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A Moment of Indiana History. A painting titled A June Idyl Canvas by T.C. Steele is in the background. Two of his children are depicted sitting in a forest
Moment of Indiana History

"Moment of Indiana History" was a weekly two-minute radio program exploring Indiana History. The series was a production of WFIU Public Radio in partnership with the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS).

The program began as a co-production of WFIU, Bloomington, and WBAA, West Lafayette as a module to air on IPBS radio stations. From 2007 to 2014, the series was produced by WFIU for broadcast by IPBS stations as well as other entities interested in Indiana history. Now being re-released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

A vintage wooden wall-mounted telephone with a crank handle hangs on a red textured wall next to a white door frame.
Tin Cans Strung Across The Cornfield
In the 1910s and 1920s, many farmers created their town small telephone systems.
A black and white photograph depicting a group of approximately twenty women seated around a long dining table, likely in the early 20th century. The women are having a meal, with various dishes, glassware, and food items visible on the white tablecloth. The setting appears to be an indoor dining hall or large room, possibly at a hotel or school.
Fluffy Chetworth
A Sunday School Spectacular
A miniature scene featuring a vintage green and white garbage truck with a small figure of a sanitation worker loading a trash can into the back of the vehicle.
Talking Trash in Jasper
  • The interior of a small, old, country church features rows of simple, yellow-painted wooden pews leading down a central wooden aisle toward a simple altar area. A black cross is mounted on the white wall above the wooden pulpit
    Pulpit or Politics: An Indiana Minister In Congress
    When Gilbert De La Matyr began to preach currency reform and condemn capital, he was accused in the press and by many in the church of communism.
  • A book cover spread for "Riley Child-Rhymes" by James Whitcomb Riley. The left page features an illustration of an older woman telling a story to two children in a rustic room. The right page displays the title, author, illustrator (Will Vawter), and publisher (The Bobbs-Merrill Company) information.
    Picturing Little Orphant Annie
    It was Will Vawter's introduction in 1893 to poet James Whitcomb Riley that would put Vawter’s art in the public eye.
  • A black and white photo of a Conestoga wagon in a field, pulled by a team of horses. Two men are visible, one riding a horse and the other seated on the front of the wagon. The wagon has a large canvas cover and is a type of heavy, covered wagon used in the 18th and 19th centuries.
    Lutheran Ministers on the Frontier
    A German-speaking family moving from Pennsylvania or Ohio to Indiana would have had great difficulty finding a Lutheran church in the 1830s.
  • A vintage black and white postcard shows a large industrial complex with several tall smokestacks and cylindrical structures on the waterfront. The foreground is a body of water with a shoreline. The text at the bottom of the image reads, "The New Blasting Furnace on the Lake Front, Indiana Harbor Ind."
    At Home with the Captains of Industry
    The economic, social, and racial lines drawn in Indiana Harbor held firm for many decades after Inland Steel constructed its first mill on Lake Michigan.
  • A red brick building with multiple towers and a central dome. The building has a Romanesque Revival architectural style and was formerly the Central Avenue United Methodist Church.
    The Second Life of an Indianapolis Landmark
    As demographic change altered the landscape of downtown Indianapolis, the church that had housed Indiana's largest Methodist congregation faced demolition.
  • A faded and creased handwritten letter on a single sheet of paper. The handwriting is in cursive. In the middle of the page, there is a printed illustration of a woman in a classical robe, holding a banner that says "UNION FOREVER" and standing on a base that says "AMERICA."
    A Shifting Role on the Civil War Homefront
    Women on the Civil War home front spent the war years occupied with matters outside the boundaries of what was then considered “women’s work”.
  • A close-up photograph of an antique map of Indiana, dated 1826. The map is folded and shows the state's boundaries and internal divisions
    Mapping the Frontier
    Gazetteers helped lure settlers westward into the towns of Indiana and other frontier states and gave them concrete information about their destinations.
  • An illustration titled "The Joys of the Free Highway" by G. Wright from 1907. It depicts a family next to an early automobile in a snowy landscape with a large building in the background.
    An Avant-Garde Electric Car
    Gasoline propulsion claimed the day, and by 1914 the Waverley Electric car went out of production. Turns out, the vehicle was a century ahead of its time.
  • A black and white photograph shows a group of American Red Cross volunteers and soldiers gathered around a "Clubmobile" during World War II
    Soldiers’ Solace: Clubmobile Women During World War II
    Clubmobile women did more than hand out coffee and doughnuts. Their most important job was to listen to soldiers' fears, frustrations, and hurts.
  • A weathered wooden building with a window and a door, a rustic wooden fence in the foreground, and a light dusting of snow on the ground.
    A Subtle Celebration
    Christmas in pioneer Indianapolis was a private and almost invisible holiday.

A Moment of Indiana History is a production of WFIU Public Radio in partnership with the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations. Research support comes from Indiana Magazine of History published by the Indiana University Department of History.