Special Collections

Newport Chemical Depot History


The Newport Chemical Depot (NECD) is a government owned-contractor operated facility, operated by the Mason and Hanger Corporation, a subsidiary of Day and and Zimmermann, since 1986. Located west of Indiana Highway 63 near Newport, Ind., the depot consists of approximately 7,000 acres. It is operated under the command of the U. S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA). Originally authorized Nov.14, 1941, as the Wabash River Ordnance Works (WROW), NECD's mission has siginificantly changed over time: from the production of RDX, heavy water, VX and TNT, to storage of the VX stockpile, and eventually the neutralization of chemical agent VX. In addition to those missions, NECD's mission also encompasses environmental compliance and stewardship and maintaining plant facilities.


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Special Olympics Indiana (SOI) celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009. The not-for-profit organization, brought to life on June 6, 1969, primarily through the efforts of two Indiana State University/Lab School faculty members - Tom Songster and Judy Campbell, has been providing year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This collection contains photographs, documents, artifacts and oral histories that record the history of SOI and the achievements of the athletes.

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Early Vincennes, 1732-1835

With the support of a LSTA grant from the Indiana State Library, the Early Vincennes project, initiated by the Knox County Public Library, provides access to digital versions of public records related to the first one hundred years of Vincennes, Indiana, and the early years of American western expansion.


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O Miners Awake: Indiana Coal Miners, Their Families, and Their Communities

"O Miners Awake: Indiana Coal Miners, their Families, and their Communities" is a collaborative digitization project involving the libraries, archives, museums, community groups, and citizens of west central and south western Indiana. Funding for the first phase comes from the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) Mini-digitization Grant Program administered by the Indiana State Library. The initial phase of this multi-year endeavor focuses on Sullivan, Vermillion, and Vigo counties with local content provided by the Coal Town Museum, the Clinton Public Library, The Sisters of Providence at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, the Vigo County Historical Society, the Indiana State University Folklore Archives, the Dugger Coal Museum, the Sullivan County Public Library, the Aydelotte Family, and area residents.

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Vigo County Public Library Civil War Letters
With the help of a LSTA grant from the Indiana State Library, the Vigo County Public Library digitized twelve collections of Civil War letters, providing online access to images of the original correspondence and transcriptions of the content.

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Margaret Gisolo
Margaret Gisolo just wanted to play baseball. Little did she realize that playing baseball on the Blanford Cubs American Legion team would lead to a national controversy over a girl playing on a boys' team. Despite that, she was allowed to play and the Cubs won the Indiana American Legion championship in 1928. Margaret kept going. She played on girls' traveling baseball teams, earning money for college and graduating from ISU in 1935. She became the Terre Haute Girl Scouts first full-time executive director. In World War II, she wanted to serve her country and joined the WAVES, becoming a lieutenant commander. Driven by a passion for movement and dance, she turned her attention to modern dance. Moving to Arizona State University in 1954, Margaret developed modern dance from a couple of classes in the P.E. department into a full-fledged department of its own, with programs offering bachelor's and master's degrees. Not content to sit around after retirement in 1980, she played competitive tennis in tournaments around the country in the seniors division. When she retired from active competition in 2000 at age 86, she was ranked first in doubles and second in singles nationally.

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