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    COLLECTIONS & WILLIAM HENRY SMITH MEMORIAL LIBRARY :: notable hoosiers  
 

Brief biographical information and images are available by clicking on underlined names. Some names on the list also include links to longer biographical essays. This list will be added to and updated frequently.

Activists:
Albion Fellows Bacon
Eugene Debs

Ida Husted Harper

Jimmy Hoffa
May Wright Sewall*
Ryan White

Actors:
Claude Akins*
Anne Baxter
James Best*
Monte Blue
Avery Brooks
James Dean
Irene Dunne*
Chad Everett
Frances Farmer*
Vivica A. Fox
Brendan Fraser
Will Geer
(Biographical essay)
Ron Glass
Florence Henderson
Greg Kinnear
Carole Lombard
Shelly Long
Marjorie Main
Karl Malden*
Steve McQueen
Betsy Palmer
Meshach Taylor*
Michael Warren
Clifton Webb
Dick York

Artists:
William Forsyth*
Michael Graves
John Hardrick
Felrath Hines
Robert Indiana
Nancy Noel
Janet Scudder
Julia Graydon Sharpe
Portia and Ralph Sperry
Otto Stark
T.C. Steele
Marie Webster

Aviators and Astronauts:
Joseph P. Allen
Frank Borman
Virgil “Gus” Grissom (Biographical essay)
Charles “Buster” Hall
Jerry Ross
Donald Williams
David Wolf
Wilbur Wright

Authors:
George Ade (Biographical essay)
Sarah T. Bolton*
Jared Carter
Theodore Dreiser
Shirley Graham DuBois
Max Ehrmann
Mari Evans*
Annie Fellows Johnston
Etheridge Knight*
Ross Lockridge, Jr.
Meredith Nicholson
James Whitcomb Riley (Biographical essay)
Jean Shepard*
Gene Stratton-Porter (Biographical essay)
Booth Tarkington
James Alexander Thom
Kurt Vonnegut (Biographical essay)
Dan Wakefield
Lew Wallace (Biographical essay)
Jessamyn West

Business:
James Allison*
Frank Clayton Ball*

George A. Ball*
Carl Fisher (Biographical essay)
Elwood Haynes (Biographical essay)
Hulman family

Colonel Eli Lilly*
Eli Lilly (Biographical essay)
Orville Redenbacher
Colonel Harland Sanders
Studebaker family*
Madam C.J. Walker* (Biographical essay)

Cartoonists:
Norman Bridwell (Clifford)
Jim Davis (Garfield)
Johnny Gruelle* (Raggedy Ann)
Kin Hubbard* (Abe Martin) (Biographical essay)
John T. McCutcheon
Dale Messick (Brenda Starr)
Bill Peet (Disney animator)
Tom Ryan (Tumbleweeds)

Comedians/Clowns:
Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers
Phil Harris
Emmett Kelly*
David Letterman
Herb Shriner*
Red Skelton (Biographical essay)

Designers:
Bill Blass
Roy Frowick (Halston)*
Norman Norell

Early Indiana Legends:
John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)*
George Rogers Clark*
Levi and Catharine Coffin* (Biographical essay)
John and William Conner*
Little Turtle
Chief Menominee
Robert Owen*
Robert Dale Owen*
Johann George Rapp*
Frances Slocum*
Tecumseh*
The Prophet*
Anthony Wayne*

Educators:
Eliza Blaker
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh*
Alfred Kinsey*
Caleb Mills
Herman Wells

Explorers:
Julius R. Frederick*

Film/TV/Theater/Dance:
David Anspaugh
Gretchen Cryer
Madelyn Pugh Davis
Howard Hawks
Will Hays
Angelo Pizzo
Sydney Pollack
Steve Tesich*
Twyla Tharp
Matt Williams
Robert Wise

Inventors:
James Buchanan Eads
Dr. Richard J. Gatling*

James Oliver (Biographical essay)

Dr. William Scholl

Journalists:
Margaret C. Anderson
John Bushemi
Janet Flanner
Brian Lamb
Jane Pauley
Ernie Pyle (Biographical essay)
William Raspberry*
Tavis Smiley*
Dr. Nancy Snyderman
George Stewart
Juliet Strauss (Biographical essay)

Judges:
S. Hugh Dillin
Sherman Minton
William E. Steckler

Medicine/Science:
Percy Julian (Chemist)*
Mariah Mendenhall (Midwife)
James Mooney (Ethnology/Anthropology)
Richard Royce Schrock

Musicians:
May Frances Aufderheide
Dave Baker
Joshua Bell
Hoagy Carmichael (Biographical essay)
Paul Dresser (Biographical essay)
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds
Gaither Family
Crystal Gayle*
Josef Gingold*
The Hampton Family Orchestra*
Freddie Hubbard
Jackson Five
Janet Jackson
Michael Jackson
J.J. Johnson
John Mellencamp
Bill Monroe*
Wes Montgomery
Oliver Nelson
Sandi Patty*
Cole Porter (Biographical essay)
Ned Rorem
Axl Rose (William Bailey)
David Lee Roth
Constance LeRoy Runcie
Noble Sissle
Albert Von Tilzer
Steve Wariner

Notorious:
John Dillinger
Belle Gunness*
Jim Jones
Reno Brothers
D.C. Stephenson*

Politics:
Evan Bayh
Dr. Otis Bowen
Schuyler Colfax*
William H. English
Charles Fairbanks*
Walter Q. Gresham
Benjamin Harrison* (Biographical essay)
William Henry Harrison* (Biographical essay)
Thomas A. Hendricks*
Jonathan Jennings*
Abraham Lincoln* (Biographical essay)
Richard Lugar
Thomas R. Marshall (Biographical essay)
Paul V. McNutt
Harry S. New
J. Danforth Quayle
Wendell Willkie (Biographical essay)

Religion:
William Biederwolf
Billy Sunday

Saint Theodora Guerin

Sports:
Andretti family*
Mike Aulby
Bettenhausen family
Larry Bird
Mordecai “Three-Fingers” Brown
Oscar Charleston
Ray Crowe
Anita DeFrantz*
Carl Erskine
Jeff Gordon*
Bob Griese
Tom Harmon
Gil Hodges
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
George McGinnis
Dan Patch (Biographical essay)
Eddie Rickenbacker*
Oscar Robertson*
Tony Stewart
Marshall “Major” Taylor
John Wooden
Fuzzy Zoeller

*Indicates person was not born in Indiana

“Notable Hoosiers” is one of 21 active collection subject areas established by the Society’s Collections Development Policy.

   
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Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202
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