IHS’s Destination Indiana Adding New Journeys
Indianapolis—The Indiana Historical Society’s Destination Indiana, part of the Indiana Experience, is sharing new historical Hoosier experiences with the addition of 13 new journeys to its programming at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center. The History Center, home of IHS and the Indiana Experience, is located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.
Destination Indiana is a facilitated, interactive opportunity for visitors to “travel through time” using innovative digital technology, touch screens and immersive displays of historic images and documents to explore and understand the story of Indiana as a place. “Journeys” make this experience possible using engaging selections from the IHS’s extensive collections that include 1.7 million photographs and tens of thousands of other archival materials such as broadsides, manuscripts, maps, printed items and sheet music.
Destination Indiana features eight “drive yourself” time-travel stations that can each hold as many as six guests. The space also includes a large-group experience that offers access to nine journeys on its 22.5-foot by 7.5-foot screen, which features twice the resolution of a 1080i high-definition television set.
Destination Indiana’s individual stations now offer 287 journeys, which include more than 3,200 images. Each station includes at least one journey for each of Indiana’s 92 counties, as well as “Indiana Stories” on subject matters such as African-American Hoosiers, the Civil War, the Ohio River, mapping the state, social justice and reform, rail transportation, agriculture and more are also explored.
The new journey topics include Evelyn Fortune Bartlett, the history of trucking in Indiana, Indiana’s Federal Courts and three of the IHS’s past You Are There experiences (1920: Busted! Prohibition Enforced, 1950: Making a Jewish Home and 1968: Robert F. Kennedy Speaks).
While journeys typically include a dozen images apiece, research often requires viewing and researching more than 20 images for each one actually used — IHS staff members have reviewed more than 41,000 items on their way to writing narratives and creating the final product. Images used in Destination Indiana are available for viewing on the IHS’s Digital Image Collections Web page, http://images.indianahistory.org, where more than 58,000 IHS digital images are currently available online.
The Indiana Experience brings both the people of the state and visitors from around the world a uniquely Indiana experience. Interactive and high-technology experiences allow the IHS to share the tremendous archival holdings of the IHS, including 1.7 million photographs, in easy, enjoyable and meaningful ways. Operating hours for the Indiana Experience are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $7 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and $5 for youth ages 5-12 (IHS members and children younger than 5 receive complimentary admission).