced at NASA’s Solar System Exploration website: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Uranus&Display=OverviewLong

This blog post was written by Rebecca Shindel, Conservator, Indiana State Library.

Cataloging the John Shepard Wright Memorial Library

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Since 1899, the Indiana State Library has had a long-standing relationship with the Indiana Academy of Sciences (IAS) to house the John Shepard Wright Memorial Library. According to the IAS website, “The Indiana Academy of Science is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting scientific research and diffusing scientific information; to encouraging communication and cooperation among scientists and to improving education in the sciences.”

new Shelving_edit

The John S. Wright collection has more than 12,000 volumes located in the ISL’s closed stacks. The collection consists largely of non-subscription journals and continuations in science and natural history. One of the jobs of a catalogue librarian is to take care of collections donated from various individuals. The John S. Wright Memorial Library is one of these collections. We wanted to showcase this collection today because of the upcoming annual IAS meeting.

Saturday, March 21 marks the 130th Annual Meeting of the IAS at the JW Marriot in downtown Indianapolis. The event is open to members and non-member, but you must register on the IAS website prior to the event.

1942 IAS Annual Meeting_edit
*Photograph from the 1942 IAS Annual Meeting

This blog post was written by Jocelyn Lewis, Catalogue Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.