Exploring Muncie’s Civil War Veterans<\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2019\/09\/23132037\/John-G.-Bennet-Veteran-Infoatmion-Archive-Photo-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
Pension forms like John G. Bennet\u2019s were instrumental in helping Amber Maxwell generalize the Muncie veteran population.<\/p><\/div>\n
Civil War Veterans in Muncie, Indiana (1870-1910) is a blog<\/a> created by Amber Maxwell that explores the issues related to disabilities gained through the American Civil War (1861-65), using case studies of Muncie veterans. This blog investigates the experiences of veterans and the growing discipline of disability studies, as well as pension programs for disabled veterans. However, the lack of detail in the pension index made a localized Muncie investigation difficult. Fortunately, Amber was able to overcome this obstacle using practices she learned throughout her major:<\/p>\n“I overcame this by using the information I did have \u2013 secondary sources and specific information for two different Muncie soldiers \u2013 and generalized it to the best of my ability to the Muncie veteran population as a whole.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The “Oldest Profession” in Muncie<\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2019\/09\/23132042\/Muncie-Map-of-Oldest-Profesions-300x261.png?resize=300%2C261&ssl=1\")
Sophia Hoffert and Claire Enk\u2019s interactive map shows exactly where the oldest profession resided in Muncie.<\/p><\/div>\n
The Middletown Prostitution Project explores the presence of prostitutes in Muncie from 1870-1910. Sophia Hoffert and Claire Enk created a podcast and a StoryMaps project<\/a> exploring this subject. By using an interactive map, the project is able to contextualize a long-gone era with roads we drive every day. Moreover, this project uproots the Protestant misconceptions of the history of our city:<\/p>\n“Being a mainly white Protestant town, we assumed that the occupational character of the city would be purely reflective of the Christian, high academic, and cosmopolitan values that the city\u2019s promoters stated about it. Prostitution seemed more like an institution that would exist out in wild west towns, along with saloons and shootouts, but the so-called \u201coldest occupation\u201d was alive and well in Muncie, Indiana between 1870-1910.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Gas Boom increases Muncie’s Saloons<\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2019\/09\/23132041\/Muncie-Gas-Boom-Map-290x300.png?resize=290%2C300&ssl=1\")
With each point marking a saloon, it\u2019s easy to see which parts of Muncie changed the most as a result of the gas boom.<\/p><\/div>\n
The Middletown Saloons Project explores alcohol consumption in Muncie from 1870-1910. John Williams and Cristian Patino created two podcasts and a map<\/a> exploring these topics, as well as a “behind the scenes” podcast that revealed their journey through this project from idea to question to archive to production. John and Cristian\u2019s work provides a fascinating glimpse into the gas boom of Muncie by labeling every point of development our city underwent during its rapid expansion.<\/p>\n“Natural gas had been discovered in Muncie in 1886. This new source of wealth drew a large number of manufacturers to the area in a brief period of time, in what is known as the gas boom. Muncie was quickly transformed from a small town to a small industrial city within 15 years. To take advantage of the job opportunities that became available, industrial workers flooded in. In this time period, saloons were where these workers hung out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
History<\/a> 200 introduces history and social studies teaching majors to the different fields of history, significant concepts in historical analysis, research methods and sources, and trends in historical interpretation. Learn more about our History Programs by visiting bsu.edu\/history<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
History majors study turn-of-the-century Muncie veterans, prostitution, and saloons The Middletown Projects are the culmination of HIST 200: Introduction to History and Historical Methods. They build on Felsenstein and Connolly’s What Middletown Read by using materials from Ball State University’s Archives and Special Collections. These projects reveal the foundational disciplinary skills used by historians, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,11],"tags":[34,13,33],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-humanities","tag-cool-classes","tag-history","tag-student-work"],"yoast_head":"\n
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In one Ball State history course, students are working to answer that question by combining traditional research with digital storytelling. Rather than writing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/csh\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close shot of folder of documents in the archive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/15095309\/Archives-1.19.26-22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/15095309\/Archives-1.19.26-22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/15095309\/Archives-1.19.26-22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/15095309\/Archives-1.19.26-22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/15095309\/Archives-1.19.26-22-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":503,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/csh\/2020\/01\/29\/researching-jewish-identity-in-muncie\/","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":1},"title":"Researching Jewish Identity in Muncie","author":"JB Bilbrey","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There is only one synagogue in Muncie. 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This begs the question, what is life like in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropology","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/csh\/category\/anthropology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Star of David","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/01\/29132338\/star-of-david-458372_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/01\/29132338\/star-of-david-458372_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/01\/29132338\/star-of-david-458372_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/01\/29132338\/star-of-david-458372_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2020\/01\/29132338\/star-of-david-458372_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/csh\/2020\/04\/29\/letter-from-the-chair-spring-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":168,"position":2},"title":"Historical Perspective: Letter from the Chair Spring 2020","author":"Cathy Day","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The importance of historical perspective In the Ball State Department of History, we teach students how to present the narrative that makes the most sense of the evidence. We teach the quest for truth. We are not the heroic frontline workers who contribute in healthcare and at supermarkets. 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During her three-year career at Ball State, she has been a part of the Ball State Women\u2019s Soccer Club and the Alpha Lambda Delta honors society. 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Pension forms like John G. Bennet\u2019s were instrumental in helping Amber Maxwell generalize the Muncie veteran population.<\/p><\/div>\n
Civil War Veterans in Muncie, Indiana (1870-1910) is a blog<\/a> created by Amber Maxwell that explores the issues related to disabilities gained through the American Civil War (1861-65), using case studies of Muncie veterans. This blog investigates the experiences of veterans and the growing discipline of disability studies, as well as pension programs for disabled veterans. However, the lack of detail in the pension index made a localized Muncie investigation difficult. Fortunately, Amber was able to overcome this obstacle using practices she learned throughout her major:<\/p>\n “I overcame this by using the information I did have \u2013 secondary sources and specific information for two different Muncie soldiers \u2013 and generalized it to the best of my ability to the Muncie veteran population as a whole.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sophia Hoffert and Claire Enk\u2019s interactive map shows exactly where the oldest profession resided in Muncie.<\/p><\/div>\n The Middletown Prostitution Project explores the presence of prostitutes in Muncie from 1870-1910. Sophia Hoffert and Claire Enk created a podcast and a StoryMaps project<\/a> exploring this subject. By using an interactive map, the project is able to contextualize a long-gone era with roads we drive every day. Moreover, this project uproots the Protestant misconceptions of the history of our city:<\/p>\n “Being a mainly white Protestant town, we assumed that the occupational character of the city would be purely reflective of the Christian, high academic, and cosmopolitan values that the city\u2019s promoters stated about it. Prostitution seemed more like an institution that would exist out in wild west towns, along with saloons and shootouts, but the so-called \u201coldest occupation\u201d was alive and well in Muncie, Indiana between 1870-1910.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With each point marking a saloon, it\u2019s easy to see which parts of Muncie changed the most as a result of the gas boom.<\/p><\/div>\n The Middletown Saloons Project explores alcohol consumption in Muncie from 1870-1910. John Williams and Cristian Patino created two podcasts and a map<\/a> exploring these topics, as well as a “behind the scenes” podcast that revealed their journey through this project from idea to question to archive to production. John and Cristian\u2019s work provides a fascinating glimpse into the gas boom of Muncie by labeling every point of development our city underwent during its rapid expansion.<\/p>\n “Natural gas had been discovered in Muncie in 1886. This new source of wealth drew a large number of manufacturers to the area in a brief period of time, in what is known as the gas boom. Muncie was quickly transformed from a small town to a small industrial city within 15 years. To take advantage of the job opportunities that became available, industrial workers flooded in. In this time period, saloons were where these workers hung out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n History<\/a> 200 introduces history and social studies teaching majors to the different fields of history, significant concepts in historical analysis, research methods and sources, and trends in historical interpretation. Learn more about our History Programs by visiting bsu.edu\/history<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" History majors study turn-of-the-century Muncie veterans, prostitution, and saloons The Middletown Projects are the culmination of HIST 200: Introduction to History and Historical Methods. They build on Felsenstein and Connolly’s What Middletown Read by using materials from Ball State University’s Archives and Special Collections. These projects reveal the foundational disciplinary skills used by historians, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,11],"tags":[34,13,33],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-humanities","tag-cool-classes","tag-history","tag-student-work"],"yoast_head":"\nThe “Oldest Profession” in Muncie<\/h4>\n
Gas Boom increases Muncie’s Saloons<\/h4>\n