The Genealogy and Local History Fair returns to the Indiana State Library on Saturday, October 26th, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm!

Join us for a full day of genealogy presentations and exhibitors at the 2024 Genealogy and Local History Fair! Our theme is At the Crossroads of America: Westward Migration and Family History, where we will examine where our ancestors went after they arrived in the United States and how they got there. Parking validation will be available for attendees who park in the Senate Avenue parking garage directly across from the library and bring their ticket in for validation. For questions, or to register as an exhibitor, please email the Genealogy Division at genmail@library.in.gov.

Eleanor Brinsko will present “Westward Ho: Migrations Methods of the United States” — Family history researchers of non-Indigenous peoples focus on how their ancestors arrived on American soil, but how did they get to their chosen place of settlement? Was it intentional or coincidence? What modes of transportation were available? This presentation focuses on the people who have called the land called America “home” and the methods they chose to migrate across the country.

Annette Burke Lyttle will present “How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest” — Business owners, land speculators, and communities wishing to grow all turned to various forms of advertising to entice people to migrate to the Midwestern territories and states. This presentation will examine how newspaper advertising, pamphlets, gazetteers, and books were aimed at prospective migrants from the eastern parts of the U.S. and prospective immigrants from Europe to get them to come and work, buy land, and settle in these sparsely-populated frontier areas. We’ll look at what kinds of messages these ads used in order to make hard work and pioneer living seem attractive.

As well as “The National Road: America’s First Federal Highway” — Built between 1811 and 1837, the National Road was the first federally-funded highway in America. Extending from Maryland to the frontier of Illinois, this migration route allowed thousands of people to settle in the Midwest.