The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-26
EARLY INDIANA HISTORY.

The Indiana Historical Society has re-
Gently published volume of much historic
value and interest. Comparatively few
persons know of the existence of this So
ciety, even by name yet it is one of the
oldest voluntary organizations in the State.
The minutes OF the meeting at which it was
organized state that AT a large and re-
spectacle meeting of the members of the
General Assembly and citizens of the State
and town of Indianapolis, convened at the
courthouse on Saturday evening, the 18th of
December, 1880, for the purpose of taking
into consideration the expediency of form
ing an historical society for the State of
Indiana, Mr.. William Graham, of Jackson
county, was invited to the chair and Mr..
H. p. Thornton, Of Washington county, ap-
pointed secretary" In 1880, when this meet
ing was held, three-fourths of the original
donation or town site Of Indianapolis re-
manned unsold. The courthouse in which
the meeting was held had been built in 1924
at a cost of $4,000, on the site occupied by
the present one, and was surrounded by
primitive forest trees. The meeting adopt
ed a constitution, which was signed by a
large number of persons, including James
Whitcomb, David Wallace, Isaac Blackford,
jeremiah Sullivan, Calvin Fletcher Noah
Noble Samuel Merrill, John Law Austin
w. Morris, James Rariden, oliver H. Smith
and many others then or afterwards prom
inent in the history of the State. The OBJ
ject of the society was to collect and pre-
serve materials relating to the history and
growth OF the State, and, while it has not
accomplished as much as it might have
done in this direction, it has done some
good work. In all new communities the
work of collecting and preserving ma
terials for local history is apt to be neg
lected until it becomes very difficult, and
even when begun it is apt to be prosecuted
in rather desultory manner That was
the case with the Indiana Historical So
ciety. During the early years of it's exist
ence, when the most might have been &C
compished on the lines of it's organization,
comparatively little was done. It's mem
bers were for the most part too busy MAX
ing history to give much thought to the
work of collecting or preserving historical
materials From 1885 to 1912 the society did
meetings, electing members or honorary
members and adopting resolutions in favor
of doing something. It's period of greatest
activity was during the period while the
late John B. Dillon, author of an excellent
History of Indiana was secretary. Sew
eral attempts were made to revive interest
in the objects of the society, but they were
only partially successful until about ten
years ago, when Reorganization was eff
fected and new interest was shown. Since
then the society has held regular meetings
and issued some valuable publications in
the form of monographs and bound vol
umes One of the latter, just published by
the Bowen-Merrill Company, contains the
proceedings of the society from 1880 to 1886
and several papers of much interest
tional Decline of the Miami Indians" de-
livered by John B. Dillon in 184S, and one
on the EARLY History of Indianapolis and
Central Indiana" delivered by Nathaniel
Bolton in 1853. Both of these addresses are
full of interesting matter, and other papers
toric value. The compilation of the con-
tents of the volume could only. have been
made with much patience and labor, and
the active officers of the society are deserv-
ing of great credit for the work It will be
valuable addition to any public library
and a desirable possession for all who are
interested in the early history of the State.