The volunteer experience at the State Archives is rewarding and enjoyable for the person who understands the need to preserve Indiana’s historical records and make them more accessible to the public. In 2015, dedicated volunteers contributed 6,759 hours to their projects at the Archives. Students from several other Indiana colleges and out of state universities have found the Archives a rewarding experience while serving as a volunteer intern and gaining both credit hours and/ or experience.
Since the volunteer program began in 1991, volunteers have donated over 100,000 hours to the State Archives! Volunteers have been the driving force behind the Indiana Digital Archives. Some of the records they have processed and indexed include naturalization records for 40 counties. Thanks to volunteers,land records from the Vincennes, Ft. Wayne, and LaPorte-Winamac and the Terre Haute-Crawfordsville Land Offices can be accessed through your home computer. Other new databases include the Index to the Civil War Muster Rolls, the Index to the National Guard Records 1898-1940, Indiana Veterans Home, and the United Spanish War Veterans’ Files. Institution records include those of the Department of Corrections, the Julia Work Training School, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home, and the School for the Deaf Admission Register.
Dedicated volunteers contributed 6,759 hours to their projects at the Archives. Students from several other Indiana colleges and out of state universities have found the Archives a rewarding experience while serving as a volunteer intern and gaining both credit hours and/ or experience.
Since the volunteer program began in 1991, volunteers have donated over 100,000 hours to the State Archives! Volunteers have been the driving force behind the Indiana Digital Archives. Some of the records they have processed and indexed include naturalization records for 40 counties. Thanks to volunteers,land records from the Vincennes, Ft. Wayne, and LaPorte-Winamac and the Terre Haute-Crawfordsville Land Offices can be accessed through your home computer. Other new databases include the Index to the Civil War Muster Rolls, the Index to the National Guard Records 1898-1940, Indiana Veterans Home, and the United Spanish War Veterans’ Files. Institution records include those of the Department of Corrections, the Julia Work Training School, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home, and the School for the Deaf Admission Register.
Other current projects include data entry of information from Central State Hospital admission books, County Court records, and Naturalization records. Volunteers are also working on conservation of photograph collections from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, refoldering and reboxing of early Department of Conservation files, and reorganizing Board of State Charities correspondence.
In addition to the projects listed above, the following searchable databases, created by staff and volunteers, are or soon will be available online: indexes of inmates housed at the Indiana State Prison North, the Indiana State Prison South, the Indiana Girls’ School, and the Indiana Boys’ School; foster care files from the Board of State Charities; Central State Hospital inquest records; records from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home at Knightstown; Hoosier Homestead Awards; records from the State Soldiers’ Home; trademarks registered with the Secretary of State; and State Fair photo collections. For those researchers who are interested in history beyond personal genealogy, Governor Oliver P. Morton’s Civil War telegraph correspondence is also available online.
Friends of the Indiana State Archives 