6 quirky stories from the Indiana archives

A John Dillinger prison record from Michigan City. The original Indiana Constitution of 1816. Governor records dating back to Indiana Territorial Gov. William Henry Harrison.

Those documents comprise a portion of the nearly 300 million pages of records detailing the state’s history that will move to a new State Archives facility that will encourage public viewing of historic documents.

The $25 million building is the largest of the projects the state is undertaking as part of its 2016 Bicentennial Celebration. Gov. Mike Pence and historic preservationists pushed for funding to construct a new State Archives facility during this year’s legislative session over concerns of the documents remaining in temporary storage.

Archivists have faced challenges at the current facility, a warehouse on the Eastside of Indianapolis that has housed the documents since 2001. The building isn’t conducive for school groups or tours and is not properly climate controlled, which State Archivist Jim Corridan estimates shaves about 10 years off the life of historical records for every year they sit in temporary storage.

“Our primary mission is to provide preservation and access to the records,” Corridan said. “So we need to be preserving these records because anything that is in an archives is there because it’s supposed to be kept forever.”

About 3 percent of the records created in state or local government end up in the Archives, while the other 97 percent eventually get destroyed, Corridan said.

The new State Archives facility is slated to open in 2018, Corridan said.

While the state is still determining the location and size of the building, lawmakers made it clear they want the new facility to offer permanent and rotating exhibition space, so the public has better access to the materials.

“That’s the whole purpose. … This is all the people’s records,” Corridan said.

The Archives building is part of the $53.5 million Indiana is preparing to spend on construction projects for its bicentennial. Those projects also include an inn at Potato Creek State Park, a Bicentennial Plaza at the Indiana Statehouse and a learning center at the state library. Pence’s administration is intending to pay for the projects by leasing out underutilized capacity among the 311 cell towers the state owns.

The Star asked Corridan for a sampling of the most interesting records that will make the move.

Here are the top 6:

State Constitutions

The State Archives is home to the original versions of the 1816 Constitution and the 1851 Constitution.

State leaders called for the new constitution in 1851 largely to bar the state from going into debt, Corridan said. At the time, the state’s financial troubles stemmed from the investment in canals, which failed to generate ample revenue with the growth of railroads. The 1851 Constitution remains in effect today, though it’s been amended since that time.

“It’s still the basis of Indiana government and how we interact with the people of Indiana,” Corridan said.

As part of the Bicentennial Celebration, the State Archives will hold memorial services at the grave sites of the 43 men who signed the 1816 Constitution. A handful of the men have counties named after them, including John Johnson, the namesake of Johnson County who served as a justice on the original Indiana Supreme Court.

John Dillinger

In 2007, the FBI returned to the State Archives a 1931 record containing prison admission information for Hoosier bank robber and “Public Enemy No. 1,” John Dillinger. The record is from the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City and includes a mugshot.

The record, Corridan said, was taken from the state Department of Correction years ago and was turned over to the Archives after the FBI seized the record from a person who was thinking about selling it.

African-American history

In 1805 when William Henry Harrison was territorial governor, counties were required to record new slaves coming into the Indiana territory. Only three counties existed at the time — Dearborn, Knox and Clark counties. The State Archives retains the Clark County records.

The Constitution of 1816 forbid slavery in Indiana, Corridan said, but census records from the 1820s and 1830s indicate slaves were still listed as living in the state. Following the Constitution of 1851, counties began creating registries of African-Americans living in the community because the governing document originally barred new African-Americans from moving into the state as well as new African-American residents from entering into contracts. The registries include the age of the person, where they were born and where they lived.

“These are great resources to do African-American genealogy, which is often times pretty difficult to do,” Corridan said.

Early land survey records

Officers and soldiers who fought alongside George Rogers Clark in Vincennes during the American Revolutionary War were provided land grants. The records in the Archives’ possession date back to 1786 and constitute the earliest state land survey. The grants are what established Clark County, Corridan said.

Civil War records

The State Archives holds the muster rolls for Hoosier soldiers who fought in the Civil War. A muster roll is the list of the soldiers who joined and identifying information, such as where they came from. People use the records to track relatives or do Civil War research, Corridan said.

The Friends of the Archives also worked to index the approximately 210,000 Civil War soldiers who fought from Indiana.

The Archives contains military records from the territorial period through the Vietnam War, including the Mexican War, Black Hawk War, the Spanish-American War, as well as World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

Ku Klux Klan charter

The first Ku Klux Klan charter in the state was issued in 1922 for a chapter in Evansville.

The State Archives has the charter, which is signed by the notorious white supremacy group’s leader and most infamous member, D.C. Stephenson.