Search

Harry Allen Davis, Jr., Indiana artist and Herron School of Art professor, was born in Hillsboro, Indiana in 1914 and moved to Brownsburg, Indiana in 1920. In 1938, he graduated from the John Herron Art Institute and won the Prix de Rome in Painting. After studying at the American Academy in Rome and briefly teaching at Beloit College, he joined the Army in 1942 and was a combat artist in Europe in World War II. When the war was over, Davis took a position teaching drawing and painting at the Herron School of Art. There, he met Lois Irene Peterson from LaPorte, Indiana and the two married in 1947. They had two children together. Harry Davis was a professor at the Herron School of Art until his retirement in 1983. As an artist, he was known for his series of paintings featuring older American and more specifically, Hoosier, buildings and structures. Harry Davis died in 2006. The Harry and Lois Davis Papers consist mainly of Harry Davis's correspondence and exhibition files, as well as scrapbooks and news clippings about Harry and Lois Davis and about Herron faculty and alumni. Also included are a journal and travel documents from his time at the American Academy and a memoir from the war.

The Organization of American Historians (OAH) was founded in 1907 under the name the Mississippi Valley Historical Association (MVHA). The founders created a historical organization that encouraged research and study of the area that made up the Mississippi Valley. In 1913 it began to sponsor a scholarly journal, The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. The organization eventually outgrew its brand name as a regional association by gaining members throughout the country. The organization officially changed its name to the Organization of American Historians in 1965. Today, the OAH is a national organization with a worldwide membership promoting American history research.