Indiana State University Newsroom

Wabash Valley Visions and Voices (WV3), a local digital memory project, is looking for people with Civil War ancestors to add photographs and information to the Vigo County Civil War Sesquicentennial Digitization Project.

WV3 received a Library Services Technology Act Digitization Grant through the Indiana State Library to digitize Vigo County Civil War material in time for the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War.

Through this grant, Indiana State University's Cunningham Memorial Library, the Vigo County Public Library, the Vigo County Historical Society and the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods are collaborating to digitize more than 1,000 Civil War-related items.

Anyone with Vigo County ties to the Civil War is encouraged to add items to the Civil War Ancestors Photo Gallery or the Registry.

These items showcase the "history and culture of the area," said Cinda May, project coordinator and Indiana State University assistant librarian. "It is, after all, our history. The more we can document the past, the greater our legacy for the future."

An interactive timeline and quizzes are available on the WV3 site for users who wish to learn more about the Civil War or test their knowledge of the war. Developers of the quizzes hope to test site visitors' knowledge of the Civil War at different levels.

The Civil War project is scheduled to be finished in May 2011.

WV3 was formed in 2004 and the project now includes databases for several topics, including coal mining in Clinton, the Newport Chemical Depot and Indiana State University's Folklore Archives.

"After six years, there's an enormous amount of information," May said. "We want people to visit the site and take part in the history."

Visitors can access the Civil War database by visiting http://visions.indstate.edu/ and clicking on Special Projects.

Contact: Cinda May, Wabash Valley Visions and Voices project coordinator, at 812-237-2534 or cinda.may@indstate.edu

Writer: Lana Schrock, media relations assistant, Indiana State University, at 812-237-3773 or lschrock1@indstate.edu