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What Lies Beneath: Secrets of the Statehouse Basement

Online Lecture

Deadly spiders, hidden tunnels, a secret staircase, and the world's largest stuffed hog. Since the Statehouse opened in 1888, its basement has served as barracks for soldiers, a speakeasy for legislators, a storage facility for unexploded cannonballs, and the home of the Indiana State Museum.

Join us on Zoom for a one-hour lecture and Q&A to explore the fascinating history of the cavernous netherworld that lies beneath the majestic rotunda of Indiana’s Statehouse.

Presented by: A retired attorney, Libby Cierzniak is a former longtime contributor to HistoricIndianapolis.com, and in 2020 was a co-recipient of the Indiana Historical Society’s Hubert Hawkins Local History Award for her work on the Indy history site’s Déjà vu Tuesday and Indianapolis Collected features, and on her own blog, Indypolitan.com. She is a former trustee of the Indiana Historical Society and currently serves as president of the Historical Society of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Libby is also a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis and a frequent guest on Hoosier History Live.

Indianapolis-Marion County Resources
Digital Indy - Indianapolis Postcard Collection
Encyclopedia of Indianapolis - Architect
BiblioCommons - IndyPL Materials Reading List

This event is being held as an online meeting/webinar via Zoom. Registered attendees will be emailed login instructions approximately 2 hours before the event. Made possible by the Indy Library Foundation. 

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