Glory-June takes to the road at a moment's notice for work—or for the sheer joy of it—always keeping her eyes open for New Deal discoveries in Indiana and beyond or to see how surviving sites are faring.
By Glory-June Greiff It is always a delight–for over 40 years now!–to visit little city parks around Indiana and discover often substantial WPA-built shelterhouses and community buildings, especially those in towns that did not even boast a park until the… read more
About 50 miles south of the hurly-burly of Indianapolis is beautiful McCormick’s Creek State Park, Indiana’s first, established to commemorate the state’s centennial in 1916. A spartan inn was created out of a former sanitarium located on the scenic property,… read more
Many years ago when I first began researching the built environment of the New Deal, people wondered what on earth got me interested in this topic. Apart from a general interest in the 1930s, possibly fueled by the afternoon movies… read more
Recently I wrote about the demise of the 1940 Pine Village gym, several miles west of Lafayette – the latest to fall in a string of these useful and attractive buildings. Meant to serve the entire community for adult education… read more
“It’s a historical building, but I guess it’s progress,” said Marv Blessing, an alumnus of Pine Village High School, in a recent article with IndyStar about the imminent destruction of their marvelous gym. Little pains me more than to hear… read more
One of the lesser known New Deal agencies that left a solid legacy–certainly in Indiana–is the National Youth Administration (NYA). I think of it as a sort of junior WPA, which it was; President Roosevelt established the NYA as a… read more
History-minded people of Indiana have long touted Abraham Lincoln’s formative time in the state where he lived for fourteen years and came of age. Illinois, with its “Land of Lincoln” license plates, has done a better job of promoting its… read more
The New Deal has been my chief area of research for over 40 years, but I also study old roads and their development and effects on the landscape – especially early auto highways. I grew up near the Lincoln Highway,… read more
So a historian and an archaeologist went on the road awhile back to Lawrence County in southern Indiana to check out a wonderful WPA site equally of interest to both. As it’s deep into private property, I can tell you… read more
Glory-June Greiff Recently, I headed up to Pokagon State Park in the far northeast corner of Indiana for the 69th annual CCC Remembrance – formerly, the CCC reunion – held in the Nature Center. This was my 32nd consecutive reunion,… read more
Glory-June Greiff Some 34 years ago I traveled to the National Archives in Washington D.C. to go through Indiana’s WPA records. Perhaps the last WPA project was to compile the project records for all the states, each of which had… read more