Collections

This project contains information about local, state, national, and international economic enterprises, focusing mainly on businesses and industries located in and/or originating in the state of Indiana. Some of the industries discussed are the Indiana limestone industry, the local oil industry, coal mining, agriculture, railroads, the automobile industry, banking, insurance, steel production, and supermarkets. The local economic impact of industry and business on a community, unionization, and the workforces of each industry are also discussed.

This project examines the impact of unionization on Guide Lamp and Delco Remy, two automobile plants in Anderson, Indiana, between the years of 1930 and 1982. It details the events of the 1937 sit-down strike at Guide Lamp and the various improvements in working conditions, wages, job security, and benefits that the United Auto Workers helped to influence at the two plants. The project highlights changes in policy towards women, minority groups, and retirees in the factory workplace, and it offers descriptions of the evolving roles of management and the union and changing relationships among workers in the two plants. Finally, the project details the history of the two plants within the community of Anderson at large, and it offers commentary on the then-current problems and challenges facing the automobile industry as a whole.

This collection of interviews gathers information about economic development from some key locations in southwestern Indiana, Indianapolis, and northwestern Indiana, among others. Topics include environmental issues, Brownfield redevelopment, tax incentives, and labor unions. Many issues are the same from one region to another, but some regions, such as northwestern Indiana, emphasize environmental or Brownfield redevelopment over unions or workforce training.

The interviews in this project deal with the history of Indiana, from specific counties, organizations, and institutions to individual residents' memories and experiences. Some of the topics covered include state prisons, education in Indiana, the Lutheran Church in Indiana, and the history of several towns and counties in the state.

In this project, retired professors from the Indiana University Department of History discusses their experiences in the profession. Topics discussed include educational and work history, the history department curriculum, development of the history department over time, prominent people in the department, publishing, teaching, and changes in the student body over time.

This project consists of 27 interviews on the participation of girls in athletics from the nineteen twenties through the nineteen eighties. Organizations such as the Indiana High School Athletic Organization are discussed with regard to female participation in sports. The project also explores sex roles and girls' high school sports in local communities.

This collection of interviews addresses historic preservation in a handful of Indiana towns, such as Madison, New Harmony, Vincennes, and Evansville. The broad emphasis is placed on how the preservation movement began, the major participants, and how it has changed. However, within this broad range, individual historic preservation organizations and projects are not only mentioned, but given much detail.

The history of business can be studied from a variety of angles. These approaches are discussed by the interviewee in terms of business methodology. Different areas of historical study interconnected with that of business are also explored. Books and authors demonstrating the points are shared and problems with the study of new history are also examined.

This collection of interviews primarily delves into the Republican view of Indiana politics from the nineteen twenties to the early nineteen sixties. Major emphasis is placed on both state and national elections and conventions from 1940-1948. The project contains discussions of political campaigns (including finances), the patronage system, and legislation battles. The interviews also reflect on William Jenner by describing his character, beliefs, and influence on Republican politics in Indiana.

This project includes people living in and around Paoli, Indiana. The project includes people's experiences and attitudes toward death, dying, and illness. The interviewees share their feelings on losing loved ones. They discuss the roles of religion, family, fear, and medical interventions in the process of death and dying. They also discuss the various preparations involved including, funerals and wills, as well as personal preparations.

This collection of interviews primarily delves into the Republican view of Indiana politics from the nineteen twenties to the early nineteen sixties. Major emphasis is placed on both state and national elections and conventions from 1940-1948. The project contains discussions of political campaigns (including finances), the patronage system, and legislation battles. The interviews also reflect on William Jenner by describing his character, beliefs, and influence on Republican politics in Indiana.

In the Tuba-Euphonium Oral History Project, seven tuba musicians were interviewed about their early training and subsequent careers in the music industry. Each man--Robert Rusk, Jerry Lackey, L.B. Oliver, Ivan F. Hammond, Kenneth Schubert, Samuel Gnagey, and Paul Krzywicki discussed instrument design and different methods of teaching about and playing the tuba. All five of these men studied at Indiana University and went on to play in other venues. They talk about their experiences with William J. "Bill" Bell at Indiana University as well as Bell's methods of teaching at the school.

The project deals with Latino immigrants, most of whom are from Mexico and have settled in and around Indianapolis, Indiana. The interviewees discuss immigrating, transitioning into life in the United States, the important role religion--Catholicism in particular--plays in their lives, and the active role they take in their communities. Most of the transcribed interviews are in Spanish.

Interviews include discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment, the women's movement, politics, civic affairs, and the Nineteenth Amendment. Most interviewees were born during the 1930s and discussed their involvement in Bloomington, Indiana from the 1940s-1970s.

In this project, four former professionals in the roller skating business recount their experiences as well as their hopes for the future of roller skating. All four men discuss the relationship beteen skating and music. In particular, these men seem to be nostalgic for organ music and the disco era. They also discuss different inventions that revolutionized the skating business, such as floor waxes and in line skates.

Interviewees discuss working at the Bloomington RCA plant from the 1940s until the plant's closing in 1978. They describe the unions, family life, immigration, Brown County farming, and work life.

The interviews in this collection primarily discuss civil rights issues in Claiborne County, Mississippi. Some topics discussed are Black voter registration, school integration, and freedom of choice. The interviewees' childhoods, including the Great Depression and World War II, are also talked about in the interviews. The interviews were conducted as research for the Ph.D. dissertation Common Courtesy: The Civil Rights Movement in Claiborne County, Mississippi by the interviewer.

In this project, James P. White, the American Bar Association consultant on legal education, discusses the history, changes, goals, conflicts, and mission of that institution. He describes his involvement in legal education activities and the occasionally rocky relations between the association and the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar. Law schools, legal specialization, and the commercialization of the legal profession are also major topics within this interview.

Interviewees discuss the Black community of Bloomington, Indiana. They also talk about the West Side Community Center as an important gathering place for the community.

This collection of interviews presents a sampling of life in Burma over the last quarter of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The interviewees, who are all now living in the United States, share their experiences of growing up in a time of transition and political upheaval within their home country. Many of them were involved with the 1988 demonstrations that took place in Rangoon and nearby villages. Almost all spent some time living in fear of arrest, surviving in refugee camps, and hoping for better opportunity. They express varying opinions of their hope for a future democratic Burma and express their appreciation for the lives they have now. This project was co-directed by Professor M. Gail Hickey of the School of Education at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne.