Indiana Biography
"There I Grew Up;" Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Youth
Willia E. Bartelt
"There I Grew Up": Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Indiana Youth reveals, through the words of those who knew him, Abraham Lincoln's humor, compassion, oratorical skills, and thirst for knowledge, and it provides an overview of Lincoln's Indiana experiences, his family, the community where the Lincolns settled, and southern Indiana during the years 1816 to 1830.
cloth 256 pp. 2008 / ISBN 978-0-87195-263-9 / $27.95
Order No. 2699
Evan Bayh: From Father to Son, A Private Life in the Public Eye
Evan Bayh
Bayh speaks knowledgeably about balancing a public political life and a private family life. The book is a memoir of fatherhood and we learn about his relationship with his father and his joy of being a father himself.
paper 191 pp. 2003/ISBN 1-57860-119-3/$24.99
Order No. 2462
The Soldier's Friend: A life of Ernie Pyle
Ray E. Boomhower
To the millions of Americans on the home front during World War II, Ernie Pyle’s column in newspapers across the country offered a foxhole view of the struggle as he reported on the life and death of the average soldier. When he died, Pyle’s popularity and readership was worldwide, with his column appearing in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers.
cloth / $17.95
Order No. 2624
Fighting for Equality: A Life of May Wright Sewall
Ray E. Boomhower
A biography aimed at young readers, Fighting for Equality showcases Sewall's important contributions to the history of Indianapolis, Indiana, the United States, and the world. A woman who had the "organizing touch," Sewall helped to establish such Indianapolis institutions as the Girls' Classical School, the Indianapolis Woman's Club, the Contemporary Club, the Art Association of Indianapolis (today known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art), and the Indianapolis Propylaeum.
cloth 160 pp. 2007 / ISBN 978-0-87195-253-0 / $17.95
Order No. 2675
Gus Grissom: The Lost Astronaut
Ray Boomhower
In this second volume in the Indiana Historical Society Press’s Indiana Biography Series, Hoosier historian and writer Ray E. Boomhower explores Grissom’s life, from his days as a child playing in the forests of nearby Spring Mill State Park to his service as a combat pilot flying missions against Communist opponents in the skies over Korea. He also delves into the process by which NASA selected its original seven Mercury astronauts, the jostling for position to be the first American in space, and Grissom’s near-fatal Liberty Bell 7 flight that haunted his subsequent space career.
cloth 393 pp. ISBN 0-87195-176-2 / $19.95
Order No. 2491
Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr.: A Life in History and Politics, 1855-1924
Ray Boomhower
Documenting this historian's work during the 1880s for free public libraries, enacting a new city charter, preserving the language of the Miami Indians, and ensuring the purity of the ballot box.
cloth 135 pp. 1997 / ISBN 0-87195-119-3/$24.95
Order No. 2251
The Sword and the Pen: A Life of Lew Wallace
Ray E. Boomhower
The ups and downs of Lew Wallace’s amazing days are told in this new biography for young readers. Written by award-winning Hoosier historian and author Ray E. Boomhower, The Sword and the Pen: A Life of Lew Wallace includes numerous photographs and illustrations of Wallace and the people he met and events he participated in during his lifetime.
The son of an Indiana governor, Wallace became passionate about books and combat. He tried to win lasting fame though service for the Union cause on the battlefield during the Civil War, but instead won honor and glory through a quieter pastime: writing. His novel Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ became one of the country’s best loved books and was made into two successful Hollywood films.
At various times in his life, Wallace also was a lawyer, and Indiana state senator, vice president of the court-martial that tried the conspirators behind the assassination of President Lincoln, governor of New Mexico Territory during the days of outlaw Billy the Kid, and a diplomat who represented the United States in Turkey.
Wallace dreamed always of glory and lived a life full of adventures, triumphs, and tragedies. He remains one of the most colorful and important figures in the Hoosier States history.
cloth 176 pp. 2005 / ISBN 0-87195-185-1 / $15.95
Order No. 2573
DOC: Memories from a Life in Public Service
Otis R. Bowen
Covering his medical practice, entry into local, state, and then national government, this is the first Indiana governor in the twentieth century to serve eight consecutive years.
cloth 232 pp. 2000 / ISBN 0-253-33767-4/$24.95
Order No. 2239
Benjamin Harrison
Charles W. Calhoun
"The closer one looks at Benjamin Harrison, the less he seems to fit the stereotype of Gilded Age governance. In an age when many in public life enshrined selfishness and espoused laissez-faire, Harrison believed that government had a responsibility to act for the public good. A devout Presbyterian, he held a deep conviction that both men and nations are judged by their deeds. The national government, he believed, had an obligation to pursue policies to promote economic growth and equity. In an era when most chief executives deferred to Capitol Hill, Harrison was an engaged legislative president, working closely with Congress to fashion and enact a host of landmark laws. Similary, he gave close personal attention to foreign affairs. He expanded trade, revitalized the navy, guided the country through a series of crises, and won new respect for America from foreign powers, great and small. The voters denied him reelection, but Harrison nonetheless left to his successors a glimpse of the great potential of presidential energy."
-Charles W. Calhoun
cloth 206 pp. 2005 / ISBN 0-8050-6952-6 / $20.00
Order No. 2626
Studebaker
Donald T. Critchlow
Studebaker automobiles are now history, but the company, which produced distinguished cars that still enjoy a loyal following, left a mark on community, employees, and the corporate consciousness.
cloth 228 pp. 1997 / ISBN 0-253-33065-3 / $39.95
Order No. 2188
Lincoln the Lawyer
Brian Dirck
Despite historians' focus on the man as president and politician, Abraham Lincoln lived most of his adult life as a practicing lawyer. It was as a lawyer that he fed his family, made his reputation, bonded with Illinois, and began his political career. Lawyering was also how Lincoln learned to become an expert mediator between angry antagonists, as he applied his knowledge of the law and of human nature to settle one dispute after another. Frontier lawyers worked hard to establish respect for the law and encourage people to resolve their differences without intimidation or violence. These were the very skills Lincoln used so deftly to hold a crumbling nation together during his presidency.
cloth 244 pp. 2007 / ISBN 978-0252-03181-6 / $29.95
Order No. 2705
Thomas Taggart: Public Servant, Political Boss 1856-1929
James Philip Fadely
Biography of one of Indiana's legendary political figures and most successful early entrepreneurs who came from a humble immigrant background to become one of the state's wealthiest men.
cloth 267 pp. 1997 / ISBN 0-87195-115-0 / $27.95
Order No. 2208
James Dean: Rebel with a Cause
Wes D. Gehring
For too long, Gehring argues, Dean has been totally confused with the troubled teenager he played in movies, most powerfully in the classic, Rebel with a Cause (1955). The real Dean was a hardworking actor equipped with a clear agenda for success. The biography examines how Dean consciously posed as an angst-ridden youth. “Indeed,” notes Gehring, “it was easily his greatest and most sustained acting job.”
cloth 323 pp. 2005 / ISBN 0-87195-181-9 / $19.95
Order No. 2539
Dillinger-The Untold Story
G. Russell Girardin
Previously unpublished information supplied by Dillinger's lawyer and other members of his gang. Contains many illustrations and new information.
paper 400 pp. 2005 / ISBN 0-253-21633-8 / $19.95
Order No. 2525
Historians For The Future: A History of the Indiana Junior Historical Society 1938-1998
Kendal Gladish and Hester Ann Hale
The Indiana Junior Historical Society fosters history education through a network of history clubs to explore and appreciate Indiana's history.
cloth 144 pp. 1999 / ISBN 0-87195-133-9 / $22.95
Order No. 3037
Gentlemen from Indiana: National Party Candidates,1836-1940
Ralph D. Gray, ed.
Indiana Historical Collections 50
Essays deal with twelve men who ran either for president or vice president of the United States; five were successful in their quests.
William Henry Harrison, George W. Julian, Schuyler Colfax, William H. English, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin Harrison, Charles Warren Fairbanks, John W. Kern, Thomas R. Marshall, J. Frank Hanly, Eugene V. Debs, Wendell Willkie.
cloth 338 pp. 1977 / ISBN 1-885323-28-X / $11.00
Order No. 4023
paper 338 pp. 1977 / ISBN 1-885323-29-8 / Close out $3.95
Order No. 4024
The Bill Cook Story: Ready Fire Aim
Bob Hammel
Bill Cook epitomizes the American success story. His business ventures in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, genetics, real estate, retail management, and travel services have made him a billionaire. Yet, Cook continues to lead a modest life, involving himself in a variety of philanthropic activities that have included historic preservation and even a marching band. This riveting story is the first-ever biography of the entrepreneur who, working from the spare bedroom of his Bloomington, Indiana, apartment in 1963 with a $1,500 investment, began to construct the wire guides, needles, and catheters that would become the foundation of the global multi-billion-dollar Cook Group. Biographer Bob Hammel, with extraordinary access to Cook, his files, and his associates, has created a vivid portrait of this modern, multidimensional Horatio Alger—quirky humor, widely varied interests, and all. Informative and inspiring, this book celebrates an exceptional self-made individual.
cloth 425 pp. 2008 / ISBN 978-0-253-35254-5 / $24.95
Order No. 2707
Meredith Nicholson: A Writing Life
Ralph D. Gray
The first biography on writer Meredith Nicholson (1866–1947), an important figure in Indiana's "Golden Age" of literature, which extended roughly from 1880 to 1920. He was one of the "Big Four" writers—with James Whitcomb Riley, George Ade, and Booth Tarkington—Nicholson authored twenty-eight books.
cloth 282 pp. 2007 / ISBN-978-0-87195-257-8 / $19.95
Order No. 2659
A Meredith Nicholson Reader
Ralph D. Gray
This is an introduction to the writings of one of the so-called Big Four in Indiana's Golden Age of Literature. Meredith Nicholson, however, is the least known of that quartet which includes James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington, and George S. Ade. Nicholson (1866-1947) was a talented, versatile, and remarkably prolific writer. This reader is designed to restore writings by Nicholson to bookshelves in homes, schools, and public libraries, and revive memories of the man himself in the people of the state and nation that he loved so deeply.
paper 354 pp. 2007/ISBN 978-1-4343-2151-0/ $21.99
Order No. 2676
Sherman Minton
Linda C. Gugin and James St. Clair
A remarkable public servant who held top positions in all three branches of national government from the 1930s to the 1950s.
cloth 370 pp. 1997 / ISBN 0-87195-116-9 / $29.95
Order No. 2216
On the Banks of the Wabash: The Life and Music of Paul Dresser
Clayton W. Henderson
Showcase of the rags-to-riches story of this Hoosier songwriter from Terre Haute including his life as a medicine-wagon showman, minstrel, comic actor and singer, composer, publisher, and playwright.
cloth 511 pp. 2003 / ISBN 0-87195-166-5 / $29.95
Order No. 2405
The Hudnut Years in Indianapolis 1976-1991
William H. Hudnut, III
Bill Hudnut's 16-year tenure as mayor of Indianapolis is chronicled as an insider's look at a major urban center's problems, politics, and personalities.
cloth 296 pp. 1995 / ISBN 0-253-32829-2 / $24.95
Order No. 2164
Abraham Lincoln: Portrayed in the Collections of the Indiana Historical Society
Harold Holzer
In 2003 the Indiana Historical Society, with a grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc., acquired some eight hundred items from the Jack L. Smith Graphics Collection, the entire Daniel R. Weinberg Lincoln Conspirators Collection, and the one-of-a-kind original collodion wet-plate negative of Alexander Gardner's iconic photograph of Lincoln taken only days before the 1863 Gettysburg Address. These collections were added to the some three hundred major pieces of Lincolniana, including a handwritten page from the future president's childhood sum book, which the Society already owned.
The Smith Collection includes contemporary and later images of Lincoln with his family, generals, and cabinet members. Also included are political cartoons, illustrated sheet music, and book and newspaper illustrations of the period. The Weinberg Collection consists of photographs, manuscripts, books, pamphlets, and newspapers relating to the trial and execution or imprisonment of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.
cloth 263 pp. 2006 / ISBN 978-0-87195-201-1 / $49.95
Order No. 2637
Political Warrior: the Life and Times of L. Keith Bulen
Stanley A. Huseland
“Political Warrior” tells the story of a driven, controversial, and successful Republican leader--L. Keith Bulen--who helped awaken in the 1960s a sleepy Indianapolis, regenerated the GOP, and launched such political careers as Dick Lugar, Mitch Daniels, John Mutz, Bill Ruckelshaus and Bill Hudnut. Drawing on 66 interviews with both friends and adversaries, Huseland sprinkles this exhaustive biography with more than 40 sidebar anecdotes that capture the foibles of a political leader obsessing to make a difference.
cloth 388 pp. 2006 / ISBN 0-9726273-8-3 / $30.00
Order No. 2646
Slander and Sweet Judgment: The Memoir of an Indiana Congressman
Andy Jacobs, Jr.
Outrageous sense of humor and skill as a storyteller animate this personal memoir narrative, as does a sense of righteous indignation over the buying of politics.
cloth 448 pp. 2000 / ISBN 1-57860-086-3 / $29.95
Order No. 3124
Eli Lilly: A Life, 1885-1977
James H. Madison
A man whose philanthropic gifts endowed a cultural legacy for Indiana. A business leader, and citizen of Indianapolis and Indiana.
cloth 342 pp. 1989 / SBN 0-87195-047-2 / $32.50
Order No. 2003
paper 342 / $19.95
Order No. 2597
Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy
Robert M. Owens
Owens traces Harrison's political career as secretary of the Northwest Terriroty, territorial delegate to Congress, and governor of Indiana Territory, as well as his role in military and Indian affairs. Thomas Jefferson, who was president during the first decade of the nineteenth century, found in Harrison the ideal agent to carry out his administration's ruthless campaign to extinguish Indian land titles.
cloth 311 pp. 2007 / ISBN 978-0-8061-3842-8 / $34.95
Order No. 2678
Homer E. Capehart: A Senator's Life
William Pickett
An archetypical midwestern Republican, conservative, anti-Democratic.
cloth 243 pp. 1990 / ISBN 0-87195-054-5 / $19.95
Order No. 2005
Indiana Legends: Famous Hoosiers from Johnny Appleseed to David Letterman
Nelson Price
Out sized book, illustrated with over a hundred photographs, not only relies on interviews with living Indiana legends, but also goes back in time to pick up historical and notorious Indiana legends.
cloth 273 pp. 1997 / ISBN 1-57860-006-5 / $26.95
Order No. 3105
Indiana Legends 4th edition: Famous Hoosiers from Johnny Appleseed to David Letterman
Nelson Price
While Indiana natives don’t like to brag, it’s abundantly clear that famous Hoosiers have played prominent roles in our nation’s cultural, military, and sports history. Political leaders, entertainers, sports legends, war heroes, inventors, and even notorious criminals—the great nineteenth state has been home to them all. This collection reflects the honor, acclaim, and, sometimes, notoriety garnered by notable Hoosiers. It’s a great resource for readers of all ages, students, local historians, and all those interested in Indiana achievements.
paper 336 pp. 2005 / ISBN 1-57860-186-x / $24.99
Order No. 2538
Indiana Election Returns, 1816-1851
Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough, comps.
Indiana Historical Collections 40
cloth 493 pp. 1960 / ISBN 1-885323-17-4 / $8.25
Order No. 4041
Colonel Dick Thompson: The Persistent Whig
Charles Roll
Indiana Historical Collections 30
Served as a legislator from Lawrence County, in Congress with Abraham Lincoln, and was secretary of the navy in the cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
cloth 315 pp. 1948 / ISBN 1-885323-11-5 / $10.00
Order No. 4011
Spokesman For Democracy Claude G. Bowers 1878/1958
Peter J. Sehlinger and Holman Hamilton
A man from modest beginnings whose talents, ideals, ambitions, and limitations led him to positions of prestige and influence as a journalist, orator, political advisor, historian, and diplomat.
cloth 358 pp. 2000 / ISBN 0-87195-145-2 / $29.95
Order No. 2237
Schuyler Colfax: The Changing Fortunes of a Political Idol
Willard H. Smith
Indiana Historical Collections 33
A Whig editor in South Bend, who became a congressman and vice president of the United States.
cloth 475 pp. 1952 / ISBN 1-885323-12-3 / $6.50
Order No. 4075
The House of the Singing Winds: The Life and Work of T. C. Steele
Selma N. Steele and Theodore L. Steele
T. C. Steele's life and his American Impressionism landscapes and regional art. 10 full color plates.
paper 209 pp. 1989 / ISBN 0-87195-055-3 / $18.95
Order No. 2006
Taliaferro: Breaking Barriers from the NFL Draft to the Ivory Tower
Dawn Knight, with a foreword by Tony Dungy
To prepare this book, Dawn Knight combed NCAA and NFL records and conducted numerous interviews with George Taliaferro, his family, former teammates, and Colts coach Tony Dungy. More than a biography of one individual, this is a story of historic achievement and inspiration.
cloth 193 pp. 2007 / ISBN 978-0-253-34931-6 / $24.95
Order No. 2667
Legacy of a Governor: The Life of Indiana's Frank O'Bannon
Andrew E. Stoner, Foreword by Judy O'Bannon
"I reasoned if a book was to be written about Frank, it must be researched by someone who understands the complexities of policies and sees government service as a unique calling for public service. Frank's story needed to be recounted by a person who shared Frank's commitment to servant leadership in today's world. Andrew Stoner is that writer. He felt comfortable and confident that he knew and understood Frank O'Bannon, the public and private person. He was trained and experienced in his research and his writing. The greatest strength Stoner brought to the book's creation was his ability to connect with people in the private interviews he had with family, friends and others involved over the years with Frank. His writing brought back so much that had gotten pushed aside in my mind by more current and immediate pressures. Legacy of a Governor captured quotes and revealed events and people I had never known well."
-Judy O'Bannon
paper 445 pp. 2006 / ISBN 1-60008-017-0 / $19.95
Order No. 2616
cloth 445 pp. 2006 / ISBN 1-60008-012-X / $24.95
Order No. 2617
Democratic Opposition to the Lincoln Administration in Indiana
G. R. Tredway
Indiana Historical Collections 48
The scope of this study also extends to secret societies and conspiratorial activities beyond Indiana's borders.
cloth 433 pp. 1973 / ISBN 1-885323-25-5 / $10.25
Order No. 4017
James Whitcomb Riley: A Life
Elizabeth J. Van Allen
An investigation of the overwhelming popularity of the poet at the turn of the century and his importance as a cultural figure and definer of his times.
cloth 352 pp. 1999 / ISBN 0-253-33591-4 / $29.95
Order No. 2230
Lincoln's Youth: Indiana Years, 1816-1830
Louis A. Warren
Lincoln's Indiana years are highly formative, occupying the long interval between early childhood and young manhood.
cloth 320 pp. 1959, reprinted 2002 / ISBN 0-87195-062-6 / $24.95
Order No. 2408
paper 320 pp. 1959, reprinted 2002 / ISBN 0-87195-063-4 / $16.95
Order No. 2407
"In the Public Interest" Oral Histories of Hoosier Broadcasters
LindaWeintraut and Jane R. Nolan
Features 27 oral histories drawn from over 3,000 pages of interviews from on-air personalities, support personnel, engineers, managers, and owners.
cloth 288 pp. 1999 / ISBN 0-87195-131-2 / $39.95
Order No. 2257
View from the State House: Recollections and Reflections, 1961-1965
Matthew E. Welsh
Indiana Historical Collections 54
Democrat Governor Welsh relates how he campaigned and was elected (with a separately elected Republican lieutenant governor). A valuable book for students of Indiana government and for anyone who is thinking about going into politics or government service.
cloth 290 pp. 1981 / ISBN 1-885323-55-7 / $24.95
Order No. 4091
paper 290 pp. reprint 1992 (1981) / ISBN 1-885323-32-8 / $16.95
Order No. 4092
Belief in Providence: a Life of Saint Theodora Guerin
Julie Young
A Belief in Providence: A Life of Saint Theodora Guerin, a youth biography, explores the life of the woman who would become Indiana's first saint.
cloth 198 pp. 2007/ISBN 978-0-87195-255-4/$17.95
Order No. 2640
The Life of Lincoln: Video & Interactive Group Learning Tools
Focuses on Abraham Lincoln’s life from his early days to his assassination and its aftermath. Activities include interpreting primary sources such as Lincoln photographs and political cartoons, analyzing Lincoln speeches, studying the Civil War and other research activities. 3-disk set includes 50 minute video, interactive DVD and 79 page downloadable teachers guide.
DVD 2005/$16.95
Order No. 2548
Related issues of The Indiana Historian
paper / ISSN 1071-3301 / $1.00 (1-19 copies); $.30 (20 or more copies)
Gentlemen from Indiana--The Vice Presidents
Gentlemen from Indiana--The Vice Presidents
Introduces Indiana's five vice presidents and describes a "swing state."
12 pp. 1992 / Order No. 7013
Riley on Riley
The Hoosier Poet and a superstar of his time!
16 pp. 1992 / Order No. 7031
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