Hoosier History Live

Originally aired on 09/14/2024. Nelson is joined by Purdue University historian John Norberg to explore an array of compelling stories, including a horrific collision involving train cars carrying Purdue football players, fans, faculty and alumni for a big game against IU in 1903. Passengers included a football player among those taken to the morgue who recovered and eventually became the governor...

Originally aired 8/31/2024. Nelson is joined by Julia Whitehead, founder and CEO of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library to discuss the author's impact on his peers and those who came after him. 

Originally aired on 8/24/2024. Nelson's guest, architectural historian Ben Ross of RATIO Architects , shares insights about the early architects of Indiana. 

Originally aired on 08/17/2026. Nelson is joined by Ray Boomhower, an author and editor with the Indiana Historical Society, to answer your questions. 

Originally aired 8/10/2024 Guest Elaine May Conly won an essay contest to meet the Beatles during their legendary concerts at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1964 as 15-year-old Howe High School student. Father and son duo, David and Evan Humphrey, co-authors of the new book "We Love You, Beatles: Why the Fab Four Still Matter to Their Hoosier Fans" join the conversation too.

He visited Indiana 10 times, trips that included riveting and colorful episodes that made national news.

Guest Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp talks with Host Nelson Price about invasive pests impacting plants and trees in Indiana.

Rock and roll icon Chuck Berry was the headliner at a concert at  Bush Stadium  in 1972, the first of a long-forgotten series of music festivals at the former baseball stadium in Indianapolis. A poster for that 1972 concert is now part of the collection of the  Indiana Music History Project . So are rare vinyl LP's and 45's featuring Indiana musicians. And so are four Indiana University yearbooks...

As Hoosier History Live salutes the recent 80th anniversary of  D-Day , a milestone during  World War II , we will explore the Indiana connections to the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken. Our guest, World War II historian  Ron May , an author and chaplain, interviewed Hoosiers involved in various ways with D-Day, which was June 6, 1944. He also has researched the lives of those who did...

New information continues to emerge about a woman whose deathbed testimony in 1925 helped end the stranglehold of the notorious  Ku Klux Klan  in Indiana. And there are multiple, new efforts underway to spotlight the legacy of  Madge Oberholtzer , the victim of a lurid crime by KKK leader,  D.C. Stephenson , her neighbor in the  Irvington  neighborhood of Indianapolis. So Hoosier History Live will...

Maybe you have heard some of these comments about houses built in the 1800s and early 1900s: "They never had closets." "Anything that sticks out of the house – like a wing -- was a subsequent addition." "Their only light was from candles or kerosene lamps." These are widespread misconceptions that our distinguished guest, Indianapolis-based architectural historian Benjamin L. Ross  of  RATIO Archi...

A fan favorite even though he shunned publicity, hard-charging  Bill Vukovich  was the two-time defending champion at the  Indianapolis 500  and on his way to a third consecutive victory in 1955 when he was killed during a horrific crash. One of his closest friends was a nationally acclaimed sportswriter, charismatic  Angelo Angelopolous  of the  Indianapolis News , who chronicled Vukovich's rise...

All across the state, sites are named in his honor. The city of Lafayette, for example. In Indianapolis, there's Lafayette Road. In the city of Princeton in southwestern Indiana, there's a Lafayette Park. And the  Marquis de Lafayette , hailed as a hero of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution, is the only individual to have two counties in Indiana with names associated with him:...

Sure, the White House has been the setting for hundreds of joyous and celebratory events. But the historic home of U.S. presidents and their families also has been a setting for deaths, including that of the only First Lady from Indianapolis. Not only did  Caroline Scott Harrison , the beloved wife of  President Benjamin Harrison , die in the White House, so did his grandfather. William Henry Harr...

Nearly 160 years ago this month,  President Abraham Lincoln  was assassinated in Washington D.C. Witnesses to the tragic event on April 14, 1865 may have included several Hoosiers who claimed to be at Ford's Theatre. In the decades following the shooting, residents of Indiana towns and cities including  Dayton  in Tippecanoe County,  Ladoga  in Montgomery County,  Jonesboro  in Grant County and  A...

She vanished more than 75 years ago over the South Pacific while attempting to fly around the world in a  Lockheed Electra 10E  twin-engine airplane sponsored by  Purdue University . That's just one of the connections between famous aviator  Amelia Earhart  and the Hoosier state. She was particularly associated with Purdue, which has the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of artifac...

Have you ever gazed up at the Art Deco-style  Circle Tower Building  in downtown Indianapolis? With its tiered exterior design of the upper floors, the 14-story building has been a landmark on Monument Circle for more than 90 years. Also on Monument Circle, the  Columbia Club  has been a presence even longer. The building that houses the prestigious private club was completed in 1925 and is on the...

Surveys in recent years often have found more than 25 percent of Hoosier respondents did not know the name of the governor, according to a Ball State University professor quoted in a recent Indianapolis Star article. Does that sound alarming? Well, efforts are underway to increase civic understanding both by the general public and by students at Indiana schools. In a joint project, the  Indiana Ba...

Calling all Hoosiers (or Hoosiers at heart who live in other states): Do you have any questions about Indiana's heritage that you'd like to ask historians? This show will be an ideal opportunity, with an open phone line throughout as Nelson is joined by  Glory-June Greiff , a well-known public historian with broad and deep expertise about the Hoosier state. In between phone calls from listeners –...

Although the heyday of the Indiana Avenue jazz music scene in Indianapolis has been explored frequently – including on Hoosier History Live shows – one aspect is seldom discussed. What happened to the lives of the musicians during the 1970s, '80s and '90s? Where did they perform after the Indiana Avenue nightclubs closed? Those are the questions we will explore when Nelson is joined by a well-know...

From a massive former factory on the eastside of  Indianapolis  that's been repurposed into two charter schools to a 1950s-style diner in  Plainfield  and a former Masonic Temple in  Greenfield , sites along  U.S. 40  in Indiana will be in Hoosier History Live's spotlight. We also will explore a bygone barbershop that was owned by a formerly enslaved African American entrepreneur as well as two ea...

One series is called "Sharing Hoosier History Through Stories". Another series, about historic landmarks across Indiana, is titled "If These Walls Could Tell". There's also an annual "Liar's Contest" on the opening night of the Indiana State Fair. Storytelling Arts of Indiana  is deeply involved in each of those, and, as Hoosier History Live salutes  Women's History Month , we will spotlight a wom...

How often does Indiana rank as the No. 1 state in a national list? Well, here's a record for the books: More  Carnegie Libraries  were built in Indiana than any other state. Between 1901 and about 1918, 164 public libraries built in large part by funding from philanthropist and industrialist  Andrew Carnegie  (1835-1919) were constructed in Indiana. More than 100 of them are still used as public l...

Way back in 1876, when firefighting equipment was transported by horse-drawn wagons, the first Black firefighters were hired by the  Indianapolis Fire Department . The four African Americans included a firefighter who, in 1911, died in the line of duty. Details about the story of the trail-blazing firefighters will be described on this show as Hoosier History Live salutes  Black History Month . Ou...

On the east end of downtown Indianapolis, there was a community (or "barrio") of Mexican families during the 1940s and '50s. During the 1960s and '70s, camps in the farm fields of  Grant County  and  Howard County  were set up for migrant workers, most of them of Mexican or other Latino heritage. So there were urban as well as rural residents of Latino heritage in the Hoosier state during the mid...