A Pierceton view looking west on First Street, circa 1920.

PIERCETON — Do you like learning about Pierceton history and reminiscing about past times?

Come to the Pierceton Elementary School at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 24, to see an updated presentation of “Picturing Pierceton: Then and Now.” Joan Hostetler will show dozens of photos, particularly of the downtown commercial blocks, submitted by residents for the Whitko Community Digital Image Project.

It is hoped that older and long-time Pierceton residents will come help identify all of the businesses ever located in downtown buildings. Hostetler, a Pierceton native who is now a historian and archivist in Indianapolis, has gathered the history of Pierceton since 2010 and plans to write an “Encyclopedia of Pierceton,” an updated town history.

The digitalization project will hold two scan-a-thons this weekend to copy local history photographs. Bring photographs of the Whitko community to the Pierceton Alumni Banquet at the Pierceton Elementary School from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 23, or between 1 to 4 p.m. during the June 24 presentation.

They seek photographs and documents from any era of houses, businesses, barns, rural or everyday life, interesting people, snapshots and portraits, town pioneers, churches, schools, school activities, class photos, clubs and organizations, soldiers, street scenes, etc. Hostetler and her husband John Harris find that people are too selective, so bring along your album or box and they will help you select the items to share. All photos are returned on the day of the event. Please write pencil captions on the back and place them in a folder with your name on it.

To arrange another time to share your documents with the project, contact Hostetler at (317) 771-4129 or [email protected].

To view a sampling of photographs copied, visit Indiana Memory, a database of the Indiana State Library: http://cdm16066.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15078coll28. Pierceton School yearbooks from 1948 to 2007 are digitized and keyword searchable at the Internet archive: https://archive.org/details/whitkocommunitydigitalimageproject.