Looking at History: Indiana's Hoosier National Forest Region, 1600 to 1950, by Ellen Sieber and Cheryl Ann Munson, Indiana University Press (601 N. Morton St., Bloomington, IN, 47404), 1994. 131 pp., 106 figs., 1 table. 137 numbered endnotes. $12.95, paper. 

There is an increasing realization among archaeologists and historians that, as practicing professionals, we should endeavor to make the past more accessible to non-specialists and the general public by empowering them to participate in the critical evaluations of historical and archeological interpretations that we present to them, and to help them understand how and why the past is relevant to the present. 

This book achieves more than most "popular histories" seen in print today in that it goes beyond mere summarizing or simplifying to a higher level of communication. Its artful presentation, format, and design engage, hold, inform, and entertain the reader by weaving a dejargonized narrative around a generous supply of quality photographs, drawings, and maps. 

The volume, a reprint of a 1992 U.S. Forest Service publication, is a popular history of a nine-county region occupied by the Hoosier National Forest in south-central Indiana. The setting is the Hoosier National Forest and its surrounding area, a unique geographic region. The account covers the time from the earliest written records, about 1600, to the middle 20th century. The region's rich and well-documented history is outlined from the times of the historically documented Indians groups, the pioneer settlers of the late 18th and 19th centuries, and the development to modern times of a distinctive rural economy and family life. The Forest Service has plans to publish a sister publication that will cover the period from about 12,000 years ago to 1600. 

The authors' expressed purpose in writing the book is to bring to life the region's historic past by telling the story of its peoples and their lifeways. Rather than just giving accounts of political happenings or descriptions of the careers of famous people, they tell this story by presenting a picture of what life was like for 'ordinary people' at different times in the past. The day-to-day living patterns and material culture of the area's rural occupants is presented as background and context for explaining how everyday people were connected with the events and cultural changes that took place. Another goal of this publication is to expand public awareness of historical preservation and research in south central Indiana. With many historic structures and archaeological sites recorded in the region, the Forest Service hopes to preserve these resources and to interpret them to the public. 

The introductory chapter explains the public awareness purposes of the book and then lays out the cultural and geographical setting (people, places, and time) of the Hoosier National Forest and surrounding area in south-central Indiana. Four historic periods, covering the time span from about 1600 to 1950, are introduced as the headings for the main history chapter. The Introduction concludes with a "Sources for History" section that explains the nature of available informational sources, from archaeological and historical records to oral accounts, and details of the geographic setting, including the historic period conditions of geography and geology, climate, and plant and animal life. 

The second chapter, "History of South Central Indiana," forms the main body of the book. The discussions are divided into four section headings: Cultures in Transition: Native Americans, 1600-1800; Transplanted Cultures: Pioneer Settlement, 1800-1850; Regional Distinctiveness: Tradition and Change, 1850-1915; and Twentieth Century Changes, 1915-1950. Within the first two sections, we learn that some historic period Indian groups, such as the Miami and the Shawnee, shared a settlement-subsistence pattern characterized by alternating between summer villages and winter hunting camps. Dwellings varied from the traditional framed and leaf-covered wig-wam of the Miami, to one-room log houses of the late period Shawnee. Others, exemplified by the Delaware Indians, occupied semi-permanent towns in winter and were more mobile in summer. In contrast to the Miami and the Shawnee, the dominant dwelling of the Delaware Indians was the large, multi-family long house. The pioneer settlers of the early 1800s were mostly European Americans originating from the Upland South. The pioneers developed a general pattern of subsistence farming that combined hog raising and corn raising, supplemented by hunting. Eventually, economic activities such as milling, store keeping, inn keeping, distilling, blacksmithing, and tanning were established in scattered towns and smaller rural communities. Vernacular variations of the one-room, single-chimney Midland Traditional log house, with British and Germanic influences, was the dominant dwelling type. Steep terrain made the construction of railways difficult, and the revolutionary economic changes and industrialization of the 19th century that swept over much of the country and other parts of Indiana largely by-passed the region. Consequently, a rural pattern of settlement and economy prevailed well into the 20th century. When a network of railroads was finally developed in the late 1800s, industries such as limestone quarrying, logging, and furniture making became important segments of the regional economy. By 1900, settlements consisted of a network of regional centers, small towns, and loosely structured rural neighborhoods and scattered farmsteads linked by a network of roads. 

In the last section of this chapter, entitled "Twentieth Century Changes, 1915-1950," the authors describe the general economic decline of the region as result of the combination of agricultural competition, accelerating degradation of farmlands due to soil erosion, and the arrival of the Great Depression of the 1930s. This leads into a discussion of the origins of the Hoosier National Forest, which is cast as an economic and ecological savior of the region because it bought up much of the depleted lands, transforming former farm land to managed pine and hardwood forests. This, in turn, helped revive the timber industry in the region, which had been virtually dormant for decades. A national trend toward modernization, with improved communication and transportation, finally reached the region in the mid-1900s. 

The authors discuss the archaeology, complete with well-illustrated site maps, of two late 19th century farmstead sites in Monroe and Perry Counties, respectively. These discussions are important to the reader in that they demonstrate how archaeology can provide detailed information and patterns of everyday life that are not provided in historic documents. At the Monroe County farmstead, evidence of a barn, corncrib, henhouse/woodshed, privy, a stone-lined cistern, and a root cellar were found. At the Perry County site, a two-story house and outbuildings (barn, granary, chicken house, privy, and springhouse) were recorded, as were tannery buildings and associated vats, a cane field, and an apple orchard. 

In the concluding chapter, "History in the Making," the authors present a very valuable discussion of on-going historical and archaeological research in Hoosier National Forest and how the public can get involved. This includes a generalized discussion of the value of cultural resources research and the nature of investigative techniques in archaeology, family histories, oral and personal histories, and material culture (artifacts, diaries, photos, family records, etc.) studies. This last chapter is followed by a listing of historical organizations and museums and sources for further reading. 

The authors and the U.S. Forest Service should be applauded for the overall quality and popularity of this book. The well designed, multi-color front and back covers serve to attract and engage the reader. The authors make good use of clearly labelled drawings and maps in discussing the archaeology of the two farmstead sites. And they make good, if limited, use of oral history accounts to enliven the story. The generous use of line drawings of buildings and historic scenes are particularly effective in communicating information that cannot be easily conveyed in "dejargonized" terms and where photographs or other representative images are not available. The selection and captioning of illustrations is well rendered; a skillfully captioned photograph is probably the single most effective communication device for this kind of public-oriented publication. The End Notes section provides an abundance of useful details that illuminate the text. The use of figure credits, listed in back of the book, is another effective technique for unemcumbering and simplifying the captions. 

Although my overall impression of the book is positive, there are some improvements that I suggest be considered for any subsequent printings or editions of the book. An obvious detractor is the use of an off-white, flat-textured paper that is fine for line drawings and most maps, but definitely is a detriment to the quality of photographs. Details are lost in the older, poorer quality, and darker photos. The writing or labelling on some maps (esp. the Figure 14 map of Historic Indian sites and trails) is too small to read easily. I prefer that the acknowledgements section be located near the beginning, rather than the end, of a book. The addition of a detailed index would enhance the book's usefulness to both scholars and general readers. Although not seriously detrimental, I found the authors' writing style a bit dry and monotonous in places. Despite these minor problems, this book is exemplary in its approach and effectiveness, and will serve as a valuable resource for teachers and schools as well as the general public. 

JOHN H. JAMESON, JR.
Technical Assistance and Partnerships Division
Southeast Archeological Center
National Park Service
March 16, 1995
 

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