A picture worth a thousand words

If you have been to the Rensselaer Library this fall, you might have noticed the display of large artworks and photos throughout the library. These images were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of a project to make important images of our history available for the public. The Picturing America program is also available online and gives details about the images and their meaning to us as a nation.

On Dec. 2, CNN had an interesting story that ties in to this collection. Katherine McIntosh of Modesto, Calif. turns 77 this week. She is one of two young children, faces turned from the camera, pictured with their mother in an iconic photograph depicting the Great Depression.

McIntosh, who remembers the hard lessons she learned as a migrant child living in a tent with her mother and siblings, says the photograph brought both shame and determination to her family and is still talked about the family today.

These photos and paintings are part of our national story. We really hope you take the time to check them out and see what stories they inspire in you.

Honoring our Veterans

Nov. 11 is Veterans' Day and while many businesses will close for this Federal holiday, the Jasper County Libraries will be open to serve you during normal hours. Additionally, for the entire month of November, the DeMotte Library staff has decorated with a theme honoring our local veterans.

There are donated displays of a footlocker, uniform, and battlefield items. Come and browse hundreds of stars with the names of local veterans around the library, soldier flags made by the residents of Oak Grove Christian Retirement Village, and see the yellow-ribbon decked Heroes Tree, part of a national movement, organized locally through Purdue University's Military Family Research Institute, to recognize those serving in the military at the holidays.

Also, library staff have selected information about the various wars the United States has been involved in dating back to the Spanish-American War, and you can find the information on display at the library tables to read. Through the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, there are also resource kits teachers and parents can download online to use on this important holiday.

Originally a tribute to the end of World War I, Veterans' Day is a federal holiday observed on November 11 honoring all wartime American servicemen and women. First called Armistice Day when it began in 1919, the day was renamed Veterans' Day in 1954 to pay tribute to the soldiers who fought in World War II and Korea.

For those wanting to send holiday wishes to those currently serving, check out Lt. Governor Becky Skillman’s "Hoosier Cheer for Our Heroes" letter-writing campaign. This program collects letters and cards which must be received at the Lt. Governor’s office by November 17th.

For more on Indiana's role in World War I, check out the Indiana War Memorial online, and the Indiana State Library's WWI Resource List. The Indiana Department of Veterans’ Affairs website also provides information about the many services available to veterans in the state of Indiana.

Charlie Halleck Discovery

Whether you live in DeMotte and drive down Halleck Street or go to Saint Joseph's College and visit the Halleck Center, it's hard to avoid the lingering traces of this former national statesman from Jasper County.

The Rensselaer Central Schools has unearthed a new historical link to Charlie Halleck, in the form of a 48-star U.S. Flag and a letter describing its significance. I'll advise you to read more about it in this blog post by RCS teacher Mark Heinig.

For more about Charlie Halleck, I welcome you to visit our Charlie Halleck Day local history collection on the JCPL website.

Finding your feminine side

Advocates of "herstory" (as opposed to history) point out how infrequently the contributions of women are recorded for future generations to learn from. Anyone who has searched for female ancestors in their family tree would likely agree.

Prior to the 20th century, many records (such as bank transactions or land deeds) were recorded in the husband's name. Women changed their name with marriage, and with higher death rates (and even some divorce) may have changed their names several times over their life. Whether out of social convention or personal taste, many newspaper articles and even gravestones will refer to a woman only by her married name, "Mrs. John Doe."

These wrinkles can be frustrating to any historical researcher or archiver.

The January 2008 issue of Family Tree Magazine, available at the Jasper County Public Library, offers several tips and solutions for tracking down your feminine side.

Stumped by a vague gravestone? Chances are the woman may have been buried near her family. Contact the cemetery caretaker or the church office for the burial record, which could provide more clues, including who purchased the stone and surrounding plots.

For more tips, check out this and similar magazines at your library, or check out our two genealogy databases (Ancestry Library and Heritage Quest) available in Research Resources at any of our patron computers or online catalog machines.

Heritage Quest is also available to our patrons at home through our website at http://www.jasperco.lib.in.us. You must be a JCPL patron and have a PIN number for home use of your account. (This may be different from the password you have to use Internet at the library.) Contact your local library if you would like to use this service and don't already have a home PIN.

Local History: "The past is a gift to the future"

With all the excitement from CIL fading a bit, I wanted to get back to something amazing and local I learned about before I left.

Earlier this month, the Rensselaer Ladies Literary Society hosted Brian Capouch, who talked about the work he has been doing restoring old buildings and houses in the Jasper, Pulaski and White county areas.

Capouch, a professor at St. Joseph's College, has discovered quite a lot about Jasper County history through his research on his own properties and on properties he drives by that pique his interest.

He has uncovered stories about homes in the area that used to be stops on the underground railroad, and homes that belonged to Jasper County's first white settlers. He also shared the story of a town that might have become the county seat -- as it had the first blacksmith shop, first school and first store -- if the railroad hadn't come through a little farther southwest than the little town at the fork of the Iroquois and Pinkamink rivers, an area known today as Pleasant Grove.

Capouch said he considers these lonely old homes and sites in rural areas just as valuable as any big-city preservation site for the history they have seen, and more at risk, often because the land is considered more valuable as farm ground than as a home or a historic site.

Capouch said he learned a hard lesson early on in his restoration work, when he discovered the log cabin his family had built. Going on with the new owner about how he could restore the property, he failed to notice how his intentions were not being welcomed, he said. A few days later, the home burned to the ground.

Since then, he said he tries to offer assistance and to convince property owners to consider the possible return on investment of restoration as opposed to letting the home deteriorate and be razed. Sometimes, he has paid out of his own pocket for stopgap measures on other people's property, such as to repair windows to buy a home a few more years. "If you can keep the rain out, keep the animals out, then you can keep these homes going," he said.

Capouch has also started a website about his work, http://www.oldmedaryville.org/. The photo galleries are especially interesting.

The title for this blog post came from Capouch's site. As a fan of history, I couldn't agree more with the sentiment.

The JCPL-Hollywood Connection

Three of our library people were among the crowds who went to Crown Point this past week to see Johnny Depp working on the new Michael Mann picture Public Enemies, and to shake his hand!!!

The movie is about John Dillinger's nation-wide crime wave in the early 1930’s and stars Depp as Dillinger. The Indiana portion will include scenes shot at the Crown Point jail from which Dillinger famously escaped. (Although the East Chicago bank where Dillinger shot an officer during a robbery is now a Walgreens store, according to the Post-Tribune.)

Other films shot on location in Indiana in recent years include Rain Man, Hoosiers, A League of Their Own and The Insider. The Filmed in Indiana page from the FILM Indiana website lists many other movies shot in Indiana. FILM Indiana also provides information about film festivals around the state as well as job opportunities on upcoming movie shoots.

Emily, Rayann and Angela, who work at the Rensselaer Library, drove up after work one evening to get a glimpse of the popular actor.

"He seemed to really appreciate his fans," said Angela, who noted he made a point of rolling down his window and waving as his car went by the spectators. At one point, she and Rayann were about two to three feet from the star.

Emily and her daughter found themselves in exactly the right place when Johnny made his way along the barricade to meet the fans.

"He took my hand, then he looked up to see whose hand he had," she said with a huge grin, remembering the moment. "I said, 'Hi Johnny.'"

This post is in no way related to or inspired by the life-sized cut-out the office still has of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Lunar Eclipse on You Tube

For those of you who missed the lunar eclipse last week, there are now plenty of You Tube videos capturing the experience. Though shaky, this one is pretty quick and easy on the eyes. And, captured live in Winnipeg, Canada, it's from our own Central Time Zone. Huzzah!

No moon on Wednesday

At 10:26 p.m. on February 20th, residents of North America, South America, Europe, and Africa will be treated to a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will begin around 8:43 p.m., peak at 10:26 p.m. and wrap up about 12:08 a.m.

For more information about lunar eclipses and projected dates of future eclipses, visit the NASA Lunar Eclipse website.

Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana will host a free lunar eclipse viewing. For more information, see their press release.

Pokagon State Park Jan-Feb 2008 activities PDF.

MLK - History Online

Stanford University has created a nice website for learning about Martin Luther King and the legacy of his struggle to advance civil rights in America.

At their website The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute look for the Quick Links option of "Teaching King."

From there you can find lesson plans, primary and secondary sources online, classroom resources, an encyclopedia and more.

The Library of Congress also has an amazing set of links to source materials for teaching about the American Civil Rights Movement.

Living History Videos

Jasper County Historian Beulah Arnott can spin a yarn about her own memories of Rensselaer in days gone by, but she also has dedicated her life to carefully researching and collecting other people's memories and stories.

Thanks to the Rensselaer Republican's website, http://www.rensselaerrepublican.com/local_video/, Arnott is sharing her vast knowledge of this area with the general public in a series of Living History videos.

The videos, produced by the Republican's staff, are about 13 minutes long and can be streamed live from a computer over the Internet. Clayton Doty, one of the producers of this noteworthy project, said they are planning to continue the series with a new video each week for perhaps a year or more.

The Republican has also made DVD copies of the videos available for the public to view at the Rensselaer Library. They are not available for check out at this time.

We applaud this amazing local history initiative and look forward to seeing all of the videos as they are made.

Arnott, and the Jasper County Historical Society, has also been working with Campbell's Printing in Rensselaer for the past few years to create a local history publication, Vintage Views, which is available for browsing at the Rensselaer Library as well.