This week I have had the opportunity to establish contact with individuals both within and outside of Butler University for assistance in acquiring items needed for our online exhibition in celebration of Indiana’s 200th anniversary of statehood. I contacted the Bartholomew County Historical Society, the Butler Athletics Department, and representatives in a couple of other departments, for images and memorabilia associated with some of the individuals to be highlighted in the exhibition.

The responses have generally been positive, though not necessarily helpful in each case. This is to be expected as, in each instance, the people responding have other cares and concerns. Fortunately, most folks have, ultimately, been helpful–though these things always take more time than expected. It is an important lesson to learn: always give yourself plenty of time to complete your task!

With those entities outside of the university, we had to make sure all issues of copyright were clearly known and dealt with. Similarly, we had to be cognizant of issues relating to costs for the use of images. It is intriguing to see the willingness (and unwillingness) of different institutions to accommodate requests for image use–these costs can mount up and often decisions about which images to use will be decided based on use fees.