Skip to main content

"Washington St. bridge was built over the canal [on] this south basin" drawing and note, circa 1840s

 File — Box: 6, Object: 4

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: This collection includes correspondence, pencil drawings, negatives, 35mm slides, and family photographs from Christian Schrader in Indianapolis, Indiana ranging from circa 1842 to 1987, regarding Schrader’s family, friends, and early Indianapolis. Schrader includes rough dates for the subjects he depicts in the drawings, but many of them were created from his recollections later in life. There are also oversize drawings (OBE017).

Negatives are available for most of the drawings. In 1962, Robert A. Twente created 8 x 10-inch glossy photographic prints of Schrader’s drawings, courtesy of Eli Lilly. These photographic prints depict selected drawings, reproduced in color. There are also a few 35mm slides.

Most drawings have a number assigned to them which corresponds to their reproductions in the book, Indianapolis Remembered: Christian Schrader's Sketches of Early Indianapolis (1987). The photographs of the drawings (circa 1962) are labelled and organized numerically. Many of the drawings have additional handwritten descriptions by the artist about the history or Schrader's thoughts. Any dates he provided were used in the collection inventory, although the drawings themselves may have been created or completed at an unknown later date.

Dates

  • 1842-1987

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Historical Note

Additional handwritten description: "This south basin or harbor: 100 ft square. North basin same (North Star Store[?])"; "This Washington St. bridge was built over the canal during the early 40s. About that time the canal lock, one square north was constructed, the same masons done the stone work on this bridge also. The writer as a boy remembers passing over this bridge in latter 40s when two German families the 'Schraders and Herringlakes,' drove out to Plainfield to visit our uncles family, the Stoeltings. We struck in going, short streches of corduroy road in many places then. C.S. over. The boat landings were called basins then. The foot bridges were tacked on later for convenience of persons walking."

Extent

From the Collection: 9 Cubic Feet (2 manuscript boxes, 6 large oversize boxes, 5 medium oversize boxes, 1 extra -arge oversize folder)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository

Contact:
140 North Senate Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 U.S.A.
317-232-3671