The Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Repository works towards providing historical and archaeological information about the peoples of Indiana and the Midwest. Holdings include the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley Ethnohistory Collection, as well as the institutional records of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology and the manuscripts of prominent regional archaeologists.
Prior to the Glenn A. Black Lab of Archeology, the Indiana Historical Society was the only institution in Indiana assuming the responsibility for local prehistory including: an active program of site survey, excavation, preservation, basic research, publication, and student training. In the 1960s, the Indiana Historical Society proposed transferring their material holdings to Indiana University, which included a monetary grant to construct and equip an archeological laboratory on the Bloomington campus. Materials included in the transfer from the Indiana Historical Society to the Glenn A. Black Lab of Archeology included: state archeological survey files, the Society's artifact collection, library, physical equipment, and the Angel Mounds State Memorial. The archeological lab was named in honor of Indiana's Historical Society archeologist, Glenn A. Black and dedicated in 1971.