This is Problematic!

We're back for Season 2!!! Hannah and Easton take a trip back to 1882 when a group of women from the town of Westfield, IN took their frustration with the opening of a local saloon into their own hands. Our discussion explores what motivated their unusually forceful actions, the consequences of their decisions (and the decisions of women like them across the country) and how the actions during the Temperance Movement still impact us today. Buckle up, we're going Saloon Smashing!

Our Sources:

Primary Sources-

"The Westfield Saloon," Hamilton County Democrat, Indiana (18 August 1882), p. 4.

"Vigorous Temperance Measures," The Republic, Columbus, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 1.

"Westfield ladies destroy saloon," Hamilton County Democrat, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 5.

"Women of Westfield," The Noblesville Ledger, Noblesville, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 1.

"Westfield: Saloon ruined twice," in The Noblesville Ledger, Noblesville, IN (17 July 1998), p. 3.

Secondary Sources-

Cannup, Charles C. "The Temperance Movement in Indiana," from Indiana Magazine of History (1920), accessed on JSTOR.

Haines, John F. History of Hamilton County: Her People, Industries and Institutions. Indiana University-B.F. Bowen & Company: Bloomington, IN, 1915.

Hamm, Thomas D. The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907. Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN, 1988.

Heighway, David. Hidden Histories of Hamilton County. The History Press, Arcadia Publishing: Cheltenam, UK, 2021.

Lantzer, Jason S. "African Americans and the dry crusade in Indiana" in Traces of Indiana & Midwestern History. Vol. 22, Issue 1. Accessed on American History & Life.

Sanders, Paul D. "Temperance Songs in American School Songbooks, 1840-1860" in Journal of Historical Research in Music Education (October 2015). Vol. 37, No. 1. Pp. 5-23.

Tannenbaum, Jed. "The Origins of Temperance Activism and Militancy among American Women" in the Journal of Social History (Winter 1981), accessed on JSTOR.

Zaeske, Susan. "Hearing the silences in Lincoln's temperance address: Whig masculinity as an ethic of rhetorical civility" in Rhetoric & Public Affairs Journal (Fall 2010). Vol. 13, Issue 3. Pp. 389-419. Accessible on America History & Life.

Dr Fletcher is back for our final episode of the season! The history of Sesame Street is the topic of today's conversation. Back in 1969 when the show was launched it was focused on underserved children to supplement absent preschool services. However, today it's been moved behind a paywall. So, let's figure out how we got to Sesame Street and where it's headed…

Show Notes:

Dr Charlene Fletcher:

Her website: https://www.charlenejfletcher.com

You can read a chapter of her work here: https://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Freedom-Bluegrass-State-Revisiting-ebook/

Keep an eye out for her upcoming book: Confined Femininity: Race, Gender, and Incarceration in Kentucky, 1865-1920 from University of North Carolina Press

Our Sources:

Greene, Bryan. "The Unmistakable Black Roots of Sesame Street", Smithsonian Magazine (November 7th, 2019), accessed at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unmistakable-black-roots-sesame-street-180973490/.

History.com. '"Sesame Street" Debuts', This Day in History, accessed at https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sesame-street-debuts#:~:text=The%20show%20was%20the%20brainchild,year%2Dolds%20prepare%20for%20kindergarten.

Lepore, Jill. "How we got to Sesame Street." The New Yorker (May 11th, 2020), accessed at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/11/how-we-got-to-sesame-street.

Tierney, Joan D. "The Miracle on Sesame Street", Phi Delta Kappan (January, 1971), Vol. 52, No. 5, accessed at JSTOR.com.

Brandy Whitaker, Conner Prairie's Director of Education, shares her 10+ years in the Education field in this discussion about Museum Education. Together we contemplate how Museums and their Educational philsophies fit within the wider Education landscape.

Show Notes:

Brandy Whitaker:

The preschool that Brandy & team created here at Conner Prairie: https://www.connerprairie.org/educate/preschool-on-the-prairie/

Link to Teacher Retreats at Conner Prairie: https://www.connerprairie.org/exploring-indiana-history-stem/

A beautiful blog post by Brandy on "Unlearning" & "Belonging": https://www.connerprairie.org/blog-the-journey-of-belonging/

Resources mentioned in the podcast:

The work of Wes Bruce: http://www.livethecuriouslife.com

Our first Presidential episode of This is Problematic featuring the (not so) well known US President John Tyler (AKA "His Accidency")! Today's trip through the problematic life of President Tyler is guided by your favorite hosts Hannah & Easton, as well as special guests Dylan Rawles (Curatorial Assistant at Conner Prairie) and Ryan Shank (Director of Digital Experiences).

Sources:

Edward P. Crapol. John Tyler: The Accidental President. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006).

Join Hannah and Easton as they travel across the globe exploring why Halloween becomes an opportunity to fetishize the dead, and the very scary roads this leads down.

Sources:

Buffenstein, Alyssa. "Spend a Truly Bizarre Halloween Night in the Catacombs of Paris," Artnet News. Accessed at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/halloween-catacombs-paris-341393.

Harrap, Caroline. "Happy Kataloween: the spooky celebration in the Paris catacombs," The

Guardian. Accessed at https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/29/kataloween-halloween-paris-catacombs-parties-spooky-celebration-subculture.

Les Catacombes De Paris. Site History. Accessed at https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en/history/site-history.

Stone, Phillip R. "A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourism sites, attractions and exhibitions," Tourism Journal (June 1st 2006).

UNESCO. "Genocide memorial sites: Nyamata, Murambi, Bisesero and Gisozi". Accessed at https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5753/.

Usborne, Simon. "Dark tourism: when tragedy meets tourism," National Geographic, July 15, 2021. Accessed at https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2018/02/dark-tourism-when-tragedy-meets-tourism.

In 1966 "Just us Hoosiers: And how we got that way" was released. Dale Wright Burgess had worked for Indiana's Associated Press since 1939. During that time he slowly compiled 'historical' articles. These articles together became "Just us Hoosiers". For his work across his career, including this book, he was highly awarded including being admitted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Today's podcast explores the problems with his writing and questions the praise he has recieved.

Sources:

Dale Wright Burgess. Just us Hoosiers: And how we got that way. Indiana: Unified College Press, 1966.

Gary C. Olson. "Dale Wright Burgess". Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Accessed at https://ijhf.org/members/1972/dale-wright-burgess.

We are grateful to be joined by the incredible Kisha Tandy MLIS, who is an Assistant Curator at the Indiana State Museum, and Paula Brooks, an activist here in the city of Indianapolis, a Program Manager at the Hoosier Environmental Council and a lifelong member of the community of Indianapolis. Today they are talking with us about their experiences of how Indianapolis has changed over recent years due to Gentrification, and how measures can be taken to resist and reclaim spaces.

Kisha Tandy:

Kisha Tandy's Bio at IUPUI: https://soic.iupui.edu/people/kisha-tandy/

The Canal Area Research Class Project she helped bring to life that we discussed on the podcast: https://exhibits.ulib.iupui.edu/CanalCollection/neatline/show/baist-1908

A driving tour of African American History in Indianapolis with Kisha from CSPAN in 2019: https://www.c-span.org/video/?467001-1/african-american-history-indianapolis#

Paula Brooks:

Paula Brooks's Bio at Hoosier Environmental Council: https://www.hecweb.org/about/staff/

The Hoosier Environmental Council: https://www.hecweb.org

The Environmental Leadership Program: https://elpnet.org/what-we-do

Tours for you to take:

Through2Eyes (led by Sampson Levingston) has regular tours of Black History in Indianapolis including neighborhood tours of Martindale, Irvington, Butler-Tarkington, Fountain Square and Indiana Avenue. A link to his website where you can see availability and buy tickets is here: https://www.through2eyes.com/walk-talk.

In February 2021 and 2022 Kisha led a Black History Gallery Tour at the Indiana State Museum-keep an eye out for the 2023 version.

Sources:

"A Conversation with Wildstyle," Central Indiana Community Foundation. (April 22, 2021)

https://www.cicf.org/2021/04/22/gentrification-and-fair-housing/

"Gentrify: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", KHEPRW.org

https://kheprw.org/gentrify-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/

Historic Ransom Place: Tour, Dedication Ceremonies, and Dessert Fete. Freetown Village: Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, 1992.

Conner Prairie's Curator of Native American History & Life is joining us to talk about the story of Mekinges. Mekinges was a Lenape woman who lived on the land that is now Conner Prairie at the turn of the 19th century. She was William Conner's first wife and had six children with him before experiencing removal with her community. We explore how her story has been told in the past and the changes being made to better share her experience with the world.

Sara Schumacher:

Who is Sara?

Sara is a recent graduate of the MA Curatorship program at Indiana University Bloomington.

During her time at Bloomington she worked at IUMAA in the Archeology lab with Dr Melody Pope. Their work included rehousing artifacts from the Angel Mounds Collection under the Saving America's Treasures Grant.

Sara also volunteered at the Wiley House Museum, whilst there she worked to maintain the historic heirloom seed saving project and documented artifacts found in the garden.

Prior to this she undertook an Undergraduate degree also at IU Bloomington in Anthropology with a focus in Archeology and a minor Native American & Indigenous Studies. Her time there was funded by the Indiana University Provost Scholarship. Some of her activities whilst there included President of the Lambda Alpha, Kappa Chapter, Anthropological Honors Society and recipient of Mary Ann Savage Archeological Fieldwork Grant in 2019.

She is Conner Prairie's new Curator of Native American Life and History and you can see her official institutional introduction below.

Link to Sara's introduction at Conner Prairie: https://www.connerprairie.org/new-curatorial-team-addition-at-conner-prairie-continues-advancing-diversity-in-museums-staff-exhibits-and-experiences/

Sources:

Charles N. Thompson. Sons of the Wilderness (Indiana Historical Society, 1937). **NOT a recommended historically objective or accurate source. Few sources exist so occasionally this is consulted to guide to primary sources. The author was a friend of the family and the narrative is deeply problematic (a topic for another podcast!!)**

John Lauritz Larson & David G. Vanderstel. "Agent of Empire: William Conner on the Indiana Frontier, 1800-1855," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 80, No. 4 (December 1984). Pp. 301-328.

James Brown & Rita Kohn. Long Journey Home: Oral Histories of Contemporary Delaware Indians (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2008).

Ma chun chis. Census of the Delaware Tribe of Indians Within the Delaware Agency Taken February 15th 1862. From "Delaware Trails: Some Tribal Records, 1842-1907". From Ancestry.com.

Multiple articles at Official Site of Delaware Tribe of Indians accessed at https://delawaretribe.org. **This represents one group of the Lenape people, there are many groups and their stories intersect with the stories told here but are not representative of all experiences**

David Heighway is back to talk to us about the untold story of Pete Smith. Pete was a free Black man living in Hamilton County, IN in 1820. He found himself being captured and taken into enslavement in Kentucky. We explore how his life interesected with Conner Prairie and William Conner, as well as how his story has not been told and what the next steps are for sharing it.

David Heighway:

You can find more about Hamilton East Public Library's work in history (County Historian David Heighway's organization) here: https://www.hepl.lib.in.us/indiana-room/

Order your copy of David's book "Hidden History of Hamilton County, Indiana" here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467150170

Sources:

David Heighway. "The Mystery of Noblesville's First Settler: Pete Smith," Hamilton East Public Library. Accessed at: https://www.hepl.lib.in.us/the-mystery-of-noblesvilles-first-settler-pete-smith/.

Jeannie Regan-Dinius, "With Bodily Force and Violence: The Escape of Peter," Indiana Historical Bureau, 2005 (State of Indiana, 2022).

https://www.in.gov/history/for-educators/all-resources-for-educators/resources/underground-railroad/with-bodily-force-and-violence-the-escape-of-peter-by-jeannie-regan-dinius/

Dive with us into the first of our three part series about the history of the land that Conner Prairie sits on today. Our first episode is about William Conner, the namesake of the William Conner House here at the Prairie. We are joined by Hamilton County Historian to dive into all areas of his life-the good, the bad and the ugly!

David Heighway:

You can find more about Hamilton East Public Library's work in history (County Historian David Heighway's organization) here: https://www.hepl.lib.in.us/indiana-room/

Order your copy of David's book "Hidden History of Hamilton County, Indiana" here: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467150170

The Conner House (come see where some of it went down!): https://www.connerprairie.org/explore/experiences/william-conner-house/

Sources:

1. F. Shirts. A Primitive History of Indiana. P. 228.

Charles B Lasselle, "Old Indian Traders of Indiana" in Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (March 1906), pp. 1-13. Accessible at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27785428.

David Zeisberger, Diary of the Moravian mission at Lichtenau, Ohio. 1777-1778.

Box 37, Reel 9. Moravian Church Archives, Bethlehem, PA. (Copy of notes accessed at Conner Prairie Archive)

Denissen Volumes. Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, Detroit, Michigan. (Copy accessed at Conner Prairie Archive)

Dylan Rawles. "William Conner and the War of 1812". Accessed at https://www.connerprairie.org/william-conner-and-the-war-of-1812/.

"Early Days" by Rev. J. C. Fletcher in "The Indianapolis Daily News", May 11th 1881, p. 2. Accessed at Newspapers.com.

Eli Lilly Map tracing and Letter October 2, 1934. Accessible on the F Drive:

Indianapolis Gazette December 30th 1823

Indiana DNR, "Indigenous Peoples in Indiana", accessed at https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/cultural-resources-and-history/native-americans/#:~:text=William%20Henry%20Harrison%2C%20governor%20of,Fox%2C%20Sauk%2C%20and%20Creek.

Indiana State Library, "Treaty of St Mary's", accessed at https://blog.library.in.gov/treaty-of-st-marys/.

John F. Haines, History of Hamilton County, IN, p. 161.

Larson and Vanderstal, "Agent of Empire: William Conner on the Indiana Frontier, 1800-1855", in Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 80, Issue 4, December 1984, p. 327-328.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54507152/william-h.-conner

LEIGH DARBEE, "Fall Creek Massacre," Encyclopedia of Indianapolis 1994,

(Revised March 2021)

https://indyencyclopedia.org/fall-creek-massacre-1824/

Robert F. Eldredge, Past and Present of Macomb County, Michigan. P.567-568.

Official website of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, "Removal History of the Delaware Tribe", accessed at https://delawaretribe.org/services-and-programs/historic-preservation/removal-history-of-the-delaware-tribe/.

Western Censor, June 18th 1823, page 58. Accessible online at https://www.digitalindy.org/digital/collection/IH/

https://indianahistory.org/wp-content/uploads/Hoosiers-and-the-American-Story-ch-02.pdf

William Conner, Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages 1802-1892, 30 Nov. 1820, Fayette, Indiana, accessed at Ancestry.com.

William Conner, 1840 Census, Accessed on Ancestry.com.