Indiana already was known for its love of basketball, and Indiana University had won two national championships prior to 1976. Yet, the accomplishments of the IU’s men’s basketball team that year lifted the Hoosiers and Coach Bob Knight to unparalleled heights, making Indiana University a permanent part of the national collegiate basketball conversation. The previous year, 1975, IU had lost only once, by two points in an NCAA regional final, when the Hoosiers’ best player took the floor with a broken arm. When practice began the following season, Coach Knight gave his team a singular goal: not just to win a Big 10 title, not just to win a national championship. The goal for that year was to not lose a single game. They didn’t, ending with a record of 32-0 when the nets came down in Philadelphia on March 29, 1976. In the past 50 years, there have been no other undefeated NCAA men’s basketball champions, and in 2013, the NCAA crowned the unbeaten Hoosiers as the all-time best “March Madness” team. This exhibit follows the pursuit of perfection in photographs taken by the staff of The Herald-Times newspaper during its coverage of the 1975-1976 season, from the play on the court to the dancing in the streets when the final buzzer sounded.

Created for history explorers ages 5 years and below, our Barnyard Play Area offers a fun, engaging, hands-on space for exploration and learning. As explorers, you can plant and harvest vegetables, tend to chickens and their eggs, and sell farm products at your very own farm stop! Explorers can also choose from a selection of farm themed books and games to enjoy.

Sarkes Tarzian (1900-1987) was an Armenian-born American engineer, inventor, and media entrepreneur who played a key role in the development of radio and television in the United States. Tarzian’s technological innovations and business helped shape Indiana media as we know it today.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes five foundational freedoms provided to US citizens. These rights form the core values of American democracy and have shaped our 250-year history. This exhibit will share the history behind the creation of the First Amendment and how Monroe County citizens have relied on and expressed the rights within it.