IHS Celebrates Upcoming State Bicentennial with You Are There 1816: Indiana Joins the Nation
By AMY LAMB
Vice President, Marketing and Public Relations, Indiana Historical Society
INDIANAPOLIS — As the state looks forward to celebrating its Bicentennial next year, the Indiana Historical Society will introduce “You Are There 1816: Indiana Joins the Nation.” The interactive exhibition, which opens Sept. 19, and runs through Jan. 21, 2017, recreates the Corydon meeting house where delegates met to draft Indiana’s first state constitution. The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, home of IHS and its Indiana Experience, is located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.
In a room in a private home converted for this important purpose, guests will join in conversation with delegates representing various viewpoints on issues such as education, slavery, personal liberty and the balance of power between branches of this new government.
Guests can meet characters such as Jonathan Jennings, president of the 1816 constitutional convention and Indiana’s first governor; William Hendricks, secretary of the convention and later the state’s third governor; Dennis Pennington, a Harrison County representative and anti-slavery advocate; Robert Hanna, a politically active young farmer from Brookville; and Alexander Devin, a Christian minister representing Gibson County.
In the content area outside the time travel experience portion of the exhibition, guests will learn more about Indiana at the time — from who lived where and the ways the area was changing to the act of drafting a constitution and the process of statehood. A touchscreen interactive invites guests to participate in live-tally voting on issues such as education, personal liberty and the balance of power—issues present both for delegates in 1816 as well as today’s voters.
“You Are There 1816: Indiana Joins the Nation presented by The O’Bannon Foundation, a fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation, and Jock and Penny Fortune. For more information on this and other IHS programs, call (317) 232-1882 or visit www.indianahistory.org.
Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Society has been Indiana’s Storyteller, connecting people to the past by collecting, preserving, interpreting and sharing the state’s history. A private, nonprofit membership organization, IHS maintains the nation’s premier research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest and presents a unique set of visitor exhibitions called the Indiana Experience.
IHS also provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups, publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; and provides youth, adult and family programming. The Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, home of the IHS and the Indiana Experience, is located at 450 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.