Peoples of Indiana
Indianapolis Italians
James J. Divita
In 1910, Indianapolis had the smallest foreign stock population of any city north of the Ohio River, and city historians merely ignored the presence of the ethnic communities. In the 1920s, the Hoosier capital supposedly lacked a cosmopolitan character, and the Ku Klux Klan gloried in the slogan "100% American." However, the size of a community does not indicate its significance in municipal life. Rather, immigrants and their descendants make a difference because of their talents and available local opportunities.
Residents of Italian origin have contributed mightily to Indianapolis's economy, culture, and professional and religious life. The first to arrive were the Sicilians who developed the city's fruit and vegetable trade and the Friulani who engaged in terrazzo-mosaic tile work. Early immigrants became grocers, shoemakers, tailors, and barbers. Later, primarily after World War II, many American-born of Italian descent moved into Indianapolis, excelling in business and professional fields, including law, medicine, and education. The community has continued to grow, adding to its numbers the Italian-born but married to American military or engaged in skilled labor in carpentry, tailoring, salesmanship, and food preparation.
paper 127 pp. ISBN 0-7385-4095-1 / $19.99
Order No. 2628
The Irish
William W. Giffin
The history of the Irish in Indiana is intricately woven into the fabric of the state’s history. The Irish first arrived in Indiana along with the fur traders in the 1700s. In the 1800s many Irish immigrants struggled to create new lives as the built Indiana’s early canals, roads, and railroads. As Indiana progressed, so did the Irish. Today, Hoosiers of Irish origin can be found in all facets of Indiana society from business and medicine to law and politics. From humble beginnings, Indiana’s Irish have become an integral part of the state’s tapestry while continuing to celebrate their Celtic past.
paper 137 pp. ISBN 0-87195-193-2/$13.95
Order No. 2593
Hoosiers All: What does it mean to be a Hoosier?
Indiana Historical Society
Video program focusing on the ethnic groups, past and present, that settled Indiana. Kit contains a 27-minute videocassette and an 11-page teacher's guide.
VHS 1998/ISBN 0-87195-126-6/$19.95
Order No. 2282
Hoosiers All: What does it mean to be a Hoosier?
Indiana Historical Society
Explores the question"What does it mean to be a Hoosier?" and examines major themes in Indiana history through four visual essays that feature students telling their family stories. Kit contains a 32-minute VHS videocassette, a 25-page teacher's guide, 2 color posters, and a CD-ROM & guide.
VHS 2000/ISBN 0-87195-150-9/$49.95
Order No. 2370
Amish Life: Living Plainly and Serving God
Darryl D. Jones
In Indiana’s Amish country, families work, play, and worship much as they have since they arrived in the 1800s. Here there are few modern day conveniences to distract people from the important tasks of living plainly and serving their God. In this lovely book, well known photographer Darryl D. Jones captures the spirit of the Amish people, their land, and their daily lives.
cloth 128 pp. 2005/ISBN 0-253-34594-4/$29.95
Order No. 2536
Amish Style: Clothing, Home Furnishing, Toys, Dolls, and Quilts
Kathleen McLary
A fascinating glimpse of the Amish, a religiously-focused community, as seen in the artifacts of their daily lives, including clothing, home furnishings, toys, dolls, and quilts.
cloth 103 pp. 1993/ISBN 0-253-33622-8/$39.95
Order No. 2204
An Amish Patchwork: Indiana’s Old Orders in the Modern World
Thomas J. Meyers and Steven M. Nolt
Indiana is home to the world’s third largest Amish population. This contemporary portrait of Indiana’s Amish is the first book length overview of Amish in the state.
paper 205 pp.2005/ ISBN 0-253-21755-5/$19.95
Order No. 2537
Shipshewana: An Indiana Amish Community
Dorothy O. Pratt
While most books about the Amish focus on the Pennsylvania settlements or on the religious history of the sect, this book is a cultural history of one Indiana Amish community and its success in resisting assimilation into the larger culture. Founded in 1841, Shipshewana benefited from LaGrange County's relative isolation. As Pratt shows, this isolation was key to the community's success. The Amish were able to develop a stable farming economy and a social structure based on their own terms. Crisis and abuse from the outer world have tended only to confirm the desire of the Amish to remain a people apart, and lends a special poignancy to this engrossing tale of resistance to the modern world.
cloth 209 pp. 2004/ISBN 0-253-34518-9/$29.95
Order No. 2485
The Germans in Indianapolis 1840-1918
George Theodore Probst
The history of Germans in Indianapolis revised and illustrated by Eberhard Reichmannin 1989.
paper 212 pp. 1929 revised 1989/$16.00
Order No. 2393
German Settlers of South Bend
Gabrielle Robinson
The predominant immigrant group from the 1840s to the 1870s, the Germans helped build South Bend from an isolated trading post into a thriving industrial city. They also played a key role in transforming the surrounding wilderness into rich and fertile farmland.
Voices of America series from Arcadia Press.
paper 128 pp. 2003/ISBN 0-7385-2340-2 /$19.99
Order No. 2445
Middletown Jews: The Tenuous Survival of an American Jewish Community
Dan Rottenberg and Dwight W. Hoover, eds.
Oral narratives of the Jewish experience in Muncie, Indiana, accompanied by 23 black and white photographs.
paper 142 pp. 1997/ISBN 0-253-33243-5/$12.95
Order No. 2317
New Faces at the Crossroads: The World in Central Indiana
John Sherman, text
Jeffrey A. Wolin, photographs & interviews
Until recently, central Indiana has not truly reflected the sheer diversity of races, religions, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds of the rest of the world. In recent decades and especially in the first years of the 21st century, however, cities, towns, and rural areas of the central portion of the Hoosier state have welcomed an increasing number of new residents who constitute a surprisingly broad and diverse cross section of world citizens.
To capture and celebrate these changes, New Faces at the Crossroads features portraits of 30 recent newcomers from around the world by award-winning photographer Jeffrey A. Wolin, accompanied by stories of why they came to the area and their perspectives on living there. Together with John Sherman's text describing changes and additions to the region's population, these striking photographs show that central Indiana is no longer just the Crossroads of America: It is the crossroads of the world.
cloth 96 pp. 2007/ISBN 978-0-253-35068-8/$29.95
Order No. 2670
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