The Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Historical Bureau are collaborating on a major project to gather in one place copies of original documents and research materials relating to Indiana's constitutional history. The first phase will make documents and transcriptions that led to Indiana statehood in 1816 available and fully searchable on the Web. Sources for the original documents include the National Archives and Records Administration, the Indiana State Archives, the Indiana State Library, and the Library of Congress.
A major goal of the collection is to make this historical information available for use, especially by the legal profession and educators and students at all levels.
The IU Indianapolis University Library has digitized and organized the material to make it user-friendly and fully searchable and serves as the host for this Web-based material. The documents and transcriptions also will be available through the Indiana Historical Bureau Web site and the Indiana Courts' "Courts in the Classroom" Web site.
The project will continue to trace Indiana's constitutional history with material from 1816 through the 1850-1851 constitutional convention and the resulting constitution, which governs Indiana today. The Collection will include the 1851 convention, journal and reports and debates, as well as the four volumes of the Indiana Historical Bureau's Constitution Making in Indiana. Future additions will include publications about constitutional issues and other materials to enhance the educational value of the Collection.
This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.