(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indiana State Archives is now open by appointment only.
You can schedule an appointment by emailing arc@iara.in.gov, or by calling 317-591-5222 and pressing 2 for the front desk. Masks are required in state government buildings per Governor Holcomb’s Executive Order 20-35.
Archivists will socially distance with patrons who choose to research in person. Archivists will also sanitize tables and equipment before and after patron use.
You can use the same email and phone number if you’d prefer that a reference archivist remotely assist you.
Visit the Digital Archives to search for names in our indexed records, including naturalization and military records.
Learn more about our collections and utilize the Research Indiana Catalog to search our entire catalog from home.
Notable Recent Accessions
- Photographs from Larue Carter Hospital (accession #s 2020169, 2020158, 2020157, 2020156)
- Early records from Shelby County, including tax duplicates, assessment records, and enumerations. These records have been in the Records Center for several years and were recently accessioned (accession #s 2020150, 2020149, 2020148).
- Records from Judge John G. Baker, who served on the Indiana Court of Appeals from 1998 to 2020. Major topics include continuing education efforts, judicial merit selection, new judicial building plans, and trial court reform. (accession # 2020143)
Processing and Projects Underway
- Ports Commission
- Correspondence from the Indiana State Prison
- Department of Natural Resources records about the Works Progress Administration
- Attorney General Correspondence and Unofficial Opinions
- Digitizing historic aerial photographs in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Transportation
Other News
- The Indiana Geographic Information Council recently received a Heritage Support Grant from the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc. to continue their Indiana Historical Land Survey Documents Online Project. The principal investigators on the project have been researching and digitizing General Land Office field notes for years at the Indiana State Archives. Their research inquiries also led to the identification of an additional trove of field notes at the State Archives in 2019. This grant will allow them to continue and expand this important work on digitizing primary sources about how Indiana’s political boundaries took shape. The records also contain important information about Indiana geography and indigenous settlements in the early 19th century. You can explore more about the project at the Historical Land Survey Documents Pilot Project on Story Map.
- Just before the pandemic, the Indiana State Museum opened a new exhibit in February on the opioid crisis. Included in the exhibit are a couple of documents from the State Archives that chronicle two Civil War veterans’ struggles with opioid addiction. If you haven’t seen the exhibit yet, make a plan to visit the State Museum.
