The Dawson family collection, also known as the G.G. Dawson Papers, has been in the IHS collections since 1980. The collection came from a family of medicine show performers based in Indiana from the 1890s up until about the World War I period. G.G. Dawson, who also went by Harry, was a blackface performer and banjo player for shows like the Herbs of Life Medicine Company.

We recently received an addition to the collection, a ledger which had been used by Dawson’s first wife, Carrie [Miller] Dawson, to record her poetry. Poetry was a common hobby in the 19^th century, and Carrie copied her work dating back to her teenage years into the ledger. She seems to have had a reflective and wistful nature, and wrote poems with titles like “By the Sad Sea Waves” and “The Love of Long Ago.”

Carrie married Harry in 1891 when she was about 19, and he was 29. Carrie, who was seemingly raised in a performing family, joined her husband’s show as a guitarist. In 1893, they welcomed a son, A.L. “Leon” Dawson.

In the existing collection, I found the photographs of Carrie seen here. Her appearance seemed to match her rather melancholic words—dark hair and very pale eyes, in a black silk and lace dress, possibly in mourning (a sister of hers died in 1891), with very rigid, deliberate poses. I began to imagine her as a somber, creative type like Oscar Wilde or Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice.

I also found in the existing collection a few letters Carrie wrote to her husband while she was caring for their sick child and he was on tour. She added to her mystique when I read her words from Morton’s Gap, Kentucky in 1895, “I got the money [you sent] all O.K. and many thanks for same, but as it happened I did not need it. […] I made $1.50 on fortunes at 25 cents each.” I recalled that in her ledger, Carrie had written a poem about telling fortunes as a child by “reading” daisy petals that she had sprinkled on the ground.

Dawson Family Collection, M0333

Soon after that, Carrie contracted TB, at that time called consumption. In May of 1897 she wrote to Harry, “Dr. B– said in his last visit, I must leave the city entirely or I would be within the shadows. He didn’t say it in so easy a way but mighty blunt.” Four months later, she died. She was only 25. Leon was 4. She is buried at the Russiaville Cemetery in Howard County.

A year before her death, with the symptoms of the “wasting disease” bearing down on her, she had written in the back of her poetry ledger,

Leon, my beloved son, the contents of this book has been the work of about ten years. The aspiration and ambition to be something other than an ordinary plodder I bequeath to you.

While I write this, you sit beside me too young to understand the deep love and tenderness that fills my heart for you. My tears are not so much that I know that soon I shall have to leave you, as that I fear I shall not be able to help you in the struggle which lies before you.

She goes on to write her hopes for Leon and offers him advice on navigating life. She encourages him to be brave, keep high standards, and maintain integrity: “No matter whether your work be popular or not, work only for the good of some suffering fellow man.” She expounds on her views on God and science before closing, “This may not be a fitting finale to my Poems. Yet I do not claim any merit for them, only as a memento of the young mother who loved you dearer than life.”

As my time at the IHS comes to an end, I wanted to leave this example of the innumerable life stories contained within our collections. It has been an honor to work with them, rediscover them, and share them.

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At the beginning of my research, I looked up the Grand Kankakee Marsh. I found information from northern Indiana organizations and researchers on both historical and environmental aspects of the marsh. The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum shared that the Grand Kankakee Marsh was known as the “Everglades of the North” and had once covered more than 500,000 acres. From just this information, I started to understand the vastness of what this marsh used to be, and it had me wondering what had happened to it. How could something so big disappear?

This map, created between 1859 and 1889, shows the vastness of the Kankakee Marsh. It covered a large portion of northwestern Indiana before the draining of the Kankakee River. Credit: General Lew Wallace Study and Museum

As I continued to learn more, I read about how well-known the marsh was during its prime. Not only were local residents frequent visitors to the marsh, as the oral history interviews mentioned, but more famous individuals visited as well. Civil War general Lew Wallace and Presidents Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and Theodore Roosevelt had all visited the marsh at some point in their lives, using it as hunting and fishing grounds or just as a place to relax in nature. Combining secondary sources with the information from the oral history interviews, I was able to gain a more complete understanding of what the Grand Kankakee Marsh had meant to people.

The more I discovered, the more curious I was to learn about what had happened to the marsh. Many of the secondary sources talked about how the marsh was depleted, often sharing statistics about how small the marsh became over time. The primary sources, however, contained firsthand accounts of how the marsh had changed over the interviewees’ lifetimes. It provided descriptions where simple numbers or statistics could not. People were straightening the river and harvesting the trees for lumber. There were fewer animals than there had once been. The interviews were key to seeing how the changing marsh affected the residents’ lives and how they noticed the changes.

Lew Wallace painted The Grand Kankakee, depicting the beauty of the marsh as it was in the late nineteenth century. Credit: General Lew Wallace Study and Museum

Researching how and why the marsh changed encouraged me to understand things I had not previously thought of learning about. In one specific instance, I traveled down a research rabbit hole regarding the draining of the marsh. Part of the marsh was dredged, something that was totally unfamiliar to me. I had no idea what dredging was or how it worked. Upon further research, I found dredging to be the act of removing sediments, such as sand, rocks, and sludge, from the bottom of a body of water. Something I found useful when trying to figure out what dredging entailed, especially in the early twentieth century, was to look at images. Thankfully, the IHS had a digitized image of a dredge used to help build a canal in its collection that helped me visualize this process. It appears at the top of this blog.

While this article forced me out of my comfort zone, I learned many new things that I likely never would have thought about otherwise. To read the article and learn more about the Grand Kankakee Marsh, the people living nearby, and the changes they all went through, look for “Man Versus Nature: Settlers and the Grand Kankakee Marsh” by Kaitlyn Leib in the Spring/Summer 2025 issue of Connections in the Members’ section of the IHS website.

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Casey Terry and Bethany Hrachovec make perogies during the March 2025 Flavors of the Heartland event.

If you have joined us for Flavors of the Heartland this year in person, you have undoubtedly heard our speakers share stories from their families and communities, with recipes covering the globe. The holidays are a time filled with food traditions, and we would be remiss not to bring you one virtually while trees fill our mobile kitchen area!

While rooting around in our collections, I stumbled across Miss Beecher’s Housekeeper and Healthkeeper, published in 1874, and a page filled with gingerbread recipes. Deciphering historic recipes can be a challenge – a fun one! Since we can’t gather in person during Festival of Trees, check out our video making this recipe: https://youtu.be/1A41lrXQnwo

Gingerbread Recipe

(Mis Beecher’s Housekeeper and Healthkeeper, 1874, Indiana Historical Society)

Don’t forget to spend some time this holiday season sharing your traditions with each other. Tell your friends and family about your holiday traditions, where they come from, and why you embrace certain recipes – it’s an important way of sharing your family history! Then, make plans to join us for the 2026 Flavors of the Heartland series featuring global traditions that shape our Hoosier foodways including: Greek, Lebanese, Japanese, Mexican, and more! The series kicks off in February – check out www.indianahistory.org/visit/calendar for all the dates, presenters, and foods. We can’t wait for you to see what we cook up in 2026.

Until then – Happy holidays!

Bethany Hrachovec decorates gingerbread cookies.

Flavors of the Heartland is made possible with generous support by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation

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The Heritage Support Grants program, provided by the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc., offers critical funding to local, county and regional historical societies, museums and sites. These grants support projects that address high-priority needs in collections stewardship, capacity building, sustainability and planning.

Heritage Support Grants – Project Grant, Mini Cycle B

• Cedar Lake Historical Association, Lake County — Cedar Lake Historical Association received $2,300 to repair trim in the museum at Lassen’s Resort to restore it to its original state.
• Daviess County Historical Society, Daviess County — Daviess County Historical Society received $4,294 to cover reenactor fees and table and chair rental for their upcoming Pioneer Days event.
• Evansville Wartime Museum, Vanderburgh County — Evansville Wartime Museum received $4,999 to purchase Bluetooth-compatible audio devices to provide self-guided tours of the museum when docents are unavailable and to expand accessibility.
• Friends of the Crown Point Library, Lake County — Friends of the Crown Point Library received $3,200 to fund speakers for its upcoming History Speaks & Hope Acts: America 250 program to engage the public for the US’ 250th.
• Friends of the National New York Central RR Museum, Elkhart County — Friends of the National New York Central RR Museum received $2,500 to create new interpretive signage for their 20th Century Limited exhibit to revitalize the exhibit.
• Friends of the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, Hendricks County — Friends of the Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library received $4,875 to digitize microfilm of the Plainfield Messenger newspaper issues from the years of 1962 – 1979.
• James B Eads Parent-Teacher Organization, Lake County — The James B Eads Parent-Teacher Organization received $1,000 to purchase new Indiana History books for use in their fourth-grade history program.
• Madison County Historical Society, Madison County — The Madison County Historical Society received $4,680 to purchase and install a new, code-compliant fire security exterior door.
• Preservation Alliance, Inc., Scott County — Preservation Alliance, Inc. received $1,450 to replace all the museum’s existing fluorescent lighting with 3000-3500K LED lights to preserve historical artifacts by minimizing UV damage and heat emission.
• Roberts, Thomas, Bonds Historical Society, Marion County — Roberts, Thomas, Bonds Historical Society received $4,999 to develop a professional cemetery preservation plan for the Thomas & Roberts cemetery at the historic Lick Creek settlement.
• SullivanMunce Cultural Center, Boone County — SullivanMunce Cultural Center received $1,847.97 to purchase accessible shelving units, storage bins, and stackable storage systems to store supplies used for their school programs.
• Upland Historical Society, Grant County — Upland Historical Society received $4,500 to purchase archival storage materials and a shared scanner, and to develop a searchable digital index of its collections.
• Washington County Historical Society, Washington County — Washington County Historical Society received $4,900.00 to hire a consultant to create a comprehensive, five-year strategic plan that will provide a roadmap for membership, property maintenance, restoration, fundraising, and planned giving for the WCHS/John Hay Center.
• Wayne County Historical Museum, Wayne County — Wayne County Historical Museum received $4,999 to purchase archival storage systems and environmental controls to modernize the museum’s storage, and to acquire a photo scanner, a laptop, and storage materials to catalog, scan, and preserve the newly donated Pyle photographic collection.
• Union Literary Institute Preservation Society, Randolph County — $25,000 to remove remains of the North wall of the historic Union Literary Institute, the first school in Indiana to admit both Black and white students.

Since the program launched in 2015, IHS has awarded millions of dollars in Heritage Support Grants to strengthen Indiana’s historical organizations. In addition to funding, the program also provides fundraising education workshops, coaching and opportunities for participants to serve on award selection panels.

Guidelines and applications are available on the IHS website at www.indianahistory.org/grants or by calling the IHS at (317) 232-1882.

The post Indiana Historical Society Awards More Than $50,000 in Heritage Support Grants to Local Historical Organizations appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.

The article highlights the colorful career of Turner, a noted pilot, air racer and aviation pioneer, who owned and operated the Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation at the Indianapolis Municipal Airport in 1940.

Higgins is a former journalist based in Indianapolis. During his career, he has covered a wide range of compelling subjects, including the war in Iraq, Ku Klux Klan rallies in the Midwest and the history of professional wrestling. He is also the founder of the American Association of Linear Bocce.

The Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. Award includes a $500 prize and recognizes an article that best reflects the mission of Traces, presenting thoughtful, research-based stories on Indiana history in an engaging, accessible format for a broad audience of readers.

Named for noted Indiana historian and author Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr., the award honors a figure who helped revitalize the Indiana Historical Society in the 1880s. Dunn produced several foundational works, including the two-volume Greater Indianapolis (1910) and the five-volume Indiana and Indianans (1919). Throughout his remarkable career, Dunn also worked for Indianapolis newspapers, advocated for free public libraries and contributed to the preservation of the Miami Nation of Indiana’s language.

For more information, visit https://indianahistory.org/.

The post Will Higgins Honored as Indiana Historical Society’s Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. Award Winner appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.

Below are the IHS 2025 Award Winners:

Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award

The Dorothy Riker Hoosier Historian Award is named for Dorothy Riker, who was a 50-year employee and editor for IHS and the Indiana Historical Bureau from 1929 to 1979. This award is made annually to a historian who has made distinguished contributions to the field of historical scholarship, including presentation, use of materials and preservation, or the affairs and activities of the IHS.

Pamela Rose Peters — New Albany, Indiana

Peters’ scholarship on the Underground Railroad has broadened public understanding and access to primary research. Her book, “The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana,” was among the first publications accepted into the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom. Her research informed the Carnegie Center’s permanent exhibition “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage” and its exhibition on Lucy Higgs Nichols, which is also included in the Network to Freedom. She additionally helped found the Vintage Fire Museum, preserving rare Southern Indiana firefighting artifacts and developing an engaging museum experience that now welcomes thousands of visitors annually.

Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award

The Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions over an extended period of time to a) the field of history and/or b) the affairs of IHS. This award is named after philanthropist Eli Lilly, a lifelong leader of the Indiana Historical Society.

Marsh Davis — New Harmony and Indianapolis, Indiana

Davis retired in 2025 after 37 years with Indiana Landmarks, including 19 as president, guiding its growth into the nation’s largest statewide historic preservation organization. Signature achievements include the adaptive reuse of Bush Stadium, restoring Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church as the Indiana Landmarks Center, and stewardship of Samara in West Lafayette. He launched major initiatives such as the Black Heritage Preservation Program and Sacred Places Indiana, broadening preservation’s reach and resources statewide. He has been named President Emeritus in recognition of a legacy that strengthened preservation culture across Indiana.

Hubert Hawkins Local History Award

The Hubert Hawkins Local History Award is given annually to a local historian for his or her distinguished service and career in local history. Hubert Howard Hawkins was executive secretary of IHS and director of the Indiana Historical Bureau. He was instrumental in increasing membership through visits around the state and with the Indiana Junior Historical Society.

Carolyn Lafever — Cambridge City, Indiana
Wayne County Historian Emeritus, Lafever is the author of six books and a contributor to two more. An accomplished musician and former choir director, she is a frequent speaker and advocate whose work has documented, shared and celebrated Wayne County history for decades.

Karen Schwartz — Corydon, Indiana
Schwartz has led the Historical Society of Harrison County for more than two decades, coordinating 15+ local history books and pamphlets, acquiring and interpreting two historic properties (the William Henry Harrison Log Cabin and the Posey House), and organizing hundreds of public programs, tours, videos and creative history experiences. Her weekly “Looking Back” column further expands community engagement, and her children’s book This Is Our Hometown: Corydon, Indiana fosters early appreciation for local heritage.

Indiana History Outstanding Organization Event or Project Award

The Indiana History Outstanding Organization Event or Project Award recognizes an organization for an exceptional educational event or history project implemented during the past year, either one-time or ongoing, which relates to that organization’s mission.

Indiana State Library — Indianapolis
Launched in January 2025, the Library’s Escape Experience history kits have reached 60+ public libraries and 600+ participants. With six narratives and 24 kits (four copies each), topics include President Benjamin Harrison, Indiana women, Indiana Quakers, Crispus Attucks High School & Indiana basketball, genealogy and aviation history. Libraries value the low-cost, high-quality programming; schools praise minimal setup, reusability and artifact-rich, collaborative learning.

Kosciusko County Historical Society — Warsaw, Indiana
The Society honored the county’s top female athletes, reuniting girls’ high-school state basketball championship teams from the past 50 years and hosting hands-on sports demos (hockey, pickleball, rugby, Jiu-Jitsu). The celebration continues through the 2025 featured exhibit with artifacts from girls’ teams dating back 100 years.

Riley Children’s Health — Indianapolis, Indiana
For its 2024 centennial, Riley advanced three major history initiatives:
• “Cherishing Each Child, Riley Hospital for Children, 1924–2024” — the hospital’s first comprehensive history book chronicling ten decades of growth, expansion, and leadership in pediatric care and research. The book highlights the roles of the Riley Children’s Foundation and nationally and internationally recognized physician leaders in shaping Riley’s reputation as one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals.
• A centennial video series shared across digital platforms and broadcast locally, documenting breakthroughs in children’s healthcare, including family-centered care, pediatric heart surgery, infectious disease, neonatal care, the Berlin Heart, cochlear implants, and innovative cancer and diabetes research.
• Two digital platforms, created by the Indiana University School of Medicine Library, that provide ongoing public access to Riley historical resources and archival films. These digital collections, designed for perpetual updates, ensure Riley’s century-long story continues to grow for future generations.

Outstanding Collaborative Project Award

The Outstanding Collaborative Project Award recognizes an exceptional project by a historical or heritage organization with one or more partners implemented during the past year, particularly for projects that share county or regional history.

Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter, NSDAR — Colonial Fair — Indianapolis
A free, family-friendly living-history event that drew 1,100+ attendees, including a dedicated student and homeschool day. Volunteer reenactors created a hands-on 1775 village with crafts and interactive displays, emphasizing education and immersive learning for all ages.

Discover Downtown Washington — Washington, Indiana
Through broad collaboration, the organization helped establish a DORA district, launched Christmas on Main (now annual), started a Farmers Market (2025), produced a large-scale IDDC postcard mural with artist Barb Stahl, and initiated a Façade Grant Program that leveraged $40,000 in public investment into $280,000+ in private improvements—strengthening civic pride through place-based history and revitalization.

Outstanding Historical Organization Award

The Outstanding Historical Organization Award is presented to a local or county historical society, organization or site in Indiana which has demonstrated remarkable service to and programs for its community and has demonstrated excellent application of professional standards and best practices. 

SullivanMunce Cultural Center, Inc. — Zionsville, Indiana

SullivanMunce expanded its Century Structures program; added segmented walking tours (Short & Sweet, Poetry House, Queen Anne’s Stroll) in the BooneINCulture app and integrated Brick Street Poetry (with a companion book in development); continued leadership of Zionsville’s Historic Marker Program with town partners; and advanced digitization in the Genealogy Library—extending access through app-based tours and deepening public engagement with local history.

For more information about the Indiana Historical Society, call (317) 232-1882 or visit www.indianahistory.org.

The post Indiana Historical Society Announces Annual Award Honorees from Across the State appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.

For monthly celebration days, I think October’s most well-known are Halloween and Indigenous Peoples’ Day (not to be confused with National Native American Heritage Month, which starts on November 1). Let’s investigate two lesser-known days to celebrate this October.

Image credits from left to right: IHS, M1439 (cropped); Martin Collection, IHS (cropped); Personal photo, Chloe Redman

Dog people everywhere already do this daily, but did you know that loving and supporting your furry family members has its own dedicated day? Subaru – yes, the Japanese car manufacturer – decided to affirm its commitment to bettering the lives of all dogs by establishing the National Make a Dog’s Day in October 2019. This was a result of the Subaru Loves Pets initiative and partnership with the ASPCA, reminding everyone to support and love our furry companions and bring awareness to how we can support local shelters, care for disabled pups, and encourage adoptions.

This year’s Make a Dog’s Day fell on Wednesday, October 22. If you already have enough dogs in your family and don’t have the means to express outward support, express it inward! Give some extra cuddles, throw the ball a few more rounds, do whatever you feel comfortable doing to express your love and support to your pets.

Image credits from left to right: IHS, R0940; Personal photo, Chloe Redman; IHS, M0634 (cropped)

The second Saturday of October is actually #ILoveYarn day, a global day of celebration for everyone regularly tangling with yarn to make clothes, blankets, toys, and anything else you could think of! We honor crocheters and knitters this month, whether you create for the joy of it or out of necessity.

Also, did you know that humans have been making yarn for at least 4,500 years?! Wool and cotton fibers were spun into yarn by hand with a distaff and bowl, a common practice between 2500 and 1200 B.C., according to the Textile Heritage Museum of North Carolina. Just think, we went from having to hand-spin fibers to having entire spinning mills to produce the skeins!

The post Fidos and Fiber Arts: October Celebration Days appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.

U.S. Rubber Company employees work on and display rubber fuel liners for the B-24 Liberators, Indianapolis, 1944 and 1943. IHS, P0569 (cropped).

While we commonly think of smoke detectors and fire extinguishers as fire prevention, there are other items that are used for it depending on circumstances. According to research done by our digitization department staff, the above images show self-sealing aircraft fuel tank liners, which prevented explosions and fires if fuel tanks were ruptured by anti-aircraft fire in battle. Developed by the U. S. Rubber Co, they could be retrofitted in fuel tanks already installed in aircraft. If bullets penetrated the fuel tank, the rubber would seal the hole to prevent fuel leakage, which could catch fire. These liners were made for the B-24 Liberator; an image of the plane can be seen in the background of the picture on the left.

City-County Building, Indianapolis, 1970. Transcripts from the radio show “Like It Is” about a new Fire and Smoke Alarm system being installed at the City-County Building, Indianapolis, May 17, 1981. IHS, P0607 (cropped); IHS, M1514 (cropped).

Pictured above in 1970 is the Indianapolis City-County building, which was completed in 1962. In 1981, Ron Reinking, the building manager there, was interviewed on the WTLC radio show, “Like It Is,” to talk about the new state-of-the-art fire and smoke alarm system being installed. To hear this discussion, check out the audio from that report at minute marker 26:30 in our digital collection. Fire prevention is important for all buildings, but especially when dealing with skyscrapers like the one shown.

Camp Atterbury’s (Johnson County) Fire Department was honored by Gov. Schricker for their prevention activities, Indianapolis, 1944; The Diamond Chain Company’s employees learn about safety and use of extinguishers in the plant, Indianapolis, 1951; “Cowboy G-Men,” Jackie Coogan and Russell Hayden visited Riley Hospital, Indianapolis, 1953.

Prevention is generally left to homeowners and building managers to achieve. However, these goals cannot be met without the help of those with important knowledge to share on the subject. Whether it is a Fire Department being honored for their fire prevention activities, a demonstration of fire suppression equipment for employees at a factory, or talking to kids about the importance of fire safety, all make up the pieces to the puzzle to help prevent fires. Even today, kids are often visited at their schools by local fire departments throughout elementary and middle school to help understand prevention, and plan escape routes and other factors if a fire happens. They are probably more regularly exposed to this information than adults, but we should all be cognizant of fire prevention, checking our smoke detectors, fire suppression options (extinguishers or fire blankets), and more in our home and workplaces.

Help yourself this National Fire Prevention Month and make sure your family is prepared! Don’t forget to check out the previous months’ celebrations and other blogs on the IHS blogsite.

The post Fighting a Fearful Foe: October is National Fire Prevention Month appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.

The Heritage Support Grants program, provided by the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc., offers critical funding to local, county and regional historical societies, museums and sites. These grants support projects that address high-priority needs in collections stewardship, capacity building, sustainability and planning.

Heritage Support Grants – Project Grant, Cycle A

In Project Grant Cycle A, the Heritage Support Grant program awarded $524,840 to 18 local history organizations representing 16 Indiana counties.

• Carmel Clay Historical Society, Hamilton County — $50,000 to establish a paid internship program for collections management and to purchase archival supplies and equipment.
• Cass County Historical Society, Cass County — $22,848 to cover architect fees for designing a permanent, secure exhibit space for their rare 1920 ReVere Tourer automobile.
• Cedar Lake Historical Association, Lake County — $50,000 to fund Phase 3 of its exhibit redesign project, creating complementary indoor and outdoor exhibits on preservation trades, Potawatomi heritage and ice harvesting history.
• Evansville Wartime Museum, Vanderburgh County — $19,234 to install three interactive touchscreen displays to showcase WWII maps, wartime contributions and rotating exhibits.
• Friends of the 1818 Rome Courthouse, Perry County — $50,000 to begin restoring century-old windows of Indiana’s second-oldest public building, advancing its use as a community center and museum.
• Friends of the Huntington City-Township Public Library, Huntington County — $42,000 to digitize endangered copies of the Huntington News newspaper (1930–1969) and create a free online archive.
• Friends of the Marion Public Library and Museum, Grant County — $14,950 to hire a coordinator to digitize and research 300 Chronicle-Tribune photographs related to local Black history.
• Hayden Historical Museum, Jennings County — $5,000 to complete a historic structures report on former governor Edgar D. Whitcomb’s boyhood home.
• Hillforest Historical Foundation, Inc., Dearborn County — $5,000 for a historic structures report on its 1855 mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Historic Madison, Inc., Jefferson County — $50,000 to construct an accessibility ramp and exterior restroom enclosure as part of restoring the Jeremiah Sullivan House, a National Historic Landmark.
• Indiana Entertainment Foundation, Marion County — $17,000 to digitize high-priority audio and image files for a free public archive.
• Madison County Historical Society, Madison County — $31,000 to complete installation of a fire suppression system protecting important museum collections.
• Montgomery County Historical Society, Montgomery County — $22,353 to replace aging HVAC units and purchase environmental monitoring equipment for collections preservation.
• Reitz Home Preservation Society, Inc., Vanderburgh County — $50,000 to repair the foundation and roof of the Ice Box Room at the Reitz Home Museum.
• The Indiana Album, Inc., Marion County — $28,475 to purchase digitization equipment and train assistants to conduct scan-a-thons, preserving 6,000 historical images from underrepresented communities.
• Twin Forks Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Inc., Franklin County — $20,000 to complete stabilization of the North wall of the Brookville Stone House, an 1829 structure which the DAR plans to use to house and make archives accessible to the public.
• Union Literary Institute Preservation Society, Randolph County — $25,000 to remove remains of the North wall of the historic Union Literary Institute, the first school in Indiana to admit both Black and white students.
• Washington County Historical Society, Washington County — $50,000 to rehabilitate its 1929 Monon Railroad Caboose with roof, siding and safety improvements.

Heritage Support Grants – Impact Grant, Cycle A

In Impact Grant Cycle A, the Heritage Support Grant program awarded $200,000 to two organizations representing two Indiana counties.

• Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, Howard County — $100,000 to complete cosmetic and structural restoration of Union Traction Company Interurban Rail Car No. 429, preparing it for operational use as the centerpiece of an electric heritage railway.
• International Circus Hall of Fame, Miami County — $100,000 to stabilize and assess the Wagon and Baggage Shed on its National Historic Landmark campus, housing historic wagons and artifacts.

Since the program launched in 2015, IHS has awarded millions of dollars in Heritage Support Grants to strengthen Indiana’s historical organizations. In addition to funding, the program also provides fundraising education workshops, coaching and opportunities for participants to serve on award selection panels.

Guidelines and applications are available on the IHS website at www.indianahistory.org/grants or by calling the IHS at (317) 232-1882.

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Salmon Loaf and Sponge Cake I recipes, Domestic Science Cook Book, South Bend Public Schools, 1929. IHS.

I found a recipe for a lovely salmon loaf, which I decided to serve with green beans and roasted potatoes. A nice dessert course of sponge cake with berries and coffee was also planned as part of the meal. At the head of this post, Mrs. Hubert Sayler shows off her winning angel food cake from the 1947 Indiana State Fair. Angel food is a type of sponge cake. I make no guarantees on the award-worthiness of the included recipes above.

The 1908 receipts did not all state the quantity purchased, so I did my best to be true to cost comparisons as able. We need to consider that in some instances, you must buy larger quantities of ingredients to get the amount needed for a recipe. I’ve included the quantities below based on various factors.

While we often think of today’s prices being significantly higher than those of the past, it appears we are not always correct. I am sure if you were making other recipes, there would be times when the inflated cost of goods from a bygone era would be less than those of today. However, as calculated in the table above, that was not always the case. It’s also important to note that some of the quantities above would last many households today for quite a while, especially when factoring in 18 pounds of sugar and 25 pounds of flour. Unless you are a routine or excessive holiday baker, I would wager that many people don’t go through that amount in a year now.

The post Cost of a Meal—1908 to 2025 appeared first on Indiana Historical Society.