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Moment of Indiana History

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Historical postcard illustration of the brick building at the Vigo County Poor Farm in Terre Haute, Indiana
Early Stitches In The Safety Net
A number of factors brought people to the doors of the poorhouse, including sickness and age, abusive relationships, and the vagaries of agricultural work.
  • A black and white photograph showing a scene from the 1929 movie Applause directed by Rouben Mamoulian, featuring several showgirls performing on a raised stage before a seated theater audience.
    Will H. Hays: Hollywood’s Moral Compass
    As films became increasingly risqué in the Roaring 20s, Hollywood attempted to preempt governmental intervention with a self-regulating system, the Hays Code.
  • Book cover of Mythology by Edith Hamilton, featuring a man riding a winged horse against a black background.
    Edith Hamilton: A Mythical Hoosier
    Although she never wrote down to her readers, Fort Wayne's classicist wrote for what would today be called a “popular” audience.
  • Historic Brunerstown one-room schoolhouse in Putnam County, Indiana, a single-story wood-frame building with horizontal clapboard siding, a gable roof, and tall side windows, childhood school of U.S. Senator Elmer Thomas.
    The Hoosier Boyhood Of A U.S. Senator
    During his career in the U.S. Congress, Thomas became known as an advocate for working men and women—his empathy no doubt informed by his own Indiana boyhood.

"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 Wednesday and Saturday.

  • A historic 1895 black and white photograph depicting a group of transient men gathered at a 'hobo jungle' encampment in a wooded area, sitting on the ground while sharing a midday meal.
    A Summer Spent Riding The Rails
    A restless teenager spent the summer of 1936 as a temporary hobo, riding the Monon line through Indiana en route to the Texas Centennial Exposition.
  • A historic black-and-white photograph of sexologist Alfred Kinsey wearing a bowtie, sitting on stone steps outside with two male members of his research team.
    A Thoroughly Modern Marriage Course
    By the second lecture, it was clear to students and administrators that Kinsey would not tolerate the vague moralizings of other colleges' "marriage courses".
  • Woodburn Hall building in Collegiate Gothic style on the Indiana University Bloomington campus during autumn
    A Fledgling Historian Takes On Reconstruction
    Just as interesting as the speeches future historian James Woodburn gave in his undergraduate debate club at IU are the texts he wrote but never delivered.
  • A Victorian-era French fashion plate from Journal des Demoiselles depicting two women: one on the left in a voluminous pink evening gown with ruffled hems, and a bride on the right wearing an ornate white wedding dress, bridal veil, and floral headpiece.
    A Society Wedding In Early Indianapolis
    A letter written from Indianapolis in June 1840 suggests that weddings of the rich and famous were as eagerly anticipated almost two centuries ago as today.
  • Vintage 4th of July postcard featuring a large eagle with outstretched wings perched on a red-and-white striped cannon barrel with a blue, star-patterned base. Billowing smoke forms the text '4th of July Greeting' on the left.
    Political Suicide On The Fourth Of July
    A well-respected lawyer was almost run out of Salem, Indiana for a Fourth of July address advocating for a property tax increase to support public education.
  • Black and white photograph of author and Civil War general Lew Wallace sitting in a rocking chair on a wooden platform outdoors, writing under a large beech tree.
    The Athens Of Indiana
    Although Lew Wallace put Crawfordsville on the map with Ben-Hur, most books written in the city's literary heyday are now found only in antiquarian bookstores.
  • Dedication ceremony, Indianapolis Senate Avenue YMCA, 1913. George Knox, one of the founders of the branch, stands at the far left; to his right are Madam C. J. Walker, Freeman B. Ransom (attorney for the Walker company), special guest Booker T. Washington, Alexander Manning (editor of Colored World newspaper), Dr. Joseph H. Ward, R. W. Bullock (secretary of the Louisville YMCA), and Thomas Taylor (Senate Avenue secretary).
    Faburn DeFrantz: A Lifetime Of Leadership For Racial Progress
    “Little progress ‘happens’," stated Faburn DeFrantz. "Usually it must be wrested from influences that—either belligerently or indifferently—deny it.”
  • 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.

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.