Hours & Contact
The Center for Culver History museum and research center and Antiquarian and Historical Society of Culver offices are located on the lower level of the Culver-Union Township Public Library. Hours currently in effect are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Stop by or call us at the Culver Public Library during office hours: phone 574-842-2941, address ext. 218. 107 N. Main Street, email historyofculver@gmail.com
Mission
The Center for Culver History seeks to preserve and disseminate the history of Culver, Lake Maxinkuckee, and the Culver Military Academy. We do this through permanent and rotating exhibits on subjects ranging from Culver’s railroads, town businesses, and the Potawatomie Indians. In addition, through our research center, we provide access to an array of historic town documents, photographs, yearbooks, and other sources, for those interested in researching local or family history. We also seek to collect artifacts and stories related to Culver history from residents. Currently, Antiquarian news and historical feature articles are published in the Culver Citizen, which AHS members recieve as part of their membership.
Museum News
Attend the May 12 community-meeting to ensure the museum’s future
There is an upcoming all-community meeting to discuss the museum’s future and invite the community to become involved in plans for that future. For more on this event, click here for the recent article in the Culver Citizen, or join our group on facebook for updates on the event: http://www.facebook.com/events/273609709389029/
AHS awarded two grants from the Marshall County Community Foundation
The AHS was among the Culver organizations to to receive grant awards from the Marshall County Community Foundation. The museum is extremely grateful for these awards, as they will allow us to move forward on several projects we could not otherwise undertake. With one award we will purchase new scanning and photo editing equipment, which will aid in our digitization of photos and documents for our archives and the website. The other will fund the production of a short historical video about the history of Culver, to be shown in the museum. We are seeking community input for both projects. Let us know if you’re interested in being interviewed, doing research, or sharing memories or photographs for the video. Click here to read the article in the Culver Citizen: http://www.thepilotnews.com/content/culver-entities-receive-mccf-grants
Recent Exhibits
Click here to see exhibit galleries
- As part of the One Book/One Town Civil War-themed events taking place across Marshall County, the Center for Culver History is highlighting Culver’s veterans and contributions to the war effort. The exhibit showcases army documents, letters, and original photographs of several notable veterans. Residents seeking to research ancestors’ participation in the war can look through lists showing veterans of Marshall County and Union Township, as well as accessing information on the regiments and burial locations of local soldiers. Portions of this exhibit are now available on our website. Click here.
- The Culver Religious History exhibit features sections on the spiritual beliefs of the local Potawatomie Indians and how they were influenced by Jesuit and methodist missionaries in the area Culver, a photographic display of Culver’s historic churches, and history of Culver’s Chautauqua Assemblies, whose cultural and religious influenced offerings influenced Culver religious and educational life and generated tourist interest around the turn of the century. In addition, the exhibit includes artifacts (church register and pictoral bible) from the Maxinkuckee Church, located in the former Maxinkuckee village. There is also a beautifully illustrated 1877 baptismal certificate from Zion Church, which, before merging with Grace Church in 1950) held services southwest of town, near today’s Zion Cemetary.
- A display created by Sherrill Fujimura depicts Culver High School yearbooks through the century. This exhibit depicts the aspects of the modern yearbook compared to how differently it was to the yearbooks from as far as the early 1900s. The captions tell of a history of smaller graduation classes, girls’ sports teams through the years, the layout similarities and differences in the publication, and the reasons yearbooks existed. The articles tell of letters posted in certain yearbooks by famous figures from local areas, and why an Alumni Association was established.
- From April 18 to May 22, we are showcasing “Indiana through the Mapmakers Eye.” IHS description: Because of the way we use them, we assume maps to be complete and accurate. No map, however, can show all aspects of reality, so the mapmaker chooses the information that will best convey his message and sometimes slants the information to serve his purposes. Indiana Through the Mapmaker’s Eye examines four ways people have used maps through the years: as documentation, as tools, as political images and as art. Some of the maps included in the display are an 1833 tourist pocket map of Indiana, a 1910 Sanborn Company fire insurance map of Bloomington, Thomas Kitchin’s 1747 map of French settlements in North America, a circa 1880 scale model map of the University of Notre Dame, and an 1881 bird’s-eye view of Mount Vernon, Ind.
In conjunction with the Indiana maps exhibit, the Center for Culver History will display many of its own historic maps, including Platt maps from the late 18 and early 1900′s showing landowners around the Lake, aerial
photographs, maps of Indian reservations and trails, town maps featuring local businesses in various years, and artistic & touristic maps of town, the lake, and the Academy.
Volunteers
The Center for Culver History is currently seeking interested volunteers to fill a variety of positions.
Membership Database Manager
This position would entail regular stops by the museum once every week or two to enter new members into our database and mail out thank you and welcome letters. The hours are flexible, and the total time should not exceed an hour a week. You will need to be computer literate and have familiarity with databases or willingness to learn how to operate our system (Past Perfect). Job responsibilities include keeping track of membership dues and donations, generating thank you letters, and managing member data. Our museum database software allows for easy tracking of this information, and enables users to quickly generate letters and lists of information. It is a fairly user-friendly program, that should not take too much training.
Sales Associate
We are currently seeking a business-savvy Associate for our museum gift shop. Responsibilities would include publicizing our items through the web and community outreach to local businesses, researching and purchasing new items, republishing out-of-print historical books, and launching an online website to sell our products.
Exhibit Designer
The exhibit designer would aid in the construction and research of exhibits. No previous experience is necessary, beyond a familiarity with Culver history and/or ability to research and write for the public.
Other opportunities
In addition to the above positions, volunteers are welcome at any time to work on a wide variety of projects, under the supervision of museum staff. These projects include scanning and historic photographs and yearbooks, digitizing interviews, conducting interviews, assisting in exhibit design, and helping as needed throughout the museum.
Special thanks to our current volunteers. Longtime Culver resident Warren Bickel was instrumental in the construction of our most recent exhibit, on Culver religious history, and also recently spent an afternoon organizaing some unsorted archives. Culver teen Lizzie Strati has been typing up some unpublished stories from REAL Meals atendees, for eventual publication on the website. We regret the departure of former Database Membership Manager Barb Burke, and thank her for her contribution to the society and efforts at welcoming new members.