F 521 148 Vol6 N03 Indiana Historical Society
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F 521 148 VOL6 N03 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES James J. Barnes, Crawfordsville DianneJ. Cartmel, Seymour William E. Ervin, Hartford City Ralph D. Gray, Indianapolis H. Roll McLaughlin, Carmel Thomas M. Miller, Carmel Ronald Morris, Greenwood Mary M. Mullin, Brookville Kathleen Stiso Mullins, South Bend Alan T. Nolan, Indianapolis, Chairman Larry K. Pitts, Indianapolis William G. Prime, Madison Evaline H. Rhodehamel, Indianapolis, Vice President Richard S. Simons, Marion, President John Martin Smith, Auburn Theodore L. Steele, Indianapolis P. R. Sweeney, Vincennes Stanley Warren, Indianapolis, Treasurer ADMINISTRATION Peter T. Harstad, Executive Director Raymond L. Shoemaker, Assistant Executive Director and Business Manager Annabelle J. Jackson, Controller Susan P. Brown, Director Human Resources Carolyn S. Smith, Membership Secretary DIVISION DIRECTORS Bruce L.Johnson, Library Thomas K. Krasean, Community Relations 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 Megan L. McKee, Editor Kathleen M. Breen, Editorial Assistant George R. Hanlin, Editorial Assistant CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ray E. Boomhower Douglas E. Clanin Paula J. Corpuz Ruth Dorrel PHOTOGRAPHY Stephen J. Fletcher, Curator Visual Collections Kim Charles Ferrill, Photographer Susan L. S. Sutton, Coordinator EDITORIAL BOARD Richard J. M. Blackett, Indiana University, Bloomington Edward E. Breen, Marion Chronicle-Tribune Andrew R. L. Cayton, Miami University David E. Dawson, Indianapolis Robert L. Gildea, Indianapolis Ralph D. Gray, Indiana University, Indianapolis Monroe H. Little Jr., Indiana University, Indianapolis James H. Madison, Indiana University, Bloomington Richard S. Simons, Marion Emma Lou Thornbrough, Butler University DESIGN Dean Johnson Design R. Lloyd Brooks, Art Director Scott Johnson, Mike Schwab, Designers TYPOGRAPHY Weimer Graphics, Inc. PRINTING Shepard Poorman Communications Corp. Traces of Indiana 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 Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3299. Membership categories are Annual S20, Sustaining $30, Contributing $50, and I.ife $500. Single copies are $5. Second-class postage paid at Indianapolis, Indiana; USPS Number 003-275. Literary contri- butions: A brochure containing information for contributors is available upon request. Traces accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts submitted without return postage. Indiana newspaper publishers may obtain permission to reprint articles by written request to the Society. The Society will refer requests from other publishers to the author. ©1994 Indiana His- torical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Postmastei-: Please send address changes to Traces of Indiana and Midwestern Histoiy, Indiana Historical Society, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indi- ana 46202-3299. Traces is a member of the Conference of Historical Journals. fiAlPRINTEDWlTHl IWISOYINK) VOLUME 6 N°3 SUMMER 1994 _2 Letters 26 The Statues Speak: In Search of Indiana Sculpture _3 Editors' Page Glory-June Greiff Star Dust Memories: 28 Shade of the Raintree Hoagy Carmichael and Larry Lockridge Indiana's Gennett Records Rick Kennedy The Aviatrix and the University: 10 Mr. Weichmann and the Amelia Earhart at Purdue Ghost of Mrs. Surratt Ray Boomhower Erich L. Ewald Front cover: 42 Writer Jessamyn West: The painting is a detail 18 "The Ideal Sketching The Storyteller's Daughter Ground": The Early Art from Will Vawter's Catherine E Forrest Weber Colony of Brown County Sunshine and Hollyhocks,- Rachel Perry 48 FOCUS the quotation is'from Ross Lockrid^e Jr.'s Raintree County. Back cover: Hoa^y Carmichael, 4925. Courtesy of Duncan Schiedt. LETTERS n all my ninety plus years, I have read Your Spring 1994 edition of Traces is agreatl y enjoyed, as many others undoubtedly Imany magazines, but none so beautiful as dandy which I have just read cover to Ihave, Ray E. Boomhower's good article your Spring 1994 issue of Traces. cover with delight. As a Hoosier, born in about Kin Hubbard and the sidebar accom- Being born in Indiana, raised there, Indiana in 1906 and reared there through panying it about some other Indiana car- and having lived there so many years, the 1920s—the time period covered most in toonists. But I was taken aback when I saw a I have fond memories of many parts this edition—I found many wonderful mem- reference to Chick Jackson in the latter of the state. Too, having worked at three ories stirred up and relished. piece. He had some Muncie ties, and I have of the automobile companies a number I hadn't realized the degree to which the written about him for the Muncie Star, of years, I know something of the cars Indiana automobile builders contributed to the where I retired in 1991 as executive editor. you mention. development of the vehicle although I knew all And it was always Chic; no "k." I think a First, I worked with Studebaker, in the the ones you wrote about and had some experi- close examination of his signature on the days of the wood wheels, for about nine ence with most. I always felt bad when one by Roger Bean strip shown at the bottom of months. Later, I worked for Marmon, or the one, they succumbed to be replaced by the page 46 will bear me out. industry as it developed around Detroit. Some Nordyke & Marmon company at the corner BILL SPURCEON of Kentucky Avenue and West Morris Street. of those early cars were developed well ahead Syracuse Later, in 1925 until the plant closed in 1929, of the industry. How well I remember the day I was with Stutz at lOth/llth and when a friend from Kokomo came visiting Capitol/Senate. and he let me look under the hood of his n Traces you have set a high standard of Apperson Jack Rabbit. It had a V-8 engine, Bill Swigert was plant manager. Edgar S. content and quality production. The Arts surely one of the first, and belt driven fan, I Gorrell, the flying ace from World War I, and Crafts issue was one of the most beauti- and I believe a generator instead of gears. I was head of sales. A Mr. Pottorf was floor ful and interesting to me. At my age I was so ignorant, I thought both of those were manager of the assembly line, and Carl should not be surprised that I have been pretty far out and not very wise. Fox was production manager in the office caught up in the historic fabric, but to meet building. I sat across from Mr. Fox and H. DlXON TRUEBLOOD personal associations in several of the arti- had the job of keeping track of all custom- Lacjuna Hills, California cles is disconcerting. built cars in the plant. This included the I was born and lived in a comfortable ordering of all special items not included house on Broadway with beamed ceilings, in the standard Stutz—wire wheels, side arilyn Irvin Holt's article "West to panels, and plate rails in the dining room mounts and mirrors, Goodyear Double Indiana on the Orphan Train" failed without ever knowing it was a "four-square Eagle tires, radios, special paints, lac- M to tell readers an organization was formed Arts and Crafts" house. quers, broadcloth and mohair upholstery, in 1986 to preserve the history of the Mrs. Bowies taught art at Shortridge and such. Too, some special bodies were orphan trains era, Orphan Train Heritage High School when I was there. My older sis- ordered, like the Weymann (made in Indi- Society of America, Inc. (OTHSA), P.O. Box ter had made a copper tie pin and a silver anapolis) and the Fleetwood and LeBaron 496, Johnson, AR 72741. The organization ring in Mrs. Bowles's jewelry class. of Detroit. It was a daily job to follow these holds meetings of surviving orphan train I was a member of the Indianapolis Cam- special cars through the plant and report riders, descendants, and interested persons era Club in the 1930s and have fond memo- to Mr. Gorrell. in eight locations across America. OTHSA ries of Brandt Steele as an accomplished So you can see, I find great joy in reading gathers and shares information located at fellow member. this issue of Traces. It all brings back fond the Orphan Train Riders Research Center GEORGE C. BURKERTJR. memories of my years in the Hoosier state. and Museum located in Springdale, Indianapolis GENE BRANSON Arkansas. For more information readers San Diego, California may call (501) 756-2780. MARY ELLEN JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. 2 TRACES E D I T o R s' PAGE B',eyond any other standard, I tend to judge the quality of the biographies I read by the sense of loss I feel at the death of the subject. In this vein, I have seldom been moved more deeply than I was by Shade of the Raintree, a biography left to us, with a hero who seemed like our Storyteller's Daughter," Catherine E of Ross Lockridge Jr. written by his son father—exuberant, ambitious, maybe all Forrest Weber tells how Grace West's Larry Lockridge. too good." It may have been a poor stories of life in Indiana not only Larry was five years old when his father substitute for a father, but it is still a encouraged her daughter to be a writer killed himself on 6 March 1948 in the garage good book. An attempt of his new Bloomington, Indiana, home. At at no less than "a com- the time, Ross Lockridge Jr.'s novel, Raintree plete embodiment of County, was the publishing sensation of the the American Myth," year. The book was a national best-seller, a the novel is in print main selection of the Book-of-the-Month again, thanks to Larry Club, and the winner of a $150,000 literary Lockridge's insistence prize.