Repository:Indiana State Library

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The Indiana State Library and Historical Bureau is a public library building, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the largest public library in the state of Indiana, housing over 60,000 manuscripts. Established in 1934, the library has gathered a large collection of books on a vast variety of topics.

From web page: The Indiana State Library was established in 1825 to provide library services to Indiana’s state governmental officials and employees. Since that time, the responsibilities of the State Library have expanded to provide services to all citizens of Indiana. Just as the Library of Congress serves as the historical repository for our nation, the State Library is responsible for collecting and preserving all types of information and data about the state of Indiana. There is an online catalog .

Collections

Genealogy Collection The Genealogy Collection has developed over time to become one of the largest collections of family history information in the Midwest. The collection includes 40,000 printed items (family histories, indexes to records, how-to books, cemetery transcriptions, family history magazines, and more) as well as microfilmed federal census records, Indiana county records, passenger lists, and military pension information. The collection includes hundreds of CDs with family history information. The emphasis of the collection is on Indiana and bordering states, as well as eastern and southern states. There are online searches available for many of these collections.

Indiana Collection The Indiana Collection includes current and historical materials on Indiana for use in the Indiana State Library. We hold over 70,000 books, including histories, biographies, directories, magazines and newsletters, atlases, state documents, and works of fiction by Indiana authors. Our collections also contain over 50,000 pamphlets, and more than 11,000 maps, as well as nearly three million manuscripts, hundreds of photographs, sheet music, and broadsides. The newspaper collection contains over 80,000 reels of microfilmed Indiana newspapers, as well as original Indiana newspapers from the 1800s. We carry nearly 150 subscriptions to newspapers from around Indiana. The majority of the materials in the Indiana Collection must be used within the Indiana State Library.

In addition, the Collection has specialized card indexes for researching Indiana, including the Indiana Biography Index, the Indianapolis Newspapers Index (dating from 1898 through 1991), and indexes to its manuscript collections and image collections. Many of these indexes and databases are available online; others will be made online within the next few years.

Manuscripts & Rare Books The Manuscript Section holds over 3 million manuscripts, dating from the earliest years of the state through contemporary times, from over 4,400 different collections. All collections have an Indiana connection, whether the papers are from an Indiana soldier, missionary, church, organization, or business.

Among the collection's strengths are Civil War-era letters and diaries, family papers, and the papers of many political figures from the Hoosier state. Anyone may use the materials housed in the Manuscripts Section.