Resources for Educators

The following is an archived post from the IHB blog Marking Hoosier History.

May 20, 2013 | Featured Posts, Researching Hoosier History |

IHB has been doing Indiana History for nearly 100 years.  We’ve gone from one-page newsletters to multi-volume publications and now to digital resources.  It can all be a little overwhelming.

Recently, IHB decided to share research with the public in a new way.  We’ve begun blogging here at Marking Hoosier History, sharing tips for research and our own research stories as we produce State Historical Markers and other Indiana History resources.

Thanks to a collaboration with Ball State University’s Computer Science department, we also just introduced the Marking Hoosier History Timeline tool.  IHB staff keep detailed digital timelines with citations as we research.  This timeline tool will allow us to make public the citations and research summaries we’ve been gathering. The tool also gives you and your students the chance to search, scroll through, and copy some of the information we have on file in our downtown Indianapolis office to further your research.  The data searchable in the tool is limited, but growing each month as we add new research files.  Try it here.

The For Educators page on our official website houses some of the IHB resources most commonly used by classroom teachers, including:

• Free digital downloads of two of our most popular print resources for the classroom, The Indiana Historian and BROADSIDES.  Each issue of The Indiana Historian is devoted to a single topic in Indiana history and is a great jumping off point for students beginning to learn about a topic.  BROADSIDES makes reproductions of primary source materials from Indiana history available for students and teachers to use across the curriculum and includes a resource guide with context, activity instruction, timelines, maps and more.
• Prezi presentations with accompanying lesson plans that explain primary and secondary sources and how they are used.
• Lesson plans, timelines, and bibliographies for Abraham Lincoln, The Civil War, and other topics relating to Indiana History.

For those who wish to dig deeper, most IHB resources can be modified for classroom use.  Here are just a few suggestions:

• IHB’s Research Checklist, which our staff use for producing accurate text for historical markers, is available online and is a great tool for any researcher, regardless of skill level, when beginning a research project or class paper.
• Materials produced to help applicants for a State Historical Marker are also useful for students.  Leading Questions help kick start a research project, and Start Your Research has videos and links to walk a new researcher through the process and guide them to relevant local resources for help.
• Our Essays on Indiana and the Civil War are appropriate for older students.
• Emblems & Symbols offers younger students resources to learn about their state flower, bird, song, etc.
• Use the primary source documents in Indiana Documents Leading to Statehood to enhance your discussion of early Indiana history.
• Participate in your region’s Indiana State Historical Marker Inventory or repair a historical marker as a class.
• Have students choose an important local individual or place for a research project, using State Historical Markers to guide their research.  Find markers in your county to get started.
• Reinforce local history topics by having students summarize them in the limited space of an historical marker (about 365 characters and spaces per side).  Download a blank marker worksheet.

And finally, don’t forget the IHB Book Shop, located at our office on the first floor of the Indiana State Library.  For classrooms that haven’t gone all-digital, back issues of The Indiana Historian and copies of BROADSIDES are still available in print format while supplies last.  The IHB Book Shop specializes in Indiana’s history and natural heritage as well as the works of Indiana authors and Indiana souvenirs and products made here in the Hoosier State.  Educators receive a generous 20% discount.  We’re working on expanding our selection of books for children, young adults, and educators.  We’d love to hear your suggestions for Indiana-related books and other products that we should consider adding to the shop!