Indiana German Heritage Society Exhibit

Visitors to the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library, Whitestown Branch, can browse an exhibit on loan from the Indiana German Heritage Society (IGHS) through Wednesday, November 26.

The exhibit includes a traditional German Wegweiser, or directional guidepost, showing Indiana towns with German names and the corresponding community in Germany.  There is also a map of both locations and a description about the Society. The exhibit was conceived, researched, written, and designed by William L. Selm, a co-founder of IGHS. The exhibit was designed to give the appearance of a traditional Wegweiser (pronounced as Vague Vizer) found throughout German Europe. Displaying it in public areas for residents to enjoy fulfills the group’s mission to educate Hoosiers about the importance of German immigrants and their descendants to the state and its history.

The IGHS is a statewide organization, founded in 1984, dedicated to the understanding, researching, documenting, publishing, and sharing of Indiana’s rich, broad, and deep German heritage. German settlement in the state goes back to the building of the Harmonist commune in New Harmony in 1814, two years before Indiana statehood. German – Americans from Pennsylvania and directly from German-speaking Europe poured into the state before the Civil War. They settled in established towns and cities working as craftsmen and opening shops. Many settled in the countryside to farm and to start new towns, villages, and hamlets. Germans came from throughout, what is now, Germany and other German-speaking areas, such as Switzerland and Austria. Thus, Indiana includes towns named Vienna and Tell City.

The exhibit currently housed at the HMMPL Whitestown Branch, 6310 Albert S. White Drive, Whitestown, is focused on Indiana towns named after communities in German-speaking Europe, such as Bremen in Marshall County, Oldenburg and Hamburg in Franklin County, Fulda in Spencer County, Berne in Adams County, Hessen Cassel in Allen County, to name a few. Visitors will be able to view a map of the communities in Indiana and Germany.  Since its creation in 2012, the exhibit has been displayed in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda, Indiana University Library, the libraries of Marian and Butler Universities, public libraries, German festivals in Fort Wayne, Jasper, Oldenburg, Indianapolis, plus the International Festival and Christkindlmarkts of Carmel and the Athenæum.

The HMMPL Whitestown Branch is open 9 AM – 8 PM Mondays – Thursdays, 9 AM – 5 PM Fridays – Saturdays, and 1 – 4 PM Sundays. The Library will be closed Friday, November 7 for a staff development event.