National Family History Month (October)

October is National Family History Month. By way of reminder, we have prepared the video below. We hope you enjoy it and will explore your family history in the weeks and months ahead. Your family is a "treasure trove" of historical information awaiting your exploration.

OverDrive Digital Books at MPL

On October 11, 2010, Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana) will be joining OverDrive, the online digital books provider, enabling patrons to check-out and download eBooks using their library cards. Our video below highlights the program.

Baskets From Junior's Farm at Anderson Orchard Autumn Apple Festival (Sept. 25-26, 2010)

Baskets From Junior's Farm graciously donated the prize baskets given away at the library's booth at this year's Old Settlers Festival & Picnic in August. They have a wide range of custom-made, handwoven baskets from which to choose.

On Saturday and Sunday, September 25-26, 2010, Baskets From Junior's Farm will have a booth at Anderson Orchard's autumn apple festival. Anderson's is situated along Greencastle Road just a few miles west of Mooresville, Indiana. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood. Around these parts, the fall festivals are wondrous and delightful.

(Photos © 2010 by Samantha M. Buckley. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by Permission.)

Hoosier Artists on Display at MPL (Part #2)

Mooresville Public Library presents its second video showcasing artwork on display at the library. The artists in this video hailed from Mooresville and Morgan County, Indiana.

Hoosier Artwork on Display at MPL

We present the first in a series of "treasure trove" history videos showcasing the Hoosier artwork on display at Mooresville Public Library. We feature several artists from Mooresville, Morgan County, and elsewhere in Indiana.

Indiana Ghost Stories

Local groceries are already stocking Halloween candy, reminding us that October is fast approaching. If you like ghost stories, Indiana has its share of haunted tales amongst its facts and folklore.

Indiana author Karl C. B. Muilliwey has encountered his share of Hoosier ghosts over the past 20 years. Our book trailer below provides a summary of Haunting at Sycamore Lake, one of his books on the paranormal, which is available to checkout (or read a digital copy) from our Evergreen Indiana catalog.  You may purchase a copy online (Kindle eBook or paperback) from Amazon.

There are basically three types of ghost scenarios: (1) phantasms of the dead; (2) phantasms of the living (sometimes associated with astral projection, or out-of-body experiences [OBEs]); and (3) "things that go bump in the night" (poltergeists). In our YouTube Channel paranormal playlist, we have featured several books on these subjects.

One of the "living phantasm" variety of Hoosier ghost tales was related in The Phenomena of Astral Projection, by Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington (London: Rider & Co., 1951), pp. 186-187. We reproduce the episode from the book below.] If the images below are too small, right-click them and save them to your desktop. Then use a photo viewer or photo editing software to see them at full-scanned size.

Self-Guided Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Mooresville, IN

Every town has echoes from its past. History is largely the tale of ghosts--facts and folklore about people, places, and things that no longer exist in the same way as before. In a community like Mooresville, Indiana, which has nearly two centuries of history packed away in its attics and cellars, there is much to learn through careful observation.

Take a self-guided walking tour of historical downtown Mooresville, for instance. That's what one needs to do to discover the "treasure trove" of intriguing stories available in the old buildings, records, and photographs that comprise the Indiana Room Collection at Mooresville Public Library. Our program trailer below sheds some light on this activity:

Everyone who has ever lived contributed a history that is worth investigating. We probably can't explore them all, but we can take a closer look at the town we call home and learn more about those who came before to help make it the community we know today.

MPL "Banned Books Week 2010" Display

Mooresville Public Library (Mooresville, Indiana) already has its 2010 banned books display up and ready to read! This year, Banned Books Week is Sept. 25 through Oct. 2, 2010. Select a banned book of your choice to read. You have the freedom to choose! Protect it by exercising your right to read what you want.

MPL "Banned Books Week 2010" Video

Banned Books Week is Sept. 25 through Oct. 2, 2010. We offer our video below to encourage viewers to fight censorship by reading the banned book of your choice. Visit your favorite library today to check-out what you want to read. Like all freedoms, this, too, can be taken away by those who wish to control the information we receive. Let no one curtail your right to think for yourself.

Mabel Leigh Hunt (Mooresville Moments Series)

Mabel Leigh Hunt (1892-1971), Hoosier author, was born in Coatesville, Indiana and lived in Greencastle (until age 10) , Plainfield (until her father passed over), and Indianapolis. She attended DePauw University (1910-12), and, in 1923-24, she attended Western Reserve University Library School (Cleveland, Ohio). In 1926 she began her career as a librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library, a position she held until 1938, when she became a full-time writer.

Hunt's best known novel, Lucinda: a Little Girl of 1860 (1934), was partially based upon her mother's experiences growing up among Quaker families. The characters from the book were derived from actual people Hunt and her family knew in Mooresville, Plainfield, and the surrounding countryside of Hendricks and Morgan Counties. Mooresville Public Library has, in its Indiana Room vertical files, a handwritten note from the author indicating the real people from which her novel's characters were drawn.

Our reprint (click below to enlarge) from Mooresville Moments (1999), written by town historian and retired MPL Indiana Room Librarian Wanda Potts, includes two installments about Mabel Leigh Hunt.