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World War I Resources

The experiences of Hoosiers during World War I are heavily documented, largely through the efforts of the Indiana Historical Commission, the predecessor to the Indiana Historical Bureau. There are Historical Commission scrapbooks for most of Indiana’s counties with newspaper clippings, reports, and photographs, chronicling the service of local men and women. The scrapbooks are available in the Indiana Division’s collection, and can be identified by searching the library’s online catalog with the keywords: [Name of County] Indiana History European War

This subject guide should serve as a starting point to the materials available in both the Indiana Division and Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of the Indiana State Library.

Books and Printed Materials

American Legion Auxiliary. Indiana Women in the World War. 1936. (2 vols.) ISLI 940.3772 A512i

Cummins, Cedric. Indiana Public Opinion and the World War, 1914-1917, Indiana Historical Bureau, 1945. ISLI 940.3 C971i (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Daughters of the American Revolution, Indiana. War Service Records. Indianapolis, 1920. (2 vols.) ISLI 940.3772 D239w

European War Poems by Indiana Authors. Indiana Historical Commission, 1920. (3 vols.) ISLI 940.491 I385wp

European War Songs by Indiana Composers. Indiana State Library, 1922. (50 songs) ISLI [oversized] 784 I385ms

Gold Star Honor Roll. A Record of Indiana Men and Women Who Died in the Service of the United States and Allied Nations. Indiana Historical Commission, 1921. ISLI 940.3772 I385w (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Greenough, Walter Sidney. The War Purse Of Indiana; The Five Liberty Loans And War Savings and Thrift Campaigns in Indiana during the World War. Indiana Historical Commission, 1922. ISLI 940.3772 I385gw (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Harding, Samuel B. The Study of the Great War: A Topical Outline, with Extensive Quotations and Reading References. United States Committee on Public Information, 1918. ISLO 940.32 no. 1 (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Indiana National Guard Organizations in the World War with World War Designations. Indianapolis, Apr. 28, 1937. ISLO 355 no. 17 (ISL Digital Collections)

Indiana State Council of Defense. A Report of the Indiana State Council of Defense (by Sections), for the Calendar Year Ending Dec. 31, 1917. ISLI 940.3772 I385RPT

Indiana State Council of Defense, Woman’s Section. Report of the Woman's Section of the Indiana State Council of Defense from October, 1917 to April, 1919.
ISLI 940.3772 I385WR (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Indiana State Library. Indiana in the European War, Fort Benjamin Harrison Clippings. Indianapolis, 1917-1918. (2 vols.) ISLI 940.3772 I385fh

Indiana State Library. Indiana in the European War, General Clippings. Indianapolis, 1917-1923. (40 vols.) ISLI 940.3772 I385gc

Levell, Robert O. A Journey through World War One. New Castle, Ind.: Dale Printing Co., 1953. ISLO 940.3772 no. 29

National American War Mothers--Indiana Chapter. Papers of Indiana "War Mothers": Names of Soldiers in World War with Names of Their Mothers. ISLI [oversized] 940.3772 N277P

Rider, Harry Angevin. Indiana Book of Merit; Official Individual Decorations and Commendations Awarded to Indiana Men and Women for Services in the World War. Indiana Historical Bureau, 1932. ISLI 940.464 R544i

Straub, Elmer Frank. A Sergeant's Diary in the World War: The Diary of an Enlisted Member of the 150th Field Artillery (Forty-Second [Rainbow] Division) October 27, 1917 to August 7, 1919. Indiana Historical Commission, 1923. ISLI 940.48 S912S

War Service Text-book for Indiana High Schools. Indiana Department of Public Instruction, 1918. ISLI 940.3 I385TB (digital copy at Internet Archive)

Indiana State Library Digital Collections

World War I and the Hoosier Experience

ISL Photograph Collections – World War I

ISL Oral History Collection – World War I

Manuscripts

The following Rare Books and Manuscripts collections are World War I related and include diaries, letters, photographs, ephemera, and other materials. For more information, visit the online Manuscripts Catalog.

Joe Rand Beckett Collection (S0091, S3211)

Lawrence A. Cassidy Memoir (S0239)

Hugh R. Foss Papers (S0482)

Aletha Grace Hawk Collection (S0612, V444)

Merica Evans Hoagland Papers (S0664)

Mrs. K. L. McGill Collection (S0885)

Paul V. McNutt Collection (S0902)

Ernest Meyer Collection (S0947, OBD020)

Frank Marshall Moorman Certificate (L111)

Norman B. Nash Collection (S1007)

John J. Powell Collection (S1073)

Karl John Schoen Collection (S1144)

Charles L. White Diary (S1390)

Otis E. Brown, Post No. 2 Collection (S2342)

Martin County World War I History (S1787)

Samuel Woodfill Dog Tag (S1860)

Wrigley Family Papers (S1869)

Henry Wright and Mary Susan Bromwell Family Papers (S1920)

Helen F. Bennett Papers (S2220)

Orval Ferguson Collection (S2311)

Joe S. Taylor Diary (S2437)

John B. Conway Collection (S2520)

Vernon Kniptash Diary (S3232)

Illustrative Review Dummy Copy (S3379)

Indianapolis Branch American Fund for French Wounded (S2911)

Joseph Beeler Letters (L014)

Cornelius H. Menger Letters (L105)

Blanche Liffick Morton Collection (L112)

Urban C. Stover Papers (L151)

Lucille Lipps Gaynor Collection (L206, SP013)

Harold Standish Barr Collection (L340)

Michael W. Carr and Carrie Sergeant Carr Family Papers (L351)

325th Field Artillery Association Papers (L358)

Franklin Newton Taylor Collection (L359, V308, OBC144)

Staudt Family Papers (L532)

Claude M. Gray Papers (L540)

George W. Stout’s State Council of Defense Notes (L545)

Harold Wilson Scott Collection (L553)

Charles B. Marshall Collection (L622)

Florence J. Martin Scrapbook (V334)

Additional Resources 

The Indiana State Archives maintains the original files of the Indiana Historical Commission and its successor, the Indiana Historical Bureau, for the World War I Gold Star Honor Roll and the World War I Book of Merit, more information here.

IN AG 10-1-2019