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Ann Kurker Zarick

(May 10, 1897-Jan. 27, 1970). Ann Kurker Zarick was a successful and well-known leader within Syrian and Lebanese women’s and youth organizations in Indianapolis during the 1930s and 1940s. She fostered numerous club activities that helped local Syrian and Lebanese youth and women find paths to greater inclusion within the broader civic community. The reputation she gained through such work eventually allowed her to take on leadership positions in larger regional Arab American organizations. Since these groups were largely male dominated at the time, Zarick’s ascent to prominent roles within… Read More »Ann Kurker Zarick

John Herron

(Mar. 29, 1817 – Apr. 30, 1895). John Herron was a 19th-century Indianapolis real-estate investor who owned numerous properties in the northwestern part of Indianapolis. His philanthropy shaped the city’s arts community, particularly through a major bequest to the Art Association of Indianapolis. Herron stipulated that the money, estimated at $225,000, be used to establish an art museum and art school bearing his name, which the Association carried out with the opening of the John Herron Art Institute in 1902. The neighborhood is named after the school and , the… Read More »John Herron

Knickerbacker Hall

Knickerbacker Hall was an boarding and day school for girls, located within the complex of buildings developed around Grace Church in Indianapolis. The Episcopalian Church opened the school in September 1891 as Saint Mary’s Hall. It served as the new home for the Indianapolis Institute for Young Ladies (later renamed the Diocesan School for Girls), a small boarding and day school for girls founded in 1885. The Right Reverend D. B. Knickerbacker served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indiana at the time the school opened; though he refused… Read More »Knickerbacker Hall

Mexican Film Festival

The Mexican Film Festival was established by the in Indianapolis to bring contemporary Latin American and Latino cinema to the city. During the festival’s inaugural year of 2003, the consulate partnered with the and to bring twelve films to the city. This was the first Indianapolis cultural event sponsored by the city’s Mexican Consulate outside of the traditional fall-time Hispanic Heritage Month. For the next two decades, the festival served as a platform for diverse voices and stories, with a goal of building cultural pride and promoting intercultural understanding. The… Read More »Mexican Film Festival

The University Club of Indianapolis

The University Club of Indianapolis served as a private men’s social club for the city’s college-educated business leaders. The club was founded in 1894 as an offshoot and alternative to the , a local Republican political club. Members of this breakaway group sought to create a social and intellectual organization whose membership was based on a shared educational background rather than purely on shared partisan political affiliations. The University Club traces its origins to the 1888 presidential election. To bolster the US presidential bid of Indianapolis lawyer, politician, and Civil… Read More »The University Club of Indianapolis