Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
In January, many of us focus on getting fit and healthy. To help inspire you in this pursuit, this week we highlight images from our Health Care in Harrison County digital collection. For more inspiration, visit the collection.
Here’s to your good health!
Dr. Fred R. Bierly examines his grandson in this ca. 1940 photograph. Dr. Bierly was a practicing physician at Elizabeth for 43 years.
Dentist Dr. Howard K. Binkley examines Robert Bosler Jr., a school student at Depauw. Dr. Binkley had a dental practice in Corydon from 1939 to 1975.
Dr. Carl E. Dillman and county nurse Lillian Johnson (far right) provide immunizations to students at New Amsterdam in March 1940. Dr. Dillman was a general practitioner in Harrison County for 46 years, from 1935 to 1981. Dillman was known as a tireless worker who delivered hundreds of babies and continued to conduct house calls up until his retirement.
Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
Have you started shopping yet?
Today’s flashback kicks off the official Christmas shopping season with a sampling of Christmas advertisements from 1950. These ads were published in The Corydon Democrat and feature some of the well-known and loved stores from years past, such as Alstott’s Hardware, Berlin’s Department Store, The Fair Store, Griffin’s Dry Goods, Western Auto, and others. Check them out – you might come up with some unique gift ideas!
Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
Corydon Girl Scout Troop No. Five celebrates National Book Week in November 1960. The girls are standing in front of the Corydon Public Library (now HCPL’s Frederick Porter Griffin Center for Local History and Genealogy) with props they have made reflecting some of their favorite books.
The girls are, left to right: Jean Ann Doolittle, Jill Ann Moss, Ardis Reising, Becky Brown, Becky Shireman, Betty Martin, Janet Conrad, Becky Leffler, and Cindy Robson. Troop leaders were Mrs. Jack Moss and Mrs. Robert Brown.
Librarian of the Corydon Public Library at the time, Muriel White Doolittle, stated that the observance of National Book Week stressed the importance of reading and getting into the practice of being informed early in life.
Celebrate your freedom to read with a book of your choice.        HAPPY READING!
Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
These two images date to the late 1950s and were taken by Walter (“Ham”) Fried. Both can be found in the Walter (Ham) and Mina Fried Slide Collection on HCPL’s Digital Archives. Walter Fried (1908-1975) served as postmaster in Corydon from 1949 to 1970. He was an amateur photographer, and, along with his wife, Mina Redden (1911-2021), he captured many everyday sights and occurrences as well as special events throughout Harrison County. Click here to view the Fried Collection, and visit our website to view our complete list of 64 digital collections.
A young girl watches as two men and a woman make sorghum over an outdoor fire pit. The location is noted as Ed Steen’s property in Laconia, Indiana.A view of colorful autumn trees along Forest Road near Corydon, ca. 1960.
Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
In honor of Veterans Day, this week’s Flashback pays tribute to all Harrison County veterans. These are just a few of the many photographs of veterans that are in the collections of HCPL’s Frederick Porter Griffin Center.
Veterans Day parade in Corydon, 1945. Leading the group north on Capitol Avenue just past Chestnut Street are: Earl Miller, Marshall Robson, Leo Cromwell, and Ray Resch.
Seasoned veterans and new recruits gathered together for this photograph taken September 20, 1917 as the younger men were preparing to leave for service in World War I. A total of 58 young men from Harrison County left that day and headed to Camp Zachary Taylor. They were photographed alongside Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans who came to see them off and show support. The men are lined up across what is now Capitol Avenue near where the current Corydon Town Hall is located.
A few of Harrison County’s World War II service men and women.
Marine Sergeant James W. Arnold of Palmyra in the South Pacific during WWII.Corporal Mildred Wilson of Elizabeth re-enlists in September 1943.
Staff Sergeant John R. Sieg of Depauw is awarded the Bronze Star by Brigadier General James M. Lewis, field artillery commanding officer, 30th Infantry Division at Falkenstein, Germany, June 25, 1945. Sieg was with the 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 30th Infantry Division, 7th U. S. Army.
Sergeant Edmund Rainbolt of Corydon is presented with the Bronze Star in 1945. Rainbolt entered the service in 1942. After basic training he was deployed to the European Theater. He served as staff sergeant in Company L, 119th Infantry and entered France as part of the Normandy Invasion, landing on Utah Beach on D-Day +4, and served throughout France and Germany. Throughout his military career, Sergeant Rainbolt was awarded several medals, including two Purple Hearts, The Bronze Star, five Campaign Stars, and a Sharpshooter Badge.
Here are a few stories and experiences of Harrison County individuals who served during WWII:
Grover Lamar Bodendstadt of Mauckport,
In December 1943, Bodenstadt’s family had reason for concern as they received conflicting information about him. He had written his wife and his parents from a hospital in the Mediterranean area telling them he was wounded. After this, his parents received his name plate from a Red Cross field worker. On the morning of Friday, December 3, his parents received a telegram from a General in Washington, D. C., stating that Pfc Grover L. Bodenstadt had been killed in action on November 11 in Italy. The following day, Saturday, December 4, 1943, Mrs. Bodenstadt received a telephone call from Washington saying that Lamar was not dead. Naturally the family was distraught with the conflicting information and anxiously awaited something more definite. The news was positive. Lamar did survive the war, and earned a Purple Heart.
Robert J. Gettelfinger of Ramsey
Robert J. Gettelfinger completed advanced pilot training at the Blackland Pilot Training Camp of the Army Air Force near Waco, Texas in February 1943. Pilot Gettelfinger was then assigned to the 76th squadron in the Ferry Command base at Miami, Florida. Gettelfinger served with the Army Air Corps in the Burma/China Theatre and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as the Legion of merit. He continued his military career as an officer and served in the U.S. Air Force for 27 years, retiring with the rank of Colonel in the Strategic Air Command.
William E. Hornickel of Taylor Township
Hornickel joined the Air Force and completed his basic training at Sheppard Field in Texas. He then transferred to the University of Oklahoma for further training and received his wings at Mission, Texas in January 1944. Lt. Hornickel piloted a P-51 Mustang Fighter plane during WWII and flew over 60 missions. In December 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for a dangerous mission flown during the Battle of the Bulge. On his 61st mission, January 17, 1945, Lieutenant Hornickel’s plane was shot down over Germany. Declared missing in action, his body was found in a shallow grave in Germany a year later and returned home. He was 21 years old. Just three weeks prior to Hornickel’s deadly mission, his younger brother, Corporal Paul Hornickel, a radio operator ona B-29, was killed when his plane crashed over Saipan, December 27, 1944.
James E. Rosenbarger of Corydon
James E. Rosenbarger graduated high school in 1942. He entered the Army in February 1943 then trained in Texas and qualified as an expert rifleman and infantryman. In October 1944, Jim was sent overseas, and he was killed in action in France November 16, 1944. He was twenty-one years old.
Walter J. Simon of Depauw
Simon entered the Army in December 1941, and in July of 1943 he was sent to England as a pilot in the 8th Army Air Force. He was promoted from the rank of First Lieutenant to Captain by the end of the year. In July 1944, Captain Simon was presented with the Oak Leaf Cluster added to the Air Medal. The award was in recognition of numerous photo reconnaissance missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. Simon was a photo pilot and took daily pictures of the land-fighting in Europe. These photographs helped make the initial invasion landings a success and helped show the Allied High Command when and where to strike. By the end of his military career, Simon reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
1950 Naval Recruits
Harrison County U.S. Navy recruits in basic training May 1950. In front, left to right are Gene Baxley and Kenny Kitterman. In back are Dick Cromwell, Donald Becket and Pete Timberlake.
These images and many others are available in our Military Photographs collection on HCPL’s Digital Archives. Additional collections on the website associated with veterans include a Ledger of Harrison County Veterans’ Graves, Franklin Township Volunteer and Militia Rolls, 1862, a Grand Army of the Republic collection of records, and records of the Anderson Guards, a Civil War-era militia group based in Corydon. Visit our Digital Archives.
Many more additional materials are available in house at the Frederick Porter Griffin Center, including resources on soldiers and patriots of the American Revolution, including DAR lineage files, War of 1812 soldiers, and a wide variety of information on the Civil War and its veterans. We also have a large obituary collection and cemetery records as well as a vast amount of family and local history files. The Frederick Porter Griffin Center is located directly behind the Main library building in Corydon at 117 W. Beaver Street, and is open 9:00-5:00 Monday through Saturday. Staff will be on hand to assist you with your research.
Please note: The Griffin Center is not ADA compliant. If you would like assistance, please call 812-738-5412 or email us at genealogy@hcpl.lib.in.us to arrange for accommodations.
Contributed by Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Specialist
A community-wide Halloween celebration has taken place in Corydon since 1934. This first formally organized event included a parade, a costume contest, and a community dance held in the courthouse lobby. The Chamber of Commerce, along with various civic and fraternal organizations, sponsored the event, which was intended to provide an orderly, structured entertainment option for the entire community.
The following three articles from The Corydon Democrat describe the plans and details of the 1934 event, revealing the community spirit behind its planning and promotion, as well as the engagement of participants.
This first article, dated October 17, 1934, introduces the event plan to the public.
A second article appeared a week later in the October 24, 1934, edition of the newspaper. This article provides specific details about the parade and dance, as well as the prize categories for the costume contest. The article also provides “Halloween Suggestions” for costume ideas.
After the event, a third article was published in the paper on October 31, 1934. It gives a colorful description of the festivities and notes the wide variety of interesting costumes that appeared. The names of winners in each prize category are listed, and the conclusion is that “the entire evening’s fun was orderly and well organized and everyone seemed to have a good time.”
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has just announced the Second Lady’s 2025 Summer Reading Challenge! Kids in grades K-8 can submit the books they have already read for HCPL’s Summer Reading Challenge to receive a personalized certificate, a small prize, and a chance to win a trip to Washington, D.C.
Embark on wild adventures, get lost in imagination, and open new worlds of learning and discovery when you accept the Second Lady’s 2025 Summer Reading Challenge!
The challenge is open to children in grades K – 8, from now until September 5th. To participate, download the Summer Reading Challenge Tracker and read 12 books of your choice. Completed trackers should be submitted to read@mail.whitehouse.gov by Friday, Sept. 5 to receive a personalized certificate, a small prize, and entrance into a raffle to visit the Nation’s Capital.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is proud to support Second Lady Usha Vance’s nationwide Summer Reading Challenge. The challenge encourages kindergarten through eighth-grade students to continue their intellectual and personal development. As the nation’s leading supporter of museums and libraries, IMLS recognizes the critical role that public libraries play in ensuring that students have year-round access to books.
The next major release of Libby will introduce a new feature called Content Controls.
Content Controls allow users to configure what library content appears in Libby, for themselves or for their family, based on the intended audience for each book, audiobook, and magazine in the library collection.
This feature is optional. When content controls are in effect, they apply to every library in the user’s Libby app.
Audience choices
There is a new action named Content Controls in the Settings section of the Menu. To access it, the user must first add a library card to Libby.
Within Content Controls, users can make decisions about how Libby displays “mature content” available at their libraries: whether it appears in deep search results, whether it can be sampled or borrowed, and whether cover images are visible or redacted.
Restrictions that a user selects for how Libby displays “mature content” can also be applied to “general content” and “young adult” titles (except for cover image redaction, which is limited to mature content).
Simplified presets
For common use cases, users can simply select a preset:
 Libby for Everyone works just like Libby does today, with no restrictions by audience except those users manually choose to apply.
 Libby for Kids shows only titles for “juvenile” and “young adult” audiences when searching and browsing in Libby. Users can apply deep-search, sample, and circulation restrictions to young adult titles if they wish.
 Libby for Grown-ups is for people who borrow “general content” and “mature content” titles only. It prevents kids’ titles from appearing at their libraries in Libby. Users who enjoy young adult titles can re-enable that content using a toggle within the preset.
Content Controls and Passkeys
Users can choose to lock Content Controls with a passkey. OverDrive introduced recovery passkeys to Libby in 2024. Now, a user can use an existing passkey (or create a new one) to lock their Content Controls choices on a specific device.
Default behavior
OverDrive is changing the default behavior of the app for users who have not yet added a library card to Libby.
“Mature content” titles do not appear in deep searches until they add a card.
“Mature content” titles cannot be sampled until they add a card.
Timing
OverDrive expects this Libby release to go live the week of June 23. For the release, they will have help articles on Libby Help and a training video about Content Controls available.
Harrison County Public Library is developing its five-year strategic plan and is seeking public feedback. The Indiana State Library requires that all public libraries draft a strategic plan.
A strategic plan is a roadmap that outlines a public library’s key priorities, goals, and actions over the next five years. It’s designed to ensure that the library continues to meet the evolving needs of its community in a thoughtful, organized, and sustainable way. It helps the library focus its resources, make informed decisions, and measure progress. By setting clear goals around services, technology, equity, partnerships, and more, the plan guides everything from programming and staffing to facility improvements and funding strategies.
HCPL will hold community conversations on the following dates:
Thursday, May 29 at 6:00 p.m. at the Lanesville Branch
Thursday, June 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the Palmyra Branch
Thursday, July 31 at 6:00 p.m. at the Elizabeth Branch
Tuesday, August 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the Harrison County Community Foundation
Whether you’re a frequent visitor or new to the library, HCPL invites your input.
Please click here to complete the survey. Each person who completes the survey will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
Harrison County Public Library wishes to recognize and thank its valuable library volunteers during National Volunteer Week, celebrated annually during the third week of April. It is a time to spotlight volunteers, provide an opportunity to express gratitude, and help inspire others to volunteer their time and talents.
HCPL has dependable and energetic volunteers who offer a variety of experiences and expertise. Harrison County Public Library values each of the 20 volunteers who provide service to the library and help HCPL better serve the community.
The library board of trustees are volunteers appointed by local elected officials: the county council, the county commissioners, and the school boards. HCPL’s seven board members serve four-year terms and oversee the finance, policy, and planning activities at the library.
Thank you, board members, for your dedication of time, talent, and expertise:
Kathy Crimans – President
Sharon Mathes – Vice-President
Barbara Smith – Secretary
Members at Large – Derrick Grigsby, Pam Bennett Martin, Jo Ann Spieth-Saylor, & Sharon Rothrock
Behind every successful library is an active Friends of the Library group. The Friends of Harrison County Library, Inc. raise funds through book sales for programs, activities, and supplies. Along with monetary funding, the Friends will lend a hand at special events. They sponsor the prize books given to the youth during the summer reading challenge. The Friends meet every other month, beginning in January, and host a book sale on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at the Book Box. The Book Box is the building in the library’s back parking lot. The Friends also raise money through membership. An individual membership is $5.00.
Thank you, Friends of the Library, for your time and support:
Cyndi Voyles – President
Cindy Daily – Vice-President
Christine Pendleton – Treasurer
Susan Isbell – Secretary
Active Volunteers – Lynne Schipp & Karen Eves
Although librarians provide many adult programs, others are led by volunteers who bring quality programming through their expertise in specific areas, such as book discussions, photography, painting, manga and anime, and English as a Second Language.
Thank you, volunteer programmers, for your dedication and expertise:
Gary Pope – Memories and Memoirs Book Club
Gabriele Williams – Through the Lens – photography
Aaron Blackman – Manga and Anime Club
Elizabeth Redding – English as a Second Language tutoring
The general public may not realize that a small group of volunteers repairs and cleans library materials. Think of it as a book hospital where trained volunteers care for damaged materials. Library users should not attempt to make book repairs at home. If a book’s page or binding becomes loose due to a tear or rip, library volunteers can repair it with glue or a binding machine. Inside each CD case is a paper to note issues or disc problems.
Thank you, cleaning and repair volunteers:
Christine Pendleton – Book repair
Lynne Schipp – Book repair
Walter Ryan – DVD cleaning and repair
An HCPL volunteer reception will be held at a future date. Happy National Volunteer Week!
Dr. Fred R. Bierly examines his grandson in this ca. 1940 photograph. Dr. Bierly was a practicing physician at Elizabeth for 43 years.
Dentist Dr. Howard K. Binkley examines Robert Bosler Jr., a school student at Depauw. Dr. Binkley had a dental practice in Corydon from 1939 to 1975.
Dr. Carl E. Dillman and county nurse Lillian Johnson (far right) provide immunizations to students at New Amsterdam in March 1940. Dr. Dillman was a general practitioner in Harrison County for 46 years, from 1935 to 1981. Dillman was known as a tireless worker who delivered hundreds of babies and continued to conduct house calls up until his retirement.
Seasoned veterans and new recruits gathered together for this photograph taken September 20, 1917 as the younger men were preparing to leave for service in World War I. A total of 58 young men from Harrison County left that day and headed to Camp Zachary Taylor. They were photographed alongside Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans who came to see them off and show support. The men are lined up across what is now Capitol Avenue near where the current Corydon Town Hall is located.
Staff Sergeant John R. Sieg of Depauw is awarded the Bronze Star by Brigadier General James M. Lewis, field artillery commanding officer, 30th Infantry Division at Falkenstein, Germany, June 25, 1945. Sieg was with the 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 30th Infantry Division, 7th U. S. Army.
Harrison County U.S. Navy recruits in basic training May 1950. In front, left to right are Gene Baxley and Kenny Kitterman. In back are Dick Cromwell, Donald Becket and Pete Timberlake.
 Libby for Everyone works just like Libby does today, with no restrictions by audience except those users manually choose to apply.
 Libby for Kids shows only titles for “juvenile” and “young adult” audiences when searching and browsing in Libby. Users can apply deep-search, sample, and circulation restrictions to young adult titles if they wish.
 Libby for Grown-ups is for people who borrow “general content” and “mature content” titles only. It prevents kids’ titles from appearing at their libraries in Libby. Users who enjoy young adult titles can re-enable that content using a toggle within the preset.
