INDIANAPOLIS — Information on the development of Indianapolis over the two centuries since its founding will be freely-accessible in an updated, digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, currently under development and scheduled for a launch date of December 2020. This dynamic, highly visual and interactive platform also will provide researchers with information on how Indianapolis and Central Indiana have changed in the past 25 years since the encyclopedia’s 1994 print edition.
Designated as a legacy project of the Indianapolis Bicentennial Commission, the new Encyclopedia of Indianapolis will link resources from multiple organizations across desktop and mobile devices. It will add content to reflect developments since 1994 along with a document-and-image-rich interactive timeline. Citizens and organizations can add their own special timelines or histories, suggest entries, and offer corrections and comments. Each neighborhood in the city will have its own entry, giving residents information about the places where they live.
Users will be able to explore and discover information by event, name, date, place, keywords, or topic. The multi-media platform will include text, audio, video, images, and story maps, with the ability to access content from other digital collections housed elsewhere.
Developed by the Polis Center at IUPUI in collaboration with the city’s major cultural and heritage institutions, ownership will be vested in The Indianapolis Public Library. Collaborating partners include the city’s major heritage and cultural organizations: Indiana Historical Society, Center for Civic Leadership and Indianapolis Mayoral Archives (University of Indianapolis), Indiana Landmarks, IUPUI University Library, Butler University Archives, Indiana State Library and Historical Bureau, Indiana Archives and Records Administration, and Indiana Humanities.
For more information, visit Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/IndyEncyclopedia, and Twitter at https://twitter.com/NdyEncyclopedia.
