A PUBLICATION OF THE INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF INDIANA AND MIDWESTERN HISTORY SPRING 1993 $5 F 521 148 VOL5 N02 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY James J. Barnes, Crawfordsville Dianne J. Cartmel, Seymour MISSION STATEMENT William E. Ervin, Hartford City Ralph D. Gray, Indianapolis H. Roll McLaughlin, Indianapolis Ronald Morris, Greenwood N A SATURDAY NIGHT IN DECEMBER 1830 A GROUP OF THE MOST Mary M. Mullin, Brookville Kathleen Stiso Mullins, South Bend DISTINGUISHED FIGURES IN INDIANA'S EARLY HISTORY—INCLUDING Alan T. Nolan, Indianapolis, Chairman Larry K. Pitts, Indianapolis William G. Prime, Madison JOHN FARNHAM, CALVIN FLETCHER, WILLIAM CONNER, JOHN TIPTON, O Evaline H. Rhodehamel, Indianapolis, Vice President Richard S. Simons, Marion. President AND MORE THAN HALF OF THE INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY—MET AT THE John Martin Smith, Auburn Theodore L. Steele, Indianapolis MARION COUNTY COURTHOUSE IN INDIANAPOLIS TO FORM WHAT BECAME P. R. Sweeney, Vincennes Stanley Warren, Greencastle THE INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. THAT GROUP COMPOSED THE ORGANIZATION'S Herman B Wells, Bloomington CONSTITUTION AND DECLARED: ADMINISTRATION Peter T. Harstad, Executive Director Raymond L. Shoemaker, Assistant Executive Director and Business Manager The objects of the Society shall be the collection of all Annabel le J. Jackson, Controller Susan P. Brown, Director Human Resources materials calculated to shed light on the natural, civil and Carolyn S. Smith, Membership Secretary political history of Indiana, the promotion of useful knowledge DIVISION DIRECTORS and the friendly and profitable in tercourse of such citizens of Bruce L.Johnson, Library Thomas K. Krasean, Community Relations the state as are disposed to promote the aforesaid objects. Thomas A. Mason, Publications Robert M. Taylor. Jr., Education TRACES OF INDIANA AND MIDWESTERN HISTORY Thomas A. Mason, Executive Editor J. Kent Calder, Managing Editor Kathleen M. Breen, Editorial Assistant Megan L. McKee, Editorial Assistant CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ODAY, WITH MORE THAN 9,000 MEMBERS IN AND BEYOND INDIANA, Ray E. Boomhower Douglas E. Clanin Paula J. Corpuz Ruth Dorrel T PHOTOGRAPHY THE SOCIETY BUILDS ON THIS FOUNDATION. AS THE NEXT CENTURY Stephen J. Fletcher, Curator Visual Collections Kim Charles Ferrill, Photographer APPROACHES, IT REAFFIRMS ITS ORIGINAL "OBJECTS" WITHIN THE Susan L. S. Sutton, Coordinator BROADER CONTEXTS OF REGIONAL, NATIONAL, AND W7ORLD HISTORY AND EDITORIAI. BOARD Edward E. Breen, Marion Chronicle-Tribune Andrew R. L. Cayton, Miami University FOCUSES THEM AS FOLLOWS: David E. Dawson. Indianapolis To promote public awareness and appreciation of Indiana Ralph D. Gray, Indiana University, Indianapolis Monroe H. Little, Jr., Indiana University, Indianapolis history, the Indiana Historical Society collects, preserves, James H. Madison, Indiana University, Bloomington Richard S. Simons, Marion interprets, and disseminates documentary and visual John Martin Smith, Auburn Emma Lou Thornbrough, Butler University evidence and supports scholarly research. The Society fosters DESIGN excellence and leadership, historical inquiry, and pleasurable Dean Johnson Design Lloyd Brooks, Scott Johnson, Designers and informal exchanges, believing that an understanding of the past illu minates the present a nd gives vision for the fu ture. TYPESETTING Shepard Poorman Communications Corp. SheparPRINTINdG Poorma n Communications Corp. Iran's ojIndiana and Midwestern History (ISSN 1040-788X) is published quar- terly and distributed as a benefit of membership by the Indiana Historical Society; editorial and executive offices, 315 West Oflio Street. Indianapolis, APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 25 APRIL 1991. Indiana 46202-3299. Membership categories are Annual $20, Sustaining $30, Contributing $50, and Life $500. Single copies are $5. Second-class postage paid at Indianapolis. Indiana: USPS Number 003-275. Literary rnnth butions: A brochure containing information for contributors is available upon request. Traces accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts submitted without return postage. The Indiana Historical Society assumes no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made bv contributors. Indiana newspaper publishers may obtain permission to reprint articles b\ written request to the Society. The Society will refer requests from other publishers to the author. ©1993 Indiana Historical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Indiana Historical Society, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3299. RECEIVED MAY 0 4 1993 INDIANA HISTORICAL TRACEOF INDIANA AND MIDWESTERN HISTORY VOLUME 5 NUMBESR 2 SOCIETY LIBRARY PHOTOGRAPH BYDAVID HOPPK DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 2 26 Letters The Dunking of General Cass: Women in Baseball: A Hoosier Myth Indiana's Dynamic Heritage George P. Clark Barbara Gregorich Editors' Page 12 36 24 The Hoosier Slide: Small Town U.S.A.: "Monument of Never Ending Sand' Alexandria Speaks for America Destination Indiana Ray Boomhower Nancy Norris 48 Focus 18 46 Moon Valley SOS! Above: David HOPPE Save Outdoor Sculpture David Hoppe Glory-June Greiff writes about what it means to lose a special place in his essay "Moon Valley." \ CONNER, KILTS, AND THE INDIANS What a pleasure it was to receive thoroughly enjoy your publications, when the victim sat down" (the picture my copy of the Winter issue of Ibut I am confused by several ap- doesn't even include a pistol). Traces and see William Conner's picture parent discrepancies in the Winter On page twenty-one it is said that gracing the cover. Then, to turn to the 1993 issue: "Among the services rendered by inside and see the excellent William Conner were . job the editors have done with identifying the body of the three stories on Conner Tecumseh following the and the house restoration was Battle of the Thames." All of icing on the cake! the latest scholarly texts that I To be featured in Traces is have read indicate that very important to us, for it is Tecumseh's body was never read by those people who are positively identified and was most likely to take an interest probably removed to a secret in Conner Prairie and what burial spot by his compatriots. we do here. We are very excit- ed about the restoration and KEN MASSEY know that others who read of Indianapolis it in Traces w\\\ reflect our en- [The Muirs are father, sister, thusiasm and, it is hoped, will and mother, respectively—Ed.] visit to see in person this place Conner built in 1823. any thanks to Stewart POLLY JONTZ M Rafert for his splendid President, Conner Prairie article in the Spring 1992 issue: "Ozahshinquah: A Miami Woman's Life." I he Winter 1993 issue found it fascinating. So often Tof Traces was received yes- the story of treatment of the terday and congratulations on Indians is presented afar off, another fine publication. I Ozahshinquah. but he has brought it up close enjoyed each of the three with the focus on actual indi- main articles, especially the viduals and family members. one about John Muir. I had never Who were Daniel Muir, Sr., Mary Our country has still to come to terms known of his Indianapolis connection Muir Hand, and Anne Gilrye Muir? with the injustice done to the indige- before. All are referred to on page forty-one, nous Americans. Of course, even the I imagine that you will hear from along with pictures of two of them, descendants of the pioneer settlers of a number of people who wear the but there is no mention of them in the the Midwest and Far West do not feel kilts. People from Scotland are not story about John Muir! the wrong that has been done, since Scotch. Scotch is a whiskey. People Page forty-four shows a picture of they purchased the land after it had from Scotland are called Scots, or of John Muir's "Loafer's Chair," but it already been ceded to the federal gov- Scottish origin. Hoot mon, where was does not seem possible that this can ernment (under what duress and force your proofreader? be the same "Loafer's Chair" de- the record does not reveal). scribed on page forty-one as having ROBERT D. GRUEN "concealed a spring attached to a RODNEY T. HOOD Indianapolis pistol . that went off with a Bang! Franklin, Indiana 2 TRACES TRUST, BUT VERIFY nformal discussions among during its dedication ceremony in historians usually turn Fort Wayne 150 years ago. The before very long to the extraordinary tenacity the author topic of the relationship displays in his search for the between myth and history. facts is rewarded with a few sur- In any area of research the two are prises. Nancy Norris, too, exhibits so thoroughly intermingled that great determination in her efforts only the most skeptical and dili- to discover why the Office of gent can keep them separated for War Information chose the town long. The reasons for their close of Alexandria, Indiana, to repre- affinity are profuse: pride, politics, sent the rest of America in the economics, love, envy, shame, pamphlet "Small Town U.S.A.," carelessness, and everything in be- which was distributed throughout tween. The diversity of mythologi- the world in 1944. Though Norris's cal origins is as various as the facets of own, and they played a good deal in work at the National Archives never human nature. Indiana, where many still live and revealed why the OWI picked If historians are seldom as happy as where much of the historical record Alexandria, it did dispel a number of when their labors in the archives bear can be found. misconceptions that have existed in fruit in the exposing of a myth, they Hoppe and Boomhower deal with the community for the last fifty years are almost as well pleased with a good the myth of the worthlessness of sand regarding the top-secret project. story. Ideally, this tension between art as it applies to the development and One of those myths involves the and evidence leads to readable and destruction of Indiana's dunes.