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Indy Historical

Information resource guide for H542: Introduction to Public History course with instructor Dr. Rebecca Shrum and collaborator Dr. John Dichtl.

General Search Tactics

Many oral histories or historic recordings are included in traditional library catalogs and archival finding aids.

Hints for identifying this type of material in library catalogs:

  1. Many Advanced Search menus will allow you to limit by format type (sound recording, audiocassette, etc.)
  2. Some catalogs have a special shelving location for this type of material.  If you can identify the particular shelving location (Cassettes for example) for audio recordings you can restrict your search to a topical (Indianapolis for example) keyword search within that given shelving location.
  3. If the catalog you are searching does not allow this sort of limitation try adding (one at a time) some of the following keywords to your topical keyword search. Some examples:
  • Indianapolis and oral histories
  • Indianapolis and interviews
  • Indianapolis and recordings
  • Indianapolis and sound recording
  • Indianapolis and videodisc
  • Indianapolis and speeches

Onilne

James Whitcomb Riley Recordings Audio of James Whitcomb Riley reciting his poems.

Park Tudor Words of War Oral Histories Collection of oral histories from Hoosiers serving in various wars.

American Memory Sound Recordings There is some limited audio in the Library of Congress American Memory Project.  Follow the link provided and type Indiana in the search box.

Irvington Oral Histories  Oral history interviews with individuals who lived in Irvington, an Eastside neighborhood of Indianapolis.

On Location

Indiana Historical Society

Library of Congress American Folklife Center, Story Corps Collection

Indiana State Library, A-Z List of Oral Histories at ISL