Primary Source: September News from the Indiana Historical Bureau

Did you miss the dedication of our newest Indiana State Historical Marker?  Read about the event in WIBC's story and check out our photos of the event!

The "Indianapolis Times" State Historical Marker (Marion County) was originally placed in 1979, and it's had more than its fair share of incident reports since then.  In 2005, the marker was hit by a motorist and damaged.  After repair and reinstallation, the marker was broken from its post during the NCAA Final Four in 2006.  It was repaired and reinstalled in the Fall of 2007.  Then, the post sustained damage and had to be replaced in the Spring of 2008.  In the Fall of the same year, the marker was again broken from its cap, after the Colts lost to the Chicago Bears in a home game. 

Researchers at IHB have been working on a new text for the pending replacement, as the new double-sided format adopted in recent years allows for more information to be shared.  Former Indianapolis Times reporters are assisting IHB with the new text.  The Indiana Historical Bureau is working to secure a safer location for this replacement marker.  Stay tuned!

How do we know when a marker like "Indianapolis Times" is damaged?  Our staff pass a few Indianapolis markers on their daily commute, but for the most part, we rely on people like you to let us know.  Get involved today.

Banned Books Week is coming soon.  Many Hoosier authors have have graced the ALA's Banned Books lists over the years, including Kurt Vonnegut and Theodore Dreiser.  Pick up a new or classic title by an Indiana Author this month.

September (1864) marks the anniversary of the end of William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign and the start the "March to the Sea," a campaign that involved many Hoosier soldiers.  One of them, William Bluffton Miller, kept a detailed diary of his experience during the campaign. 

Mark your calendars for these history-related events around the state!

Indiana State University is hosting a traveling exhibit, Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine, through October 6.  Many free programs are being offered to complement the exhibit--see Indiana's Civil War 150th Commemoration Calendar of Events for details.

Sept. 8.  “The Delaware Indian Villages along White River, 1795-1821,” presentation by Steve Jackson, Madison County Historian at the Andersontown Powwow and Indian Market.

Sept. 13.  “The Washington, DC You’re Not Hearing About," Michael Beschloss, Mary Tucker Jasper Speaker Series, Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, Indianapolis.

Sept. 15-16.  Trail of Courage Living History Festival at Fulton County Historical Society, Rochester.

Oct. 4-5.  Rediscovering the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: A Public Symposium, Indianapolis.

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation which would free the slaves in the states still in rebellion against the U.S. by January 1, 1863. A call for emancipation had begun much earlier; Indiana Republican Congressman George W. Julian delivered such a speech to the U. S. House in January 1862.

“I know it was not the purpose at first of this Administration to abolish slavery, but only to save the Union and maintain the old order of things. Neither was it the purpose of our fathers, in the beginning of the Revolution, to insist on independence. . . . Similar facts may tell the story of the present struggle. In its beginning neither the Administration nor the people foresaw its magnitude nor the extraordinary means it would employ in prosecuting its designs. The crisis has assumed new features as the war has progressed. The policy of emancipation has been born of the circumstances of the rebellion, which every hour more and more plead for it. . . . I believe the popular demand now is, or soon will be, the total extirpation of slavery as the righteous purpose of the war and the only means of a lasting peace.”  Source: Grace Julian Clarke, George W. Julian (Indiana Historical Commission, Indianapolis, 1923), 228.