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Hamilton County Historical Society

The Hamilton County Historical Society was founded in 1963 as a not for profit educational institution created to collect, preserve and interpret the history of Hamilton County, Indiana. The Society has endeavored to promote historical awareness in the communities within one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, through tours of the museum, brochures, their newsletter and personal recollections recorded by the members of the society. The society runs the Hamilton County Museum of History on Courthouse Square in Noblesville. It is housed in the Old Sheriff’s Residence and Jail, which was built in 1875-1876 and served as the county jail until 1977. The Hamilton County Historical Society has restored the interior and developed the museum for the public to visit and enjoy.

Hamilton East Public Library

The Hamilton East Public Library currently serves the four southeastern townships of Hamilton County, Indiana with buildings in Noblesville and Fishers. The first library in Noblesville was supported by the Working Men's Association and opened in 1856, and the first township library was opened in 1883. In 1913, a Carnegie Library opened with about 4,000 books. The current Noblesville Library was built in 1986 and the Fishers Library in 1993 with major renovations to both concluded in 2005. In 2008, over 2 million items were circulated. The Indiana Room is located on the second floor of the Noblesville Library and houses a special collection dedicated to preserving and providing local and state history, genealogy and family history.

James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home

As the nation's only late-Victorian preservation open to the public, the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home in downtown Indianapolis is a window not only into another era, but also into the personal life of the famed "Hoosier Poet," James Whitcomb Riley. The home showcases many of Riley's personal belongings, including his top hat and cane, a portrait of his beloved dog, Lockerbie, and the desk where he wrote Little Orphant Annie and some of his most famous poems.

The Riley Museum Home is owned and operated by the Riley Children's Foundation. Visit www.RileyKids.org.

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) is Columbia’s principal repository for primary source collections.  The range of collections in RBML span more than 4,000 years and comprise rare printed works, cylinder seals, cuneiform tablets, papyri, and Coptic ostraca; medieval and renaissance manuscripts; as well as art and realia.  Some 500,000 printed books and 14 miles of manuscripts, personal papers, and records form the core of the RBML holdings.  One can find literary manuscripts from the 14th century to the papers of authors Herman Wouk and Erica Jong.  Archives as varied as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Random House, NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International-USA, and the archives of Columbia University are available for research.  The history of printing, graphic arts, and the performing arts are strengths of RBML.

School of Liberal Arts

The IUPUI School of Liberal Arts strives to create and exchange knowledge that promotes understanding of the human experience. The school contributes to the social, cultural and economic development of the state by fostering life-long learning. IUPUI University Library has collaborated with the School of Liberal Arts to digitize older issues of the Saoirse Irish Freedom newspaper which were previously unavailable online.

Hamilton County Surveyor's Office

Originally entitled Hamilton County in 1900: Through a Young Person's Lens, this collection includes the photographs of Earl Brooks (1883-1968), who acquired a camera as a young man and took pictures between approximately 1897 and 1904 of friends, teachers, the countryside and events in central Indiana, California, Kentucky and Ohio. Photographs of the Hamilton County Township Schools taken between 1892 and 1909 are also included.

Carmel Clay Historical Society

The Carmel Clay Historical Society (CCHS) was formed in 1975 by a group of local residents as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration and dedicated the study of Carmel and Clay Township’s history. That same year the City of Carmel gave the historic 1883 Monon Railroad Depot to the society, which it maintains today as a museum of local history.

Jewish Post and Opinion

The Indiana Jewish Post & Opinion is a biweekly newspaper available by subscription.  Gabriel M. Cohen (1908-2007) began publishing a Kentucky edition of the newspaper in 1930 and founded the Indiana edition 5 years later.  The National Jewish Post & Opinion premiered in 1948.  Subscribers to the national edition come from all over the United States, Canada, and Israel, with a few international subscribers.

Indianapolis Recorder

What began as a two-page church bulletin by co-founders George Pheldon Stewart and William H. Porter, the Indianapolis Recorder is now one of the top African-American publications in the nation. Established in 1897, the Indianapolis Recorder focused on local people and events in Indianapolis but also reported national events.

Butler University

Dr. Ray C. Friesner, Professor and Chair of the Botany Department, 1920-1952. Many students and other Butler faculty have contributed plants through the years.  The specimens, with their carefully documented labels, comprise a reference library on historical distribution, habitats, and timing of flower and fruit production.