From The Indianapolis News, Friday, June 30, 1916: At a meeting of prominent men and women held at the State House last night, a new society was formed to foster state pride and to help in the preservation of state history. Membership in “Hoosieroons” will be limited to natives of Indiana with one or more ancestor who resided in the state prior to December 11, 1866. The state organization will be known as Finley Nest, and other nests may be formed in any county, township, or city. Dr. John A. Woodburn, head of the history department at Indiana University, was elected president of the society which has more than 100 charter members. The society gets its name from the poem “The Hoosier Nest” by John Finley, who coined the word Hoosieroon to signify a child of Hoosier parentage.
From The Indianapolis Star, Wednesday, July 5, 1916: Nearly 1,000 men, women, and children participated in Irvington’s third annual pageant in Ellenberger Park yesterday afternoon. George S. Cottman wrote and directed the entire five episodes of the pageant. The Parent-Teacher Association was in charge of Episode 1, “Indiana’s Admission as a State.” Civil War veterans led the procession that included 500 children, garbed in red, white, and blue, making a living flag. Miss M. Grace Osborn led Episode 2, “The Land Purchase Where Irvington Stands from the Indians;” the Irvington Dramatic Club had charge of Episode 3 and 4, “The Vanishing of the Indian and the Coming of the Pioneers” and “The Origin of Irvington. Butler College was in charge of the final episode offering a vision of Irvington’s Founders.” The pageant concluded with a picnic supper and fireworks.