Hoosier History Live

New information continues to emerge about a woman whose deathbed testimony in 1925 helped end the stranglehold of the notorious Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. And there are multiple, new efforts underway to spotlight the legacy of Madge Oberholtzer, the victim of a lurid crime by KKK leader, D.C. Stephenson, her neighbor in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis.

So Hoosier History Live will follow up a show...

Maybe you have heard some of these comments about houses built in the 1800s and early 1900s:

"They never had closets." "Anything that sticks out of the house – like a wing -- was a subsequent addition." "Their only light was from candles or kerosene lamps."

These are widespread misconceptions that our distinguished guest, Indianapolis-based architectural historian Benjamin L. Ross of RATIO Arc...

A fan favorite even though he shunned publicity, hard-charging Bill Vukovich was the two-time defending champion at the Indianapolis 500 and on his way to a third consecutive victory in 1955 when he was killed during a horrific crash.

One of his closest friends was a nationally acclaimed sportswriter, charismatic Angelo Angelopolous of the Indianapolis News, who chronicled Vukovich's rise from a hard-scrab...

All across the state, sites are named in his honor. The city of Lafayette, for example. In Indianapolis, there's Lafayette Road. In the city of Princeton in southwestern Indiana, there's a Lafayette Park.

And the Marquis de Lafayette, hailed as a hero of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution, is the only individual to have two counties in Indiana with names associated with him: Fayette Cou...

Sure, the White House has been the setting for hundreds of joyous and celebratory events. But the historic home of U.S. presidents and their families also has been a setting for deaths, including that of the only First Lady from Indianapolis. Not only did Caroline Scott Harrison, the beloved wife of President Benjamin Harrison, die in the White House, so did his grandfather.

William Henry Harrison, the sh...

Nearly 160 years ago this month, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Washington D.C. Witnesses to the tragic event on April 14, 1865 may have included several Hoosiers who claimed to be at Ford's Theatre.

In the decades following the shooting, residents of Indiana towns and cities including Dayton in Tippecanoe County, Ladoga in Montgomery County, Jonesboro in Grant County and Aurora on the Ohio ...

She vanished more than 75 years ago over the South Pacific while attempting to fly around the world in a Lockheed Electra 10E twin-engine airplane sponsored by Purdue University. That's just one of the connections between famous aviator Amelia Earhart and the Hoosier state.

She was particularly associated with Purdue, which has the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of artifacts associated w...

Have you ever gazed up at the Art Deco-style Circle Tower Building in downtown Indianapolis? With its tiered exterior design of the upper floors, the 14-story building has been a landmark on Monument Circle for more than 90 years.

Also on Monument Circle, the Columbia Club has been a presence even longer. The building that houses the prestigious private club was completed in 1925 and is on the National Reg...

Surveys in recent years often have found more than 25 percent of Hoosier respondents did not know the name of the governor, according to a Ball State University professor quoted in a recent Indianapolis Star article.

Does that sound alarming?

Well, efforts are underway to increase civic understanding both by the general public and by students at Indiana schools. In a joint project, the Indiana...

Calling all Hoosiers (or Hoosiers at heart who live in other states): Do you have any questions about Indiana's heritage that you'd like to ask historians? This show will be an ideal opportunity, with an open phone line throughout as Nelson is joined by Glory-June Greiff, a well-known public historian with broad and deep expertise about the Hoosier state. In between phone calls from listeners – the WICR-FM studio numbe...

Although the heyday of the Indiana Avenue jazz music scene in Indianapolis has been explored frequently – including on Hoosier History Live shows – one aspect is seldom discussed. What happened to the lives of the musicians during the 1970s, '80s and '90s? Where did they perform after the Indiana Avenue nightclubs closed?

Those are the questions we will explore when Nelson is joined by a well-known Indiana...

From a massive former factory on the eastside of Indianapolis that's been repurposed into two charter schools to a 1950s-style diner in Plainfield and a former Masonic Temple in Greenfield, sites along U.S. 40 in Indiana will be in Hoosier History Live's spotlight. We also will explore a bygone barbershop that was owned by a formerly enslaved African American entrepreneur as well as two early automobile manufacturing p...

One series is called "Sharing Hoosier History Through Stories". Another series, about historic landmarks across Indiana, is titled "If These Walls Could Tell". There's also an annual "Liar's Contest" on the opening night of the Indiana State Fair.

Storytelling Arts of Indiana is deeply involved in each of those, and, as Hoosier History Live salutes Women's History Month, we will spotlight a woman who has b...

How often does Indiana rank as the No. 1 state in a national list? Well, here's a record for the books: More Carnegie Libraries were built in Indiana than any other state.

Between 1901 and about 1918, 164 public libraries built in large part by funding from philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) were constructed in Indiana. More than 100 of them are still used as public libraries acro...

Way back in 1876, when firefighting equipment was transported by horse-drawn wagons, the first Black firefighters were hired by the Indianapolis Fire Department. The four African Americans included a firefighter who, in 1911, died in the line of duty.

Details about the story of the trail-blazing firefighters will be described on this show as Hoosier History Live salutes Black History Month. Our guest will ...

On the east end of downtown Indianapolis, there was a community (or "barrio") of Mexican families during the 1940s and '50s. During the 1960s and '70s, camps in the farm fields of Grant County and Howard County were set up for migrant workers, most of them of Mexican or other Latino heritage. So there were urban as well as rural residents of Latino heritage in the Hoosier state during the mid and late 1900s.

Now that awards season is underway in Hollywood – Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday – our spotlight will be on movie and TV directors with Indiana connections. The filmmakers range from directors of movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood such as the holiday classic "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) and "To Have and Have Not" (1944) to popular hits like "The Amazing Spiderman" (2012).

"Miracle on 34th...