Fall 2014

• Indiana Division
• Newspaper Section
• Manuscripts Volunteers

Indiana Division

Donna Schuster

Donna began volunteering in December 2013 for the Indiana Division. Ever since then, she has been helping sort through surplus Indiana state documents in the basement storage room. This project had been deemed nearly impossible to take on, but in less than a year, visible progress is being made. Thanks to Donna’s efforts, 114 cartons of excess materials have been removed and over 60 shelves of usable documents have been identified and organized. Those copies will be used for digitization projects or replacements in the historical Indiana Collection. While the conditions in the basement are dusty, Donna remains dedicated to the task, putting in over 140 hours of volunteer time since she started. We are grateful for her willingness to donate her time to the Indiana State Library.

Newspaper Section

Kerry Ware

Kerry has been volunteering at the Indiana State Library for two years. She works one day a week, in three hour shifts. She has been working on the various projects over the past year including the following projects.

Kerry has been going through boxes of newspapers that have been wrapped in acidic brown paper.  She has been checking to see if the newspapers that have been boxed are on microfilm at ISL.  If they are on microfilm and the newspapers are in poor condition, she determines whether to discard them or continue to store them at ISL. She has also been updating the newspaper holdings guides for the ISL website and the binders that are stored behind the reference desk and near the microforms (Indiana) desk. 

Kerry has been working diligently, but unfortunately, there is more work than she can complete before she takes time off from volunteering to go on maternity leave.  Because she will soon be on maternity leave and her return is unknown, we are looking for another volunteer to assist with this project.  There is enough work for more than one volunteer to do, and the more hours they could put in, the better for the library. 

Showing off our Volunteers

We really can’t say enough good things about our volunteers, but we definitely want to take the time to recognize a few of our wonderful volunteers. We would like to share what they have been working on here at the Indiana State Library. In this issue we’re featuring the volunteers in our Newspaper, Indiana, and Manuscripts Divisions.

Manuscripts Volunteers

The Manuscripts Division has six volunteers working on various projects that we would like to highlight.

Nikki Schofield Nikki  has been working on 31 small collection finding aids; she processed the Eva Doty collection (L599), totaling 3 cubic feet; also working on a guide for the Program Collection that documents the history of unique events in Indianapolis and surround areas ranging from 1830-1870 (http://www.in.gov/library/5294.htm).

Nancy Johnson Nancy  has been transcribing the Noah Noble collection (L118), totaling 3 cubic feet; the collection includes personal and political correspondence regarding state and national Whig politics, as well as Noble's campaign for Governor of Indiana ranging from 1816-1844 (http://www.in.gov/library/4680.htm).

Megan Bettag Megan is cataloging over 115 artist prints. The collection includes original sketches of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument competition as well as several illustrations from Robert Weaver  Choose image(1924-1994), a contemporary American illustrator.

Brittany Kropf Brittany is working on 13 small collection finding aids; she also was the curator for our last exhibit “Hardship and Hope: The Life of the Hoosier Soldier during the Civil War.”.

Danielle Adams Danielle Adams has compiled 22 small collection finding aids. She has also completed processing of the Myrtie Barker collection (L583), totaling 5 cubic feet. Barker was a lifelong resident of Indianapolis and wrote a weekly column for the Indianapolis News and authored three books

Braden Pefley Braden is processing the Central Union Telephone Company collection (L289), totaling 3 cubic feet; also providing reference help to the William Harding Museum in Marion, Ohio, interested in finding information about the “front-porch campaign” during 1920 and a press house that was built on the President Harding’s estate.