Save the date! What’s Up Wednesday schedule for 2025

Save the Date!

The Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office is excited to tell you about the upcoming What’s Up Wednesday webinar schedule for 2025. We are still finalizing details for some of the webinars but we wanted to share what we do have.

Jan. 8, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Empowering Libraries to Support Caregivers: Essential Resources and Strategies”

Caregivers often face overwhelming physical, emotional and mental challenges while balancing caregiving with their own well-being. In this session, librarians will learn how to support caregivers by connecting them with trusted health resources from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and other key organizations. Participants will explore effective strategies for making libraries welcoming, resource-rich spaces for caregivers and gain practical tools to help prevent caregiver burnout within the community. Join us to strengthen your library’s role as a supportive hub for caregivers, fostering resilience and connection.

Presented by Bobbi Newman, Region 6, NNLM.

Jan. 29, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Artificial Intelligence in Libraries”

Stay tuned for description and registration link!

Presented by Mike Acsbok.

Feb. 12, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – ‘Sorry, I Don’t Speak Librarian’: Finding Your Voice and Writing for Your Audience”

Stay tuned for description, presenter info and registration link!

Feb. 26, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – School Care Team”

Shane Presley and Rebekah Enzler will be doing a presentation on their organization, School Care Team. With years of experience in education, the School Care Team works alongside schools and community partners to nurture cultures of care.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by Shane Presley and Rebekah Enzler.

March 12, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – ILF and Advocacy”

Stay tuned for description and registration link!

Presented by Vanessa Martin and Julie Wendorf.

March 26, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday: 2025 State of the Child with Indiana Youth Institute”

To improve the lives of all Indiana children, Indiana Youth Institute provides access to reliable data and resources to empower, educate, and equip those who impact youth. Join us for a dive into the recently released 2025 Indiana KIDS COUNT® Data Book during this State of the Child presentation! Learn and engage with the best and most recent information on child well-being, to inform leaders, policymakers, youth workers and advocates, like you, with go-to sources for critical data to create positive change for youth in your community.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by the Indiana Youth Institute Data Team.

April 9, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Indiana Collection at the Indiana State Library”

The Indiana Collection at the Indiana State Library offers a wealth of published material about our great state. Among the most widely used are local daily newspapers, maps, local histories and state agency documents, including historical laws. Our collection includes historical runs of many titles, essential for researching the past and preparing for the future.

In this webinar, you’ll be introduced to fascinating items within the collection, receive tips for exploring the resources, discover where to find online materials and learn how you can help us grow this unique collection.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by Monique Howell, Indiana Division supervisor, Indiana State Library.

April 30, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Start Your Community’s Journey to Information Literacy”

In 2024, the Institute of Museum and Library Services launched a new website to resources to teach about the different types of literacy there are including information literacy, digital literacy, financial literacy, health literacy and science literacy. The website includes programming resources to help develop skills in using and understanding information in a quickly changing world. In addition, the website includes training resources specifically for professionals, funding opportunities to promote information literacy, ready-made lesson plans, evaluation tools and more.

Presented by Kara Cleveland, Professional Development Office supervisor, Indiana State Library.

May 14, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Small Adjustments for Big Change”

Hear about the programs that have influenced one library’s community, including diversifying collections, creating spaces for different age groups, implementing food security programs, getting outside of library walls, implementing 24-hour book pickup and offering take-home crafts, all on a small budget in a small building. We’ll look at how some of the programs were planned and work together as a team to share successful programs and identify other ways to make big changes with small adjustments.

Presented by Brenda Hornsby Heindl, director and librarian, Liberty Public Library in Liberty, North Carolina.

May 28, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Video Game Collections in Libraries, Pt. 3”

Stay tuned for the description and registration link!

Presented by Chris Baker, Jenna Gilles and Jamie Hein.

June 11, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Invisible Faces”

The presenter will provide the information on human trafficking and its forms, the risks, the language, unacknowledged victims, identification and myths.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by Bridgette Spann-Edwards.

June 25, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – A Trauma Informed Care for Grieving Families”

Objectives of this webinar are to learn how grief affects children at different developmental stages; the Do’s and Don’ts of trauma informed responses; and how to best support grieving youth and families.

Presented by Lindsy Diener-Locke, LSW – Ryan’s Place in Goshen, Indiana.

July 9, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday – Presenting the Autism Center”

Learn about the Autism Center at the new Fort Benjamin Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by Shelby Peak, Indianapolis Public Library.

July 30, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday”

This webinar will help debunk the fears surrounding AI, while providing how we currently use AI in our daily lives.

Stay tuned for presentation title and registration link!

Presented by Dr. Treg Hopkins, national director of administration and leadership of Connectable Education.

Aug. 13, 2025″
What’s Up Wednesday – Adult Programming Made Easy, Part 2″

Need more adult programming ideas? I’ve got you! I have gathered 12 more programming ideas, complete with instructions, for your library to use. These programs are adaptable to any budget.

Stay tuned for the registration link!

Presented by Lacey Klemm, Northwest regional coordinator at the Indiana State Library.

Aug. 27, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday”

Our presenter will teach librarians and staff how they can incorporate AI in their jobs, and within their library.

Stay tuned for presentation title and registration link!

Presented by Dr. Treg Hopkins, national director of administration and leadership of Connectable Education.

Sept. 10, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday”

Share information on what types of AI could be beneficial for libraries to use, to serve and to provide for their communities.

Stay tuned for presentation title and registration link!

Presented by Dr. Treg Hopkins, national director of administration and leadership of Connectable Education.

Sept. 24, 2025
Stay tuned for the title, description and registration link!

Oct. 8, 2025
“What’s Up Wednesday”

Demonstrate how libraries can use AI capabilities to create library programming.

Stay tuned for presentation title and registration link!

Presented by Dr. Treg Hopkins, national director of administration and leadership of Connectable Education.

Each webinar is eligible for one LEU for Indiana library staff. Check the Indiana State Library’s events calendar for all of the latest training info, including the details about the remaining webinars when they become available!

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

Indiana Share – What is it, and how does it work?

If a patron is unable to find a book they want on Indiana public library shelves, there are, thankfully, many options to get it to them, one of which is interlibrary loan. There are numerous resource sharing services throughout the state, but Indiana Share is one of the longest running of the available ILL services and recently saw a resurgence in 2024.

What is Indiana Share?
Indiana Share is an Indiana State Library-managed interlibrary loan service for public, school, special and institutional libraries around the state. Indiana Share was launched in 2008, shortly after INCOLSA discontinued their regional interlibrary loan service. There was still a statewide need for assistance in providing interlibrary loans, especially for libraries and schools unable to support or afford this service individually, so the Indiana State Library, in partnership with the Indianapolis Public Library, stepped in to fill the gap. The state library hired a small team of library technicians to process these requests and provide loans via a special statewide OCLC subscription. The team was based out of Indianapolis Public Library’s Central branch, and for a time even pulled and fulfilled loans directly from IndyPL’s collection.

Over time, as the Evergreen Indiana consortium expanded to over half of the state’s public libraries, the need for Indiana Share decreased as the consortium libraries shared between themselves. SRCS, the Statewide Remote Circulation Service, was also introduced as an interlibrary loan option and provided loans for eight years, but after its discontinuation the Indiana State Library once again welcomed libraries back to Indiana Share, and all hands are on deck to process these requests accurately and timely.

How does it work?
Participating libraries use a link on the Indiana State Library’s website to search OCLC’s WorldCat and request items. These requests are then routed to State Library staff who process each request, locating potential lenders from approximately 100 academic and public libraries via OCLC. State Library staff always try to obtain books within Indiana, if possible, since these are shipped for no cost if the library is an InfoExpress courier subscriber. With Indiana Share, it is also possible to borrow requests from public, academic and special libraries out of state if a library agrees to extra fees or costs associated with postage. Each Share request is processed by hand and sent to as many lenders as possible, as many times as needed, until it is either filled for cancelled. There is currently no cost to libraries to use the service.

If a request is filled, a lending library ships the item directly to the requesting library. If no lenders are identified, or no copies are available, the request is canceled and the requesting library receives an email explaining why the loan was cancelled. In addition to placing requests, Indiana Share participants are asked to provide updates to the state library when materials are received or returned so that we can make sure the OCLC system is appropriately updated.

Indiana Share requests can only be placed by the staff of participating libraries. If you are a patron interested in this service ask the circulation staff at your library about the types of interlibrary loan services available to you. We also encourage libraries with robust interlibrary loan services to consider subscribing to OCLC directly, which reduces the need for Indiana State Library staff to mediate each request, and also enables them to share their collections.

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

Indiana’s forgotten bowl game: The Refrigerator Bowl

The United States in the late 1940s was hungry for college football. With many schools completely dropping their programs for the duration of World War II, the American public was ready to resume its collegiate sports traditions. The postwar era saw a rush of newly created bowl games throughout the country as cities sought to cash-in on the trend and market themselves as popular sports destinations. Most of these bowl series are now defunct but included the Raison Bowl in Fresno, California; the Salad Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona; and the Cigar Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Never to be left out of a trend, Indiana also had a bowl entry dubbed the Refrigerator Bowl, held annually in Evansville from 1948 to 1956.

Souvenir program for the first game.

By 1948, the city of Evansville was home to multiple companies that manufactured refrigerators or refrigerator components. Servel, Inc., the Seeger Refrigerator Corporation and International Harvester were producing over a million units each year, a figure which gave Evansville boasting rights to the title “refrigerator capital of the world.”

Evansville’s “Big Three” refrigerator manufacturers.

Members of the Evansville Junior Chamber of Commerce – commonly known as the Jaycees – developed the idea of hosting a college bowl game, partly to highlight the city’s importance in the refrigerator industry and also to raise money for the local YMCA children’s facility known as Camp Carson.

While most college bowl games have historically been held on the first day of January, the Refrigerator Bowl was always held in early December, a concession to Indiana’s fickle winter weather. The game was scheduled to be played in the Reitz Bowl, a “natural amphitheater” stadium attached to Reitz High School.

Built in 1921, the Reitz Bowl continues to be used for local high school football games.

The teams selected to participate in the inaugural game were Missouri Valley and Evansville College. The Missouri Valley Vikings were a Midwestern powerhouse and had not lost a game since 1941. Going into the bowl game, the team had only allowed a mere three touchdowns the entire 1948 season. The Evansville Purple Aces had lost three games and were considered obvious underdogs.

Much to the surprise of all involved, the Evansville Purple Aces managed to end Missouri Valley’s long winning streak by scoring two touchdowns and defeating them 13 to 7. Approximately 7,500 spectators attended the event and Evansville’s head coach was carried off the field on the shoulders of his ecstatic players.

Newspaper coverage from the Evansville Courier Press, Dec. 5, 1948. From Newspapers.com.

The first bowl game was enough of a success that it continued for the next eight years. However, by the mid 1950s, attendance was very low and one of the major refrigerator companies, Servel, went out of business. Despite no longer having its own bowl game, Evansville continued to be a hub of refrigerator manufacturing for the next couple of decades.

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.”

2024 Genealogy and Local History Fair recap

On Oct. 26, genealogists and historians, as well as representatives from historical organizations, lineage societies and genealogical societies, visited the Indiana State Library to attend the biennial Genealogy and Local History Fair!

This year’s theme was “At the Crossroads of America: Westward Migration and Family History” where we looked at migration routes across the United States and how and where people traveled after they arrived in America.

Our speakers were professional genealogists and lecturers Annette Burke Lyttle and Eleanor Brinsko. Burke Lyttle presented “The National Road: America’s First Federal Highway” examining the route that took settlers from Maryland to Illinois and helped open up the Midwest. The National Road, known as Washington Street in Indianapolis, traces through the heart of downtown just two blocks from the library, so this topic was of particular local interest. Burke Lyttle also presented “How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest,” which looked at the many forms of marketing that were used to attract new settlers both from the East and from Europe.

Brinsko presented “Westward Ho: Migration Methods of the United States” exploring how people moved across the country and how the travel methods available to them influenced where they chose to go. Regardless of the time period, travel across the United States was often difficult and dangerous, and it was impressive to learn about the things our ancestors faced as they sought a place to live.

The Genealogy and Local History Fair will return on Oct. 24, 2026. We hope to see you there!

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

Angelina Collins, Indiana’s first cookbook writer

Born on May 26, 1805, in Petersburg, Virginia, Angelina Maria Lorain – or Lorraine – was raised as a Methodist and instilled with ideas of abolitionism. After marrying James Collins – and taking his name – in 1830, the couple moved to Paoli, Indiana, where they lived for a few years before settling in New Albany in Floyd County.

Painting titled “Mrs. A. Collins, aged thirty-six.”

In 1851, Angelina Collins, with the help of John R. Nunemacher, printer and book seller in New Albany, published her volume of table receipts – known today as recipes – titled “Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery.”

In the preface of the book, she explains “…my object has been to simplify the culinary art, and adapt it to every capacity and condition of life, and in preparing the receipts, I have endeavored to select and combine such ingredients as may be easily obtained in any section of our country, but especially have I desired to render them serviceable to the housekeepers of the West.” In other words, “Here’s what you can find at local markets and groceries in late 1840s southern Indiana.” Being on the Ohio River, many of the river towns would have access to a far greater variety of imported goods from the eastern coast, with grocers and merchants being among the first businesses to be established.

Collins ends her preface with “To the ladies of the West, I offer this little volume with full confidence that it will be properly appreciated and well received, and should it in any manner add to their comfort or convenience, I shall be fully compensated for the employment of my leisure home.” And her little volume must have added a large amount of comfort and convenience because in 1857, her cookbook was republished after somehow making its way to A. S. Barnes & Company in New York, where it experienced a name change to the title “The Great Western Cookbook, Or Table Receipts Adapted to Western Housewifery” with the same number of pages. By this time, 1850s southern and middle Indiana would have been well settled, but the upper part still remained as open territory for settlers. These types of publications, such as Mrs. Collins’ cookbook, were meant to encourage immigration to those areas and further west, by showing that there is an abundance of resources.

Here at the Indiana State Library, we have the original 1851 volume and have added it to our digital collections. You can view it here.

Cover of “Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery.”

The 1857 version is available online to be researched in Indiana University’s digital collection, “Service through Sponge Cake”. Here is a link to that version.

So, if you love trying our historic recipes, there are 140-plus pages for you to sample. Collins organized her book by topics, including fish, boiling, pickling, pies and fancy dishes to name a few. And of course, no cookbook would be complete with tidbits of information or advice. On page 15, “Observation – In preparing soups, always cut the pieces of meat you send in the tureen small enough to be eaten with introducing a knife and fork into the soup plate.”

Her recipes include corn pone, hominy, “Succotash a la Tecumseh,” mock turtle soup, “California soup,” Mrs. Collins’ batter cake and brain balls. Collins also includes a recipe for mangoes, or in today’s language, stuffed bell peppers. Also included is an interesting recipe for “Indiana sauce.”

Indiana sauce, as featured in “Mrs. Collins’ Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery.”

Although Angelina Maria Collins died on Sept. 28,1885 in Salem, Indiana, her cookbook is still being researched and used by historians.

Are you interested in historic cookbooks? If so, here are some digital collections of historic cookbooks available from libraries around the country:

This post was written by Christopher Marshall, digital collections coordinator for the Indiana Division at the Indiana State Library.

Upcoming Rosetta Stone migration will require INSPIRE users to keep track of progress

On Nov. 13, the Rosetta Stone platform will be upgraded. Users who subscribe to Rosetta Stone via INSPIRE will notice a change in their account.

Once the migration is complete, users’ accounts and progress will be reset. EBSCO recommends that users note their current level and lesson. After the migration, users will be able to go back to their previous lessons manually. EBSCO has provided a reminder bookmark that can be printed out in order to help users keep track of their current lessons. The bookmark can be downloaded here. Click here for further instructions on how locate current levels and lessons.

There will be no other changes to users’ accounts. Users will enter their same credentials on the login screen. They will still have continuous access to Rosetta Stone’s content, new updated imagery and cultural stories. The program will look and feel identical to the existing site. The content and curriculum path will not change.

Indiana residents who use Rosetta Stone via INSPIRE will still have free full access – all five levels – to nine languages in Rosetta Stone: Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), English (American), English (British), French, German, Italian and Russian. Additionally, Indiana residents can access 15 languages up to level three: Arabic, Dutch, Filipino (Tagalog), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Rosetta Stone is available to all Indiana residents at no cost. Visit the INSPIRE website and click on the Rosetta Stone logo to sign up and get started.

This blog post was submitted by the communications director of the Indiana State Library.

The Public Documents Room at the Indiana State Library

“Patience is the companion of wisdom” – St. Augustine

The Indiana State Library has been collecting federal documents for well over a century, some dating back to the early days of the republic.

All material collected by the state library and published by the Government Printing Office before 1966 is housed on the library’s third floor in what is referred to as the P.D.  – or Public Documents – Room.

The shelves are crammed with every kind of document concerned with every sort of query – from polar expeditions that surveyed the heavens to explorations that documented fauna in Asia.

Papers relating to trade with foreign countries, treaties and diplomacy can be found side-by-side on the metal shelves along with state department-issued pocket travel guides.

At first glance, so unwieldy a collection may discourage the Hoosier enthusiast, but if one is willing to burrow (imagine the ground hog), there are discoveries aplenty. Congressional hearings, bland in appearance and recorded on thin white paper, capture the thousands of voices of those called before congress.

The Coast and Lighthouse Reports record buoys and stations on domestic bodies of water, including Lake Michigan. Soil surveys contain thoughtful county essays on farming, equipment, architecture, labor, and, well, soil conditions. Cattle, sheep and horse diseases are well chronicled, as are the travails of the railroad industry in the United States, from the metal used to lay tracks to the working conditions of the men who did it.

Is the family lore correct? Did Indiana experience one of its hottest summers in 1947? Climatological summaries of the state provide the answer, as do yearbooks compiled by the Department of Agriculture.

Maybe Grandpa Fisher really did thread the Rajah through the choppy waters of Westport, Massachusetts, in 1851, hands clasped behind back, headed to the southern seas in pursuit of whales. Find out by consulting “Whaling Masters Voyages, 1731-1925,” which lists ships, captains and ports.

Home to hundreds of thousands of documents, reports, papers, plates, graphs and census material, no mere introduction can do the P.D. Room justice.

So, visit the card catalog on the second floor of the Indiana State Library – which houses information on the P.D. Room holdings – and delve into a hidden world.

This blog post was written by Kate Mcginn, reference librarian, Indiana State Library.

A pizza party in every Indiana phone book

When the word “pizza” is mentioned, Indiana doesn’t usually spring to mind. Despite nearby Midwestern states Illinois, Michigan and Missouri having their own pizza identity – tavern style and deep dish crust in Chicago; square Detroit-style crust in Detroit; and cracker thin crust and Provel cheese in St. Louis – Indiana doesn’t have its own signature pizza style. In fact, the two most well-known pizza facts involving Indiana are that disgraced former Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter started the chain in Jeffersonville in 1984, and that two brothers  – Wendell and Bob Swartz – helmed the battle of the Pizza Kings in the late ’50s, as detailed in this 2019 Indiana Public Media report.

One little-known fact about Indiana, though, as it relates to pizza, is that the foundation of Pizza Hut has ties to Indiana. Another brother duo – Dan and Frank Carney – famously founded Pizza Hut in Witchita, Kansas while studying at Wichita State University. However, there was a third person involved who actually brought the recipe for the pizza to the business in 1958.

“We found a guy from Indiana that was an airman at McConnell, who lived at the same apartment complex as our sister and brother-in-law, and we talked with him, because we didn’t know how to make pizza,” Frank Carney said in the fall 2008 issue of Wichita State University Alumni Magazine, The Shocker.

That “guy from Indiana” was John Bender of Bloomington. Bender’s pizza making skills most likely developed when he was employed at Cafe Pizzaria in Bloomington. According to a July 25, 2015 Herald-Times article, Cafe Pizzaria “was the first restaurant in Bloomington to specialize in pizza.” Founded in 1953, it may very well be the first restaurant in the state to specialize in pizza.

Prior to the 1950s, pizza wasn’t on the menu for most Americans. A search for the word pizza in Hoosier State Chronicles, Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program, shows only 13 mentions of pizza between 1940 and 1949. However, between 1950 and 1959 that result jumps to 461. Then, the result explodes to 2,000-plus for each of the next four decades. On Nov. 30, 1957, the Saturday Evening Post published an article titled “Crazy About Pizza.” The article has been reported to the be the impetus that pushed the Carney brothers to pursue pizza after it was mentioned to them by a neighbor who had read the article. Author Richard Gehman begins the piece by saying, “Call it a tomato pie, a pizza pie or just plain pizza – this delectable, pungent Italian concoction is giving the hot dog a run for the money as the favorite American snack!” Undoubtedly, the ’50s was the decade when pizza went from a fad to a staple.

With pizza established as a popular new dinner item in the ’50s, those selling the pies had to advertise. A great way to advertise was via phone book, a book delivered at no cost to nearly every household in a given town, city or county and conveniently listing phone numbers of local businesses. Prior to Cafe Pizzaria establishing itself as a business focusing mainly on pizza in 1953, another Bloomington restaurant was serving pizza in 1951. In that year’s telephone directory, Joe Natalie’s Italian Village placed an ad featuring a stereotypical Italian chef, who would become a pizza advertisement standard. While pizza was listed first in the ad, the name of the restaurant was still a general reference to Italian food.

Joe Natalie’s Italian Village; Bloomington; Bloomington Telephone Directory, 1951, page 80. Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

By 1956, pizza was getting top billing in the names of many restaurants serving Italian food. Elkhart’s Papa’s Pizzaeria & Spaghetti House lists pizza first in their name, giving it top billing over spaghetti and opting to eschew the word Italian in its moniker. Pizza is also listed first in the food hierarchy over spaghetti, sandwiches and raviola. It’s unclear whether this was a misspelling of ravioli or a reference to the Italian pastry.

Papa’s Pizzaeria & Spaghetti House; Elkhart; Elkhart Telephone Directory; 1956; page 148. Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

Moving into the 1960s, phone book ads started becoming a bit more stylized and telephone exchange names began to be phased out. A 1960 ad from Homer’s Pizza in Terre Haute features a picture of a pizza, 3D lettering, steaming pies and the good ‘ol Italian chef, although his moustache is a little thin here.

Homer’s Pizza; Terre Haute; Terre Haute Telephone Directory, General Telephone Company of Indiana; 1960; page 108. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

While Bunky’s Carry Out Pizza in Connersville had an updated phone number with a prefix, the restaurant’s 1963 phone book ad has nearly identical elements to the Homer’s Pizza ad from three years prior, right down the the “chef’s kiss” gesture. In a collective effort to stand out, a lot of pizza parlors’ advertising became derivative at this time. One business that actually did stand out in this era, however, was Michigan-based Little Caesars. One year prior, in 1962, they introduced perhaps the most famous pizza mascot of all time, Little Caesar. He was – and still is – the face of the Little Caesars pizza chain.

Bunky’s Carry out Pizza, Connersville; Connersville Telephone Directory; 1963; page 72. Indiana State Library Digital Collections.

By the 1970s, phone book pizza ads really started to ramp up. This aggressive 1973 ad from Deb’s Pizza in Indianapolis features a tricked out car and boasts “Fast Free Delivery.” While the vehicle doesn’t seem very efficient for pizza delivery, the ad definitely gets its message across. A 2011 obituary in the Indianapolis Star states that Omar Rooks owned and operated Deb’s Pizza for 15 years and lists his hobbies as “restoring vintage cars and watching NASCAR races,” so it’s no surprise that he chose this design for the ad.

Deb’s Pizza; Indianapolis; Indiana Bell’s Yellow Pages; 1973; page 676. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

Another well known pizza mascot emerged in the ’80s, the Noid. The gremlin in a skintight rubber suit was created by Michigan advertising company Group 243 for Domino’s Pizza. According to Ernie Perich, executive vice president creative director on the campaign, the Noid was “The personification of all things that can go wrong.” While the ’80s were full of colorful and outrageous mascots – from the California Raisins to Spuds MacKenzie – Saylor’s Pizza of Fort Wayne opted to go with a fairly simple sailor mascot, a play on the restaurant’s family name. The Saylor family’s pizza businesses date back to the ’60s in Chicago. The Fort Wayne locations were operated by Walter Saylor.

Saylor’s Pizza; Fort Wayne; GTE’s Fifty Years of Telecommunications directory; 1982; page 343. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

In the early ’50s, pizza was merely a mention in a phone book ad of an Italian restaurant. By the ’90s, though, pizza was so popular that it had its own category in the Yellow Pages and often took up several pages. The 1993 issue of Indiana Bell’s Ameritech PagesPlus for Columbus/Seymour illustrates how popular pizza really was at the end of the century. Yes, the Italian chef and his mustache are back.

Columbus/Seymour; Indiana Bell’s Ameritech PagesPlus directory; 1993; page 152. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

In the the new millennium, pizza remained as popular as ever. Founded in the ’50s, Pizza King was still alive and well in 2001. They were also using a lot more colored ink in their phone book advertising while letting the reader know that they were “not only the best pizza in town,” but that they were also “unmatched” and a “pioneer.” This ad is as aggressive as a revving muscle car.

Sorrento’s Pizza King; West Lafayette; Verizon SuperPages directory; 2001; page 270. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

During the 2000s, pizza places, like J&J’s Pizza Shack of Northwest Indiana, opted to keep their ads simple. While the ad is unassuming, the 45-piece 18″ x 26″ party size pizza is rather grand. In 2024, the party size meat pizza will set one back $75.00. Owners John and Linda Bogdan retired in 2000, leaving each of their children to run their own J&J’s Pizza Shack with their families in Lake Station, Portage, Hobart, Valparaiso and Demotte.

J&J’s Pizza Shack; Portage/Valparaiso, Verizon Yellow Pages directory; 2006; page 276. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

In modern times, telephone directories aren’t as essential as they once were since everyone can look up contact numbers right on their phones. While times were changing in 2013, Third Generation of Chesterfield was throwing it back to the ’50s with another portrayal of the Italian chef.

Third Generation; Anderson; AT&T’s The Real Yellow Pages directory; 2013; page 154. Indiana State Library Phone Book Collection.

While some pizzerias – like Pizza King and J&J’s Pizza Shack – have survived over the decades, many – like Deb’s Pizza and Third Generation – are long gone, just like the phone books themselves. Just a few weeks ago, Cafe Pizzaria, a pillar of Indiana pizza, made the announcement on their Facebook page that they were closing “effective immediately” after 70 years of serving Bloomington. While Indiana doesn’t rank high on the list of places associated with pizza, it does have its own unique history and contributions to the business. One thing is for certain, though: one cannot cook pizza without a moustache.

This blog post was submitted by John Wekluk, communications director. 

New Directors Workshop 2024

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

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.

German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
German passport of Erich L. Riesterer issued 1923. Source: Erich L. Riesterer collection (L450), Rare Books and Manuscripts Division, Indiana State Library.
Previous
Next

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.

Thomas R. Marshall (and Lois Kimsey Marshall) passport, 1922. Source: Thomas Riley Marshall papers (L100), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Thomas R. Marshall (and Lois Kimsey Marshall) passport, 1922. Source: Thomas Riley Marshall papers (L100), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Previous
Next

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.”

Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Cora Calhoun Horne passport, 1929. Source: Horne family collection (L327), Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library.
Previous
Next

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.