INDIANAPOLIS — The histories of institutions supporting the local Burmese and Slovenian communities are among new collections added to Digital Indy, The Indianapolis Public Library’s online repository of images and recordings of cultural and historical interest to Indianapolis residents, students and researchers.
Included are newsletters, documentaries and photos from the Burmese American Community Institute, a non-profit founded in 2011 to help more than 3,000 individuals from Myanmar (formerly Burma) integrate into Indianapolis. The institute’s advocacy and educational programs include college preparedness and employment assistance. This collection joins that of the Slovenian National Home, established in 1904 as a community center for Slovenian immigrants who settled in the Haughville neighborhood, whose many images consist of portrait photos of Slovenian-Americans who served in the U.S. military in World War II. The home, located at 2717 W. 10th Street, continues to serve as a social club for local Slovenian-Americans and their descendants.
Digital Indy also has added newsletters dating to the 1980s from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art; programs, posters, photos and advertisements from the Indianapolis School of Ballet since its founding in 2006; and audio, photos, programs, correspondence and newsletters throughout the near 80-year history of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.
The Library provides free access to these and more than 40 other digital collections of increasingly valuable, fragile and hard-to-use originals.
To access the collections, click on the “digital collections” link from the Library’s homepage at indypl.org or go directly to www.digitalindy.org/. Organizations interested in contributing to these digital archives or being included in an inventory reflecting Indianapolis history, people and places also may visit the site for more information.
