Ancestry Library Edition -- Now Available @ MPL

Ancestry Library Edition is now available for our genealogy patrons across the Library campus.  We have a promo trailer, too.

Ancestry Library Edition Promo Trailer

by Mooresville Public Library

ProQuest has several online tutorials available to help you master ALE.  We blogged about that earlier this week.

Drop by and discover your ancestors' -- and your -- secret, adventurous past.  Who knew family could be so interesting?

P.S.  Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest Online rely upon digitized genealogical and historical records preserved in archives.  Our promo trailer above honors all such archives for their important preservation of our historical heritage.

Ancestry Library Edition

The Library now subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition (ALE), an online genealogical research database from ProQuest.  If you plan to research your family tree, then you'll want to use this service.

Now Available at MPL (Onsite Use Only)

ProQuest has a short video that explains ALE in a nutshell.

Ancestry Library Edition

Two-Minute Promo Video

by ProQuest

Now that the Library has database accessibility, patrons will be able to log-into Ancestry.com to do genealogy research.  There are some important rules, however:

• MPL patrons may ONLY log-into Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) from the Library's campus.  So there is no remote access available.

• The good news is that you may log-into ALE using your wireless device (laptop or notebook computer or other web-browsing gadget), but, again, you must connect while you are physically at the Library.

• ALE will also be available at the Library's computer lab work stations and on the Indiana Room public PC.

If you need remote accessibility, the Library also offers Heritage Quest Online (HQ), another popular genealogy database.  You may access that anywhere you have an Internet connection. All you need is your MPL-issued Evergreen Indiana library card (or MPL Access library card). Click the icon below to jump to Heritage Quest's log-in screen.

Click Logo to Log-in

Heritage Quest Online

Two-Minute Tutorial by ProQuest

FREE ONLINE TRAINING WEBINARS & LIBGUIDES

Learning how to use Ancestry Library Edition or Heritage Quest Online is easy.  ProQuest offers FREE online training webinars.

The Library will also have free bookmarks with quick tips and strategies you may use to enhance your ALE research.

You may also ask the MPL Indiana Room Historian to assist you.  That's me.  I will be happy to help.

Digging For Local History

Mooresville Public Library has a History Diggers group.  Patrons in grades K-6 learn how to make historical research fun.  On December 3, 2012, our History Diggers will make their own state or town flag designs and will uncover answers to many popular local history questions.  You, too, can play along! We have a list of questions (click images below to enlarge) for our history diggers. Mooresville mysteries to be solved!

My Library has several local history resources:

MPL Website

• Famous Mooresvillians page
• Indiana Room/Genealogy page

MPL Blog

• MPL Indiana Room Treasure Trove

If you're reading this, you're already here!

The key to using the blog as a local historical research tool is your command of the search line.  In the upper left-hand corner of the blog, there is a search line.  Our handy red arrow illustrates.

Click Image to Bigify

If you're looking for specific information about a particular place, person, or thing (nouns, in a word), type in your search word(s).  For example, if you want to learn about any dry goods stores that operated in downtown Mooresville, say, a century ago, try out dry goods downtown in the search line.  If you'd like to dig out the history about songs written in praise of Mooresville (or the people who settled around there nearly 200 years ago), try Mooresville song.  Interested in the history of hospitals in Mooresville? Search for Mooresville hospital.  You will find answers!  See how much fun digging for local history can be?

MPL YouTube Channel

• Local history "treasure trove" videos.  Our playlist is below. Click it, and the videos play!  Amazing thing, technology.  (Click the "next" button on the player below to jump to the next video in the playlist.)

Suppose, for instance, you'd like to know more about the history of the Mooresville Sanitarium.  Click the next button on the player above until you reach the video that talks about it.  Easy as pie!  But you'd have to talk to Miss Meg and Miss Rachel about that.

2022 UPDATE:  The History Diggers group has been discontinued at the library.

Updated "Treasure Troves" on New MPL Website

In August, 2012, MPL launched its new website.  Recently, the Indiana Room and Local History web pages were updated and expanded. Click the images below to go directly to those web pages.

 Click image to go to our Indiana Room web page

Click image to go to our new Local History web page

We have an extensive collection of old photographs from Mooresville and the surrounding area in our Indiana Room.  Our promo trailer below give a glimpse.  Click the play button (in the center of the image below) to start the video.

2012 Banned Books Week

The Library has just made a promo trailer for 2012 Banned Books Week, which is September 30 through October 6, and which this year features a virtual read-out of banned books.  It is the 30th anniversary of BBW, and this year's theme celebrates "30 years of liberating literature."  For more information, visit the American Library Association (ALA) website.

We have a banned book trailer playlist on the MPL YouTube Channel.  Fight censorship.  Read a banned book.

Hers Was a Light That Shone Brightly

In June, 2011, the Library helped celebrate Indiana Room Librarian Emeritus Wanda Potts' 90th birthday.  Wanda passed over this week (Wednesday, July 25, 2012).  Aside from a few years' stay on the far west side of Indianapolis, she was a lifelong resident of Mooresville, Indiana.

Wanda Potts attended the Library's 100th Anniversary

celebration on Saturday, May 12, 2012

Wanda Potts' Obituary
Mooresville-Decatur Times, July 29, 2012

Wanda Rusie was born on June 16, 1921.  Her father's cousin was baseball hall of famer (and Mooresville native) Amos W. Rusie (1871-1942), known as "the Hoosier Thunderbolt," who played professionally for Indianapolis, the New York Giants, and the Cincinnati Reds (1889-early 1900s).  Wanda's talents were more cerebral, although she was rightly proud (who wouldn't be?) of having the fastest pitcher in major league baseball (at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries) in her family.

Growing up, Wanda was passionate about the cinema.  She loved movies and worked for several years in the town's then-only movie theater, the Ritz, located on East Main Street downtown in the Mooresville Times building (as it has been known for the past 40 years). Her school chums, teachers, and co-workers would have been amazed had they known (back in the 1930s and 1940s) that one day Wanda would appear in a major motion picture--Hoosiers (1986), in which she played an extra (she still had a 1950s wardrobe in her closets at home, she said, so why not?)--although, ultimately, her scenes ended on the cutting room floor.  Still, appearing in a real, live movie counts as a brush with stardom, and I'm certain that she was thrilled to appear, even briefly, alongside movie stars like those she saw at the Ritz as a teenager and young married lady (following her nuptials to Carl Richard Potts).

In 1966 Wanda Potts became the MPL Indiana Room Librarian and Assistant Librarian, which was the title (at that time) for the Assistant Director of the Library.  She held this post until she retired in 2002.  Wanda was passionate about local, county, and state history, and it was her life's work to preserve as much information as possible about Mooresville and the surrounding area, as well as historical documentation about Indianapolis and central Indiana.  She cared deeply about family histories, too--especially among hometown residents--so she assembled extensive genealogical data for the community's families.

Wanda was known for decades as the town historian.  Nobody knew more about Mooresville's colorful history than she.  The vast treasure trove of historical collections in the MPL Indiana Room was significantly created, augmented, and entirely maintained by her for nearly four decades, with the help of trusted and valued library colleagues and volunteers she had known for many years.   You would not now be reading this blog if she had not safeguarded and assembled the knowledge necessary to sketch Mooresville's historical canvas.

I would invite you to reprise my earlier blog postings containing Wanda's historical newspaper columns.  There are many such postings, so please browse them at your leisure.  You will learn more about local history than you ever thought possible.

A town’s history is like a lighthouse, shining a community’s collective memories to guide all those sailing the seas of everyday living. Wanda Potts was the lighthouse keeper, whose mastery of Mooresville history was unsurpassed, and who cherished and preserved the knowledge of nearly two centuries of community life here. Hers was the light that shone brightly. Thanks to Wanda’s labors at Mooresville Public Library, that history shines on, assuring modern residents a better understanding of the hometown she loved.

Still Your Source For Mooresville, Indiana History

Click Image to Enlarge

Soon MPL will be launching its new website.  Perhaps you've seen the "teaser" banner on our current website.  You may have also seen a "teaser" screenshot of the new website on my colleague Cauli Le Chat's blog.  If not, I can reproduce it here.

Pretty Cool Looking Web Interface

What does this mean for the Library's many blogs?  Well, they will all be posted directly through the new website rather than externally, using web hosts such as Blogger.  This will result in all of our Blogger-based blogs, including the one you're reading now, being discontinued.  Fortunately, all of our previously posted material will remain online, so it will continue to be available for readers' access.  Just  browse the archive menu on the right-hand side of this blog, or use the search tool in the upper left-hand corner.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you have found the blog interesting and informative.

Our 100th Anniversary Promo Trailer

Click Play Button in Image Above

to Start Promo Trailer



Business Spotlight of the Month

The Mooresville (Indiana) Chamber of Commerce has selected Diane Huerkamp, MPL Executive Director, as the Business Spotlight of the Month.

As chamber director Dave Nash stated in the Mooresville-Decatur Times (Saturday, May 19, 2012), "The Mooresville Public Library is a valuable community resource which strives to offer traditional library material, as well as programs and technology that help create and support lifelong learning.  We as a community are lucky to have a Library such as this, and we are proud to announce Diane Huerkamp as our Business Spotlight of the month.  MPL is just one of the places where people can volunteer and spend time with their families and classmates."

We, too, are proud of Diane and the Library, and we are honored by the Chamber's selection.

Business Spotlight of the Month (and other library awards)

on display during the MPL Centennial Celebration

(Click images to enlarge)

North Madison 3rd Graders Create Superb Mooresville History Pamphlet

Each May for the past five years (2008-2012), students studying Indiana history at North Madison Elementary School have taken a historical bus and walking tour of Mooresville, Indiana.  It is an interesting route, filled with many intriguing pieces in the town's historical tapestry.  The MPL Indiana Room Historian acts as adventure guide.  This slideshow summarizes the walking portion of the field trip (along with the history of several houses around the neighborhoods visited); this handout and two other handouts (click here and here) highlight certain historical buildings in downtown Mooresville.  To see a slideshow of the tour, click here.

The field trip was organized and supervised by North Madison educator Kristian Neal.  Under the direction of Kris, Tracy Gercak, and Susan Haynes, North Madison students have prepared a wonderful local historical handout called "Mooresville:  Our Town, Our History," for persons interested in Mooresville's nearly two complete centuries of ongoing history.  (The town's bicentennial will arrive in 2024.)  It is a superbly crafted pamphlet that anyone interested in Mooresville history will enjoy.  Congratulations to all the North Madison students and teachers involved in this informative project.

If you prefer paper to a digitized PDF, please visit the Mooresville Public Library Indiana Room.  Copies are available free-of-charge.

Better Resolution for Dancing Videos

In our previous blog posting about "Dancing Through the Decades," we uploaded our video clips directly to the blog.  The resolution is fine when you're viewing the videos in their embedded smaller sizes, but if you select the full-screen option, the videos become somewhat grainy.  So we uploaded the videos to the MPL YouTube Channel, which should provide better resolution.  Let's have a look.  (If you want to watch the videos on YouTube, click the YouTube logo, just to the left of the full-screen button, in the bottom right-hand corner of the embedded frames below.  The full-screen option may be disabled here, so watching on YouTube will give you a larger screen.)

Much better resolution, I'd venture (as my colleague, Cauli Le Chat, would say).

Dancing Through the Decades

At last Saturday's 100th anniversary party at MPL, the Fred Astaire Dancers presented "Dancing Through the Decades" in the MPL Courtyard.  This was an interactive, instructional program in which professional dance instructors taught library patrons and staff fundamental dance moves from the 19th century to the present.  We have a few video clips of the early proceedings, during which the waltz, box steps, and several swing steps (including the Jitterbug) were introduced.

Click the play arrows on the clips below to start the videos.

Meghan Adams, MPL Adult Programming Coordinator, who arranged the dancing and musical programs for the event, was pleased with the audience participation and enjoyment of the activities.  Coupled with the musical concerts presented by members of the Mooresville (Indiana) High School Orchestra and Choirs, these programs successfully served as a capstone to the Library's centennial celebration.

Butterfly Launch

At the close of Mooresville Public Library's centennial festivities on Saturday, May 12, 2012, patrons released Monarch butterflies from individual cardboard containers in which the insects were in suspended animation.  Each box held one butterfly, and opening it awakened the monarch, which dutifully took flight.  Since butterfly box-laden patrons stood all around the MPL Courtyard, we opted for a wide-angle shot to include the majority, which, unfortunately, made the butterflies rather small in perspective.  If you look carefully at our video clip, you can see the monarchs gaining altitude fast.  Librarian and MPL Director Diane Huerkamp led the crowd in the countdown and release.

Click Play Arrow Button to Start Video

The final edits for the Fred Astaire Dancer videos from MPL's celebration are "in the can," as they say in film studios.  They should be uploaded to this blog by tomorrow or Tuesday of this week.  Check back!  The dancing vids will be fun to watch.

Musical Interlude at Our Centennial Celebration

Members of the Mooresville High School Orchestra performed at yesterday's Library Centennial Celebration (Saturday, May 12, 2012).  We have a video clip of one of the pieces played during the recital.

Unfortunately, I was unable to video-record members of the Mooresville High School Choirs as they performed in the MPL Courtyard later that afternoon, as I was assisting a patron in the Library's Indiana Room.  In our previous posting, we included a still photograph near the end of their performance.

We have video from the Fred Astaire Dancers, which will be forthcoming as soon as it's edited.  Plus there's video of the butterfly release at the end of our celebration.  That, too, should appear in an upcoming posting.

More Highlights From Our Centennial Celebration

Let's share more highlights from the Library's centennial celebration yesterday (Saturday, May 12, 2012).  Much of the entertainment took place outside in front of the Library or in the Courtyard.  Click images to enlarge.

Mooresville (Indiana) High School Orchestra Ensemble

performing outside MPL entrance

From 1-2 p.m. members of the Mooresville (Indiana) High School Orchestra entertained visitors outside the Library's front entrance.  They performed various ensemble pieces that resonated with the audience, and the entryway provided an amplifying chamber so that the students' music could be heard throughout the Library grounds.

From 1-3 p.m. the Fred Astaire Dancers hosted "Dancing Through the Decades," an interactive and instructional activity in which patrons were invited to participate.  We have a few still photos showcasing the fun.

Fred Astaire Dancers demonstrate a waltz

Library patrons (& some staff) swinging

In an upcoming blog post, if I operated the camera properly, we will have short video clips of these programs.

From 3:00-3:45 p.m., members of the Mooresville (Indiana) High School Choirs performed.

Throughout the afternoon, volunteers did face-painting for young patrons.

Sometime after 3 p.m., the cake was cut, as patrons were clamoring for a slice (just kidding!)  Actually, there were so many patrons at the event, that the cake cutting ceremony had to be moved up on the schedule.  Awards were also presented:

• To Beth Hensley, MPL Craft Designer & Decorator, for her 25 consecutive years of volunteering at the Library.

• To Bill Cornwell, MPL Building Superintendent Emeritus, whose engineering and construction acumen has literally saved Library taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars over the past decade.

• To the Bucker Family, whose monument business, which was founded in 1874, is the longest continuously operating family business in Mooresville, Indiana.

We have a few historic photos of the Bucker Monument Company in the MPL Indiana Room Collections.

Bucker Marble Works (ca. 1906)

36 West Harrison Street, Mooresville, Indiana

The house and workshop were built in 1874 when

John Bucker started his family business,

which still operates today at the same location

Bucker Monument Co. (Mid-1930s)

Robert Bucker stands by his 1934 Dodge truck

 The Bucker Family working on gravestones (undated)

Bucker Monument Co. (August 2009)

At approximately quarter to four o'clock, the butterflies were released.  Hopefully, our video of this exciting event will turn out.  Stay tuned.

Our centennial celebration closed with the official unveiling of the new MPL logo, slogan, and soon-to-be-launched new and improved website.

Ed Brizendine, President of the MPL Board of Trustees,

unveils the new Library logo, slogan & website

with fellow Library Trustees Susan Joyner (Secretary),

Laura Gutzwiller (Treasurer), & Lynn Adams (Vice President)

Library Director Diane Huerkamp thanked MPL staff members for their many long hours preparing for and implementing our centennial celebration.

In our next installment, there should be some video clips of some of the activities at the celebration, if I operated the camera correctly.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

We Have Cake! And Butterflies!

At the Library's 100th anniversary party today (Saturday, May 12, 2012), WE HAVE CAKE!  That's reason enough to visit.

Take a look at this amazing four-tier Library centennial cake, along with the three butterfly cakes, prepared especially for the event by Sugar Mamas Custom Cakes, 25 West Main Street, Mooresville, Indiana.  Click images to enlarge.





Sugar Mamas puts the finishing touches on the centennial cake

Cake will be served in the Library's Bonita C. Marley Community Room this afternoon at 3:50 to 4:00 p.m., when the butterflies will be released.

MPL Bonita C. Marley Community Room

Ready for the cake-cutting ceremony



Our Interactive Library Stations

At today's centennial celebration, the Library has established several interactive work stations showcasing some of our public services.  Click images to enlarge.