Ball State University Instructor Photographs Indiana's Historic Courthouses

With the aid of Chris Flook, a Ball State University telecommunications instructor, photographs of Indiana's 92 historic county courthouses are now showcased online for Indiana's Courthouse Squares website. Historically, county courthouses served as iconic fixtures for a community's identity and recently several Indiana communities have taken significant strides to revitalize both the courthouses and their surrounding squares.   

As the website's project photographer, Flook spent many summer days traveling throughout Indiana to photograph the iconic fixtures. As quoted in an article from ABA Journal, Flook states, "I like the idyllic idea of town squares but its relatively rare to have the courthouse at the center of town squares in the United States. Only a few regions and states have this." The gathered historical information will be used in preparation for Indiana's 2016 Bicentennial Celebration. 

Please visit Indiana's Courthouse Squares website to view Chris Flook's photos and historical courthouse information. 

Ball State University Supports Indiana Courthouse Squares Project

Indiana's Courthouse Squares showcases all 92 county courthouses and their adjoining squares by way of high-resolution photography. County courthouses serve as iconic fixtures for a community's identity that: symbolically asserts the rule of law at the center of American society; exhibits a unique architecture that captures the era in which the structure was built; serves as the iconic edifice for many of the county seats; and provides centralized places for economic and social activities. In recent decades, several communities in Indiana have taken significant efforts to revitalize their courthouses, which has assisted in the rejuvenation of their surrounding squares.

With the aid of project photographer Chris Flook, Indiana's Courthouse Squares promotes the historical Indiana Courthouse with high-resolution photography as well as develop further in preparation for Indiana's 2016 Bicentennial Celebration. This project was generously supported by Ball State University's Sponsored Programs Office in the summer of 2013. Additional support was provided by Ball State University's: Department of Telecommunications; College of Communication, Information, and Media; and Building Better Communities. All photographs, maps, and other materials are copyrighted by Ball State University.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Kris Scott: BSU Department of Telecommunications
- Chris Raleigh: Logo Designer and Developer
- Kelli Huth: BSU Building Better Communities Fellows Program
- Sarah Lee, Augusta Wray, & Maggie Cude: BSU Sponsored Programs Office
- Jarred Scott
- Allison Rice: BSU Department of Telecommunications
- Joseph Vella: Bayonet Media
- Andrew Bissonnette
- Joshua Carroll: BSU Teleplex
- Lori Byers: BSU College of Communication, Information, and Media

To find out more information or visit Indiana's Courthouse Squares website, click here. 

History in Action: The 15th Annual Student History Conference at Ball State University

On Friday, February 24, 2012, the Ball State University History department hosted its 15th Annual Student History Conference. This year’s speaker, Dr. Jeremy Popkin of the University of Kentucky was invited because of his reputation in the field of French history and particularly because his book, You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery, received the David Pinkney Prize. This prize is awarded annually by the Society for French Historical Studies for the best book on French history published by a North American scholar. His presentation titled “Stories of Saint-Domingue, Stories of Haiti, Stories of the Modern World,” was intriguing on a variety of levels, and relatable to most topics studied by all of the history students.

The conference consisted of various panels, ranging from “Of Cats and ‘Irishmen’: Domesticating Wildness” to “Czarinas, Dictators, and their Challengers.” These panel sessions allowed students to explore the diverse research of Ball State’s History faculty and their fellow undergraduate and graduate students. It was also a great experience for the students who presented. Nancy Lee Clark, a first year graduate student, presented on the origins of the Boy Scouts and how it was primarily a way to take assist young men who were not equipped to deal with the rigors of war. She argued that Robert Baden Powell, a career army man, designed the Boy Scouts to prepare young men to serve in the military and die for God, king and empire. She presented alongside Michael Chudzinski and Timothy C. Rainesalo in the panel “Of Boys and Men: Masculinity, Military Service, and Propaganda in World War One Era Britain.” They indicated that the blending of topics into one, organized discussion was “a great experience – and has made the three of us better prepared” for future professional endeavors.

Dr. Rene Marion, then an Assistant Professor of History in the department organized the first Student History Conference (SHC). The annual Dorothy J. and Richard W. Burkhardt Lecture was moved to the last Friday in February so that it could serve as the keynote lecture in a plenary session of the SHC. Dr. Richard W. Burkhardt specialized in modern European history and Dorothy Burkhardt taught French in the Dept. of Modern Languages. After they retired, their three adult children (including Dr. Richard W. [Chip] Burkhardt, Jr., a Prof. Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) endowed an annual lecture in honor of their parents a specifically related to the topic of French history and culture broadly conceived.

Awards 
Eric Spall, BSU M.A. candidate in History, won the award for Best Graduate Paper, entitled, “Leisler’s Rebellion Revisited.”

Joseph Bodley, University of Western Ontario B.A. candidate in History, won the Best Undergraduate World History Paper, entitled “The Noble Radical: Alexander Radishchev and the Culmination of Eighteenth Century Enlightenment thought in Russia.”

Ms. Shira Lurie, University of Western Ontario B.A. candidate in History, won the award for best Undergraduate U.S. paper, entitled “Loading the Dice: Gambling and the Constraint of Chance in Colonial Virginia.”

Photos documenting the 15th annual SHC will be uploaded to the History Department’s Facebook page.

-Blogger Maggie Cude, SPO & Graduate School Graduate Assistant

Uncovering the Past on the Wabash

“It’s great working with the community. They were all very interested in the project that we were doing, and it’s great to see the community come together and get involved in such important work.” - Stefan Woehlke, Graduate Student, Anthropology

It’s 1791 and the U.S. infantry are surrounded by opposing Native American forces near the banks of the Wabash River. Pinned down and outnumbered, soldiers are forced to fall back, surrendering the land to the Native American warriors.

Three years later, American forces are again forced to defend their territory, this time at a fort built near the Wabash. A fierce battle ensues that results in several casualties, but this time the U.S. soldiers are victorious, not only securing the fort, but gaining control of land that would become one of America’s earliest settlements.

Military assaults like the Battle on the Wabash (1791) and the Battle of Fort Recovery (1794) are often forgotten in the annals of history. However, a team of Ball State researchers have embarked on a journey to uncover the remnants of wars more than two centuries old.

Mark Hill

Awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service, Dr. Mark Hill, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Director of Applied Archaeology Laboratories, and his colleagues, Dr. Colleen Boyd and Dr. Mark Groover of the Department of Anthropology and Ms. Beth McCord formerly of the department, began working together on the development of the American Battlefield Protection Project (ABPP). Based in Ohio, the project’s primary goals are to: (a) pinpoint the exact location of the Battle on the Wabash and the Battle of Fort Recovery and (b) provide Ohio residents with the information needed to protect and preserve the surrounding sites of the battlefields.

With no set boundaries currently delineating the 97 acres of land on which both historical battles took place, extensive background research was first needed to understand the geographic layout of the area. To accomplish this task, student researchers from the department of history and anthropology were recruited to assist the ABPP team. Historic sources, including maps and texts derived from primary and secondary sources, were examined to identify key features and events associated with the two battles. Local historians and collectors were also interviewed to determine the location of previously identified battle-related artifacts. Newspaper articles and town records were reviewed to determine past construction and development activities within the battlefield area.

Additionally, Native American communities were also contacted for any documents and stories passed down orally that were related to the battles. However, acquiring this information can sometimes pose a challenge as history graduate student Eliot Reed points out, “It’s always difficult when you do Native American research. There are very few resources because you are usually using British and American sources.”

Once all the data from the written and oral resources were collected, they were used to help develop the research design. Using geographic information systems (GIS) digital mapping software, students were then able to better identify key battlefield features and terrain. Anthropology graduate student Stefan Woehlke explains: “I combine historical maps with modern maps of the battle area; sort of laying maps on top of one another to get an understanding of the battlefield layout. Some of what I’m trying to do is predict where the Native American Indian’s were and the paths they took when they were surrounding the American military.”

Now that the research phase is complete, students have focused their attention on excavating the battlefield sites for war remnants. Prior to entering the field, a team of approximately 10 students participated in a field school—an archaeological “boot camp”—to equip them with the training and knowledge needed to effectively locate and identify artifacts. “It’s a really good opportunity for students to get the opportunity to learn archeology,” said field school operator Dr. Mark Groover.




In addition to metal detector training, students are taught a number of other advanced techniques such as magnetometer, resistivity, and ground penetrating radar survey methods. “The research and fieldwork is great,” said Jessie Moore, a second year anthropology graduate student who is using this project for her thesis. “I want to be an archeological technician or archeologist, [but] without this I would have no clue how to do basic methodology in the field. A lot of positions out there require you to have that kind of experience.”

A majority of the excavations are being conducted on private property so landowner permission was crucial in beginning excavations. However, even more important was building relationships with the land owners. For this, Dr. Hill credits the assistance of Christine Keller, an archeologist on the team and native of the community being excavated. “Christine is our primary liaison with the community,” explains Hill. “She’s very active in the community and represents us well with the Fort Recovery Historical Society. Having these connections allows us to be more involved and to provide us the opportunity to really be a part of the community, rather than being an outsider.”

In addition, Hill values the partnerships formed with the Archeological Society of Ohio and Fort Recovery Museum that will be providing volunteers during the course of the project. Any artifacts found as a result of the field excavations will be donated to the museum to be on display for the public.

If you would like more information on this project contact Dr. Mark Hill or Christine Keller in the Department of Anthropology.