Indiana Experience

Indiana Experience and its collection

The Indiana Historical Society ( IHS ) is one of the United States' oldest and largest historical societies and describes itself as "Indiana's Storyteller". It is housed in the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center at 450 West Ohio Street in Indianapolis, Indiana , in The Canal and White River State Park Cultural District, neighboring the Indiana State Museum and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art . In 2019, the center hosted 112,732 visitors. The Indiana Historical Society is the oldest state historical society west of the Allegheny Mountains . A private, nonprofit membership organization founded in 1830, the IHS maintains a research library and archives on the history of Indiana and the Old Northwest . The IHS also provides support and assistance to local museums and historical groups, publishes books and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; and provides youth, adult, and family programming, including Indiana's participation in the National History Day Competition series. Finally, it is responsible for appointing and training the state's 92 county historians. The Indiana Historical Society opened a new 165,000-square-foot (15,300 m ) headquarters in downtown Indianapolis in July 1999, built on the site of the prior Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Indianapolis.