JASPER — Local history buffs and genealogists now have expanded, searchable digital access to the rich history of Dubois County. The Jasper-Dubois County Public Library has partnered with the Indiana State Library to host two comprehensive digital collections on the state’s premier digital repository, Indiana Memory.
The collections, titled Photographs of Dubois County and The Wilson Historical Notes on Dubois County, preserve thousands of primary documents and images spanning from the late 18th century through the 20th century.
To improve the user experience for online researchers, library staff recently completed a massive infrastructure project to update the metadata for these volumes, making the archives significantly more searchable for specific names, dates, and local landmarks.
Photographs of Dubois County
This massive visual archive features more than 1,700 images dating from the mid-19th to the 20th centuries. The collection serves as a visual time capsule covering virtually all aspects of the county’s social and economic evolution.
Online researchers can browse through an extensive catalog of:
- Community Groups: Individual portraits, family group photos, and local lodge memberships.
- Local Infrastructure: Vintage postcards, historic businesses, local churches, and old school buildings.
- Daily Life & Media: Highlights of student life, library branches, and local newspaper clippings featuring historic sports matches, obituaries, and general interest articles.
- Town Spotlights: Specific municipal photo galleries capturing the early days of Birdseye, Ferdinand, Huntingburg, and Jasper.
The Wilson Historical Notes on Dubois County
For those digging deeper into ancestral records, this collection contains a 23-volume series of historical indexes compiled during the 1920s and 1930s by George Wilson. Wilson, a prominent local historian of the era, authored several foundational books tracking Dubois County and its early settlers.
The extensive volumes cover life from the late 1700s to the dawn of the 1900s. Thanks to the library’s recent metadata overhaul, users can efficiently cross-reference these detailed volumes, which are cleanly arranged by topic and family name, capturing early pioneer life, land records, and civic development.
Indiana Memory is a statewide collaboration hosted by the Indiana State Library. It serves as a unified digital gateway, compiling and preserving historical collections from libraries, museums, and historical societies across all 92 Indiana counties into a single, freely searchable database.
Both collections are free to the public and can be accessed from any home computer or mobile device by searching for the library’s landing page on the Indiana Memory portal.
Residents, students working on school projects, or genealogists seeking specific family records can contact the Jasper-Dubois County Public Library for further information, research assistance, or tips on navigating the new search features.
