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Historic Preservation Month

May is National Historic Preservation Month. What does that mean to you? Well, probably a lot if you live in, work in or ever visit historic places. National Historic Preservation…

May is National Historic Preservation Month. What does that mean to you? Well, probably a lot if you live in, work in or ever visit historic places.

National Historic Preservation Month may not have meant much to me two months ago, before I began working in the Meredith Nicholson House, which houses our offices here at Indiana Humanities. This beautiful Georgian/Colonial  Revival-style home is thought to be the first of its kind built in Indianapolis. Every day, when I walk up the steps and through the front door (much bigger than the front doors you’ll find in today’s homes) I can’t help but think of the many people who inhabited this house before we did. As I drive up Delaware Street, I wonder how different it must have been at the turn of the century when the house was built, when horse-drawn carriages were the method of transportation instead of IndyGo buses. I can’t help but be inspired when I’m sitting in the first-floor library, discussing what it means to be a Hoosier, knowing that over a hundred years ago, a notable Hoosier author (Meredith Nicholson) sat in the same space.

And that’s why I am so excited to share the Historic Preservation Month Photo Contest, sponsored by the Indiana DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, along with other local organizations. Whether your photo is of an entire building or the little details, of sites that have been well-kept or sites that have suffered from time and neglect, the possibilities are endless. The deadline is April 5th, so there’s plenty of time to get out and explore the historic treasures that are all around us.

More information, including contest rules, can be found here: http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/3994.htm