History

History

Learn about Indiana's past in these films featuring historic figures and places. This featured collection has been graciously sponsored by Conner Prairie.

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History
  • Our Story: Once The Doors Opened

    Movie

    "Our Story" chronicles the first Black students admitted to the University of Evansville from 1934-1949 after Black students were forbidden to attend the college for 80 years. Prior to 1934, the University of Evansville (UE) along with many other colleges in the United States, did not admit black...

  • Everlasting Light: The Story of Indiana’s Bicentennial Torch Relay

    Movie

    Working in partnership with the Indiana Office of Tourism Development and guided by TCOM lecturer Chris Flook, two teams of students traveled through 260 cities and all 92 Indiana counties documenting the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay.

  • A Legacy Etched in Glass: The Ball Brothers in Muncie

    Movie

    This film examines the lives of the five brothers, the family legacy in Muncie and the core values that propelled them to success: hard work, philanthropy, entrepreneurship and beneficence.

  • Stories and Legends: Historic Preservation in Muncie, Indiana

    Movie

    Explore historic preservation while tracing the efforts to restore structures in several of Muncie's nationally recognized historic districts, including the hospital where bank robber John Dillinger stayed (Whitney Hospital), former headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan (Over House), an old railway st...

  • White River Lenape

    Movie

    Telling the story of the Lenape people and their impact on east central Indiana.

  • Saboteur

    Movie

    Saboteur explores the early life of Gabriel DeLobbe, a current Fort Wayne resident who was a Belgian resistance fighter during the Second World War. DeLobbe was only 14 years old in 1940 when the Nazis invaded his hometown of Charleroi. By the time he was 18, DeLobbe was sabotaging German supply ...

  • Not Pictured

    From the Quarry, to the Fieldhouse, to the battlefield: a lost Hoosier name comes home to Assembly Hall.

  • Big Enough, Small Enough - South Bend in Transition

    South Bend is haunted by deep wounds in the city’s past while grappling with its fragile future. For more than 50 years after Studebaker closed it has struggled to determine its identity, but it is beginning to change rapidly. What type of place is South Bend to South Benders in 2020? Rustbelt ci...

  • A Stone's Pace

    Movie

    Indiana Limestone can be found all over the country. It is known for its uniqueness and beauty and has been turned into some of the most stunning works of architectural mastery. But, many people really know what goes on in those big mills found in the Stone Belt.

    A Stone's Pace takes a look bey...

  • Black Baseball in Indiana

    Movie

    Black Baseball in Indiana is a documentary film celebrating the history of African American involvement in segregated professional baseball (1880s-1950s).

    The film features interviews with Negro Leagues players and historians telling the unsung stories of the Indianapolis ABCs, Indianapolis Clo...

  • Vital Passage: A Holocaust Rescue Story

    Movie

    ‘Vital Passage’ chronicles a pair of midwestern Jewish merchants’ amazing story as they risked their business and livelihood to provide a vital passage for German Jews to escape the Holocaust and come to America.

    For 85 years (1906 through 1991) Plaut’s Dry Goods store was a fixture on Goshen’s ...

  • The Legend of Stan Bowman

    Movie

    Stan Bowman was raised and grew up in Little York, Indiana in the southern part of the state. In 1962 Stan Bowman was a 32 year on rookie sprint car race driver who be came an instant star.

    In 1962, he won, as a rookie in his first official USAC race, a major race at Eldora Speedway defeating s...

  • Fleeing Silesia

    Movie

    By the end of World War II, nearly all the 4.5 million people from the state of Silesia, Germany were interned in camps, had fled, or were expelled from their home, which today only exists in the memories of those who survived.