By Heather Lusk
Calling all local history sleuths. Twenty-three photos of unidentified people, homes and special events are on display at the Hussey Mayfield Library in hopes that the public can assist in identifying the locations, circumstances and people in them.
The photos are from the SullivanMunce Cultural Center archives, most of which are donated without any additional information.
“There are a couple of items that I thought were the hardest,” said volunteer Museum Director Kristina Huff, whose goal is to identify these photos for the museum. One of the special events was recently identified as a prom in a gym in 1962. The person identifying the photo reported that the decorations were painted in her basement.
“A lot of people have made guesses but that doesn’t mean others can’t guess,” Huff said.
Another event photo is a parade float with people in costume. Best guesses put the date in the 1950s during Zionsville’s centennial celebration, but according to Huff the out-of-period clothing can make identifying these types of pictures more challenging than others.
“There are some we think we might know, but we like to have confirmation,” she said.
Ideally the photos can be used to supplement research for the museum’s genealogy library.
“Someone may know something about their families, but photos give it more flavor,” Huff said.
The photos of homes will be added to museum files of local residences. Some public guesses of a home’s address might be incorrect, but Huff said it often helps museum volunteers narrow down the area of town.
“It might be close, so we can send scouting parties out,” she said.
Hundreds of other unidentified photos are at the museum, but many are older than people may be able to easily identify. In particular pictures of children can be a challenge according to Huff, because of the limited number of people who might know how someone looked at that time of their lives.
The photos will be on the second floor of the library throughout the month of May.
