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>> BRANDON: Coming up -- >> ASHLEY: Learn about a comforting status symbol.

>> BRANDON: Meet some trailblazing female athletes.

>> ASHLEY: And remember an iconic Indiana automaker.

>> BRANDON: That's all on this episode of -- >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> ASHLEY: Welcome to "Journey Indiana."

I'm Ashley Chilla.

>> BRANDON: And I'm Brandon Wentz, and we're coming to you from the History Museum in South Bend.

This superb museum has been calling South Bend home in one form or another since 1867, making it the second oldest historical society in the state of Indiana.

Today, the museum's seven galleries and three historic houses give visitors a firsthand look at the people, places and artifacts that have shaped history here in northern Indiana.

>> ASHLEY: And we'll learn all about this magnificent museum in just a bit.

But first, producer Jason Pear takes us to Marion County to weave together the story of the Indiana State Museum's Coverlet Exhibit.

♪ >> John Simmermaker's remarkable collection of coverlets began by rescuing his grandmother's.

>> She was gonna burn it.

My wife and I objected to that, and she decided, okay, if you want it, and she gave it to us.

And that's what started it.

>> Over the course of decades, the Simmermakers' collection grew from one to more than 700.

Today, it's one of the largest collections in the country.

>> I don't think there's a bigger one in Indiana, certainly.

And I think many museums don't have that many.

And that's my problem today, is what am I going to do with these?

>> What John and his family decided was to donate a portion of the collection to the Indiana State Museum.

♪ >> We've acquired 128 of their Indiana examples.

And with that donation, we now have an example from every single known Indiana coverlet maker.

>> In 2024, the museum selected a portion of that donation and staged "Woven Together," an exhibit that gave visitors a chance to see more than 30 of the finest examples in person, and to answer some common questions, like, what exactly is a coverlet anyway?

>> Well, a coverlet is a woven textile.

These were the most popular bedspreads in the 19th century.

Middle-class Hoosiers were definitely the ones that were buying the coverlets, and part of that was that Indiana farmers were experiencing a lot of prosperity at this time.

So this was kind of a status symbol.

This was something that you would put on your bed to kind of show off to your neighbors, look, we're doing all right.

>> They were a symbol of economic prosperity, but also of technological progress.

>> The coverlets that we have on display today, they are jacquard coverlets.

They are figured and fancy.

Before the jacquard mechanism, you'd actually have to have two people operating the loom.

You would need a drawboy, and then the weaver themselves.

So the jacquard mechanism did exactly that, it mechanized the drawboy, essentially, using binary code.

>> This code was stored on jacquard cards, and the weaver used these to create remarkable patterns.

>> They look a lot like early computer punch cards, and that's not just a coincidence.

Really, the jacquard mechanism was the great, great, great grandmother of the modern day computer.

>> The masters of these mechanical marvels came to the United States from Europe, largely from Germany and the British Isles.

>> Once weavers got into Indiana, they kind of spread out.

So we have known weavers from a lot of different counties around the state, which is really neat for visitors to come in and try to find which weaver matches up with their county.

>> That's possible because the coverlets are all signed, sort of.

>> Probably the most important part of every single coverlet that you see in our gallery is the corner block.

Usually, there will be some sort of motif that represents the weaver.

So each weaver has a unique corner block.

For example, Samuel Stinger was one of the very prominent weavers in Indiana, and he uses a star in his corner block.

>> Some feature dates and others the locations where they were manufactured.

>> And very occasionally, you get the client's name also featured in there, which is really exciting.

>> Throughout the United States, coverlet production was dominated by men.

The lone exception in Indiana was Sarah LaTourette.

>> She was actually weaving under her father, John LaTourette.

He passed away, and she took over the business with her brother Henry.

We know from written record that she was a very large woman.

She was 6 feet tall, and -- and so folks suspect that that's the reason that she was able to operate the jacquard loom, because it was very difficult to operate.

It took a lot of muscle, and she apparently had it.

>> Each of the coverlets featured and woven together has a story to tell.

The challenge for the museum is getting visitors to stop, look, and listen.

>> Every exhibit has its own little challenges, but this one is getting over that what is it?

And offering people hooks, offering them some interaction to say, you know what, here's your way in.

If you want personal stories, here's your way in.

If you want a technological or a STEM story, here's your way in.

If you want to play around and do some manipulatives, here's your way in, and it will allow people to have those different ways in, and that's what we do for everything.

We do it for art exhibits.

We do it for science exhibits, and we do it for history exhibits.

>> One of these unique hands-on elements is a simulated loom made using a flipdot display.

>> But that was our in.

So that was part of the team's in, was that technology aspect, and so we wanted to lean into that because, you know, we're awash in technology today.

And, you know, we're at maybe the dawn or near the dawn of AI, and so will we be changing how we talk to machines and how we tell machines, and if that -- if that loom experience can have some of that energy, that does exactly what we want it to do.

♪ >> This is an example of, you know, the best of my collection.

It's always nice to see 'em out hanging full, and all the different colors.

I mean, when I started, most coverlets you would find would be blue and white because that was the normal thing.

As a collector, whenever you found a different color, you always wanted to get that to add to the collection.

>> I think a lot of folks initially stepped into the gallery thinking that they were going to learn more about quilts, and learned about an entirely new subject.

I think that it's inspired a lot of young visitors to maybe scratch their head at, what is weaving like and thinking about the actual trade and craft of weaving.

Our coverlet collection, before John's donation, you know, gave us a lot of examples, but we really wanted to have this full scope of the state, so that it's a very representative collection that can be used for research purposes and to let people really dig into what these textiles meant for the state.

And I think that this collection is really going to do that and provide new opportunity for the museum.

>> ASHLEY: These coverlets are so detailed.

They sort of remind me of like a mix of a quilt and like a beautiful, detailed rug.

You know, sort of the design and the way that they are made.

I don't know if I could do that.

>> BRANDON: I love the idea of going out to hunt for them and finding one that's not white and blue.

And being, like, this is it.

This is the find.

>> ASHLEY: Want to learn more?

Head to Indianamuseum.org.

>> BRANDON: Earlier, we spoke with the folks here at the History Museum to learn a little bit more about what it is this place has to offer.

♪ >> People are surprised to know that the History Museum is the second oldest and second largest historical society in the state of Indiana.

We cover a very, very wide area of history, in ways that people find fascinating because they can see objects that they identify with.

That's so important, because, again, history is not just the olden days, but it is how it relates to a person in today's world.

A lot of people are surprised to know that South Bend was the home of Schuyler Colfax, who served as Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant and Speaker of the House under Abraham Lincoln.

He was one of the key figures of our nation's history during the time of the Civil War, the years that led up to it, the Civil War, and then reconstruction.

So important he was during this time, and we love to tell that story.

♪ We are the national repository for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and that is because the South Bend Blue Sox was one of the first four teams formed in 1943 by Wrigley when he formed the AAGPBL.

So because of that, and because of the great research facility that we are, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League decided that we should become the national repository.

So that means that we can acquire uniforms and photographs, scrapbooks and documents that related to all the teams of that league.

The league was active from 1943 to 1954, and the South Bend Blue Sox was part of that league for all of those years.

We always have a permanent exhibit that helps us to tell the story of the South Bend Blue Sox and of all of the teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

♪ The Oliver mansion was completed in 1897.

It has 38 rooms and 12,000 square feet.

The interesting thing about the mansion is that it contains all original furnishings.

So we can talk to our guests about the history of the house, but also the Oliver family.

J.D.

Oliver and his father started the Oliver Chilled Plow Works.

So they were industrialists of their day.

Members of the original family lived in the mansion through 1972.

Now, that's very unusual to have one family, the family who built it, to live there for 75 years.

Because the family donated the mansion to the History Museum, completely intact, that means that we also have photographs, letters, journals, and documents that help us to tell that history.

So the family was in that house through many different decades of American history, beginning with the Gilded Age and on through The Great Depression and World War I, World War II.

So there's so much history to learn, to hear about.

As people are walking through the museum or in our public programs, they can read about history.

They can see the artifacts of history.

They can learn about what life was like, and that's our responsibility, to make sure that we're telling their history in a way that makes sense to them, that is real to them, and that interests them.

>> ASHLEY: Brandon, when we walked in here, I mean, I started to imagine myself as a person who lived here, really feeling like I was living like the other half?

Can you imagine yourself living in a space like this?

>> BRANDON: This is one of the most beautiful spaces that we have been in, and it would be awesome to have, like, a murder mystery here.

Like, you can see Clue happening inside of this house.

Want to learn more?

Head to historymuseumsb.org.

>> ASHLEY: Up next, producer Nick Deel takes us, actually, just down the stairs to one of the museum's exhibits.

To learn more about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

>> It was 1943, and Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, had a problem.

The draft was threatening to gut the rosters of Major League Baseball.

Wrigley worried attendance at his ballpark would plummet with a wartime thin roster.

And so he scoured the continent to enlist women to keep baseball alive until the men returned home.

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was born.

>> It really kind of just started as we need to keep baseball alive.

It's a big morale boost.

People will want to see it, and having it kind of in the heartland of America.

>> The All-American had four teams that inaugural year.

They were founded in small towns around Chicago, including one in Indiana, the South Bend Blue Sox.

>> When we first started playing, people came out to laugh, you know?

Oh, my god, you know, girl baseball players, but we -- we showed them that we could play just as well as men.

>> And they did it in skirts!

♪ >> They did have in mind functionality and things like that, but also had to take into account the femininity standard.

>> Kristen Madden is the archivist at the South Bend History Museum, home to the official archive of the All-American.

>> I think the girls were probably okay with it overall, because it gave them the opportunity to play, but I don't think anybody really wants to play baseball and slide in a dress.

>> Any injuries from sliding -- or strawberries -- certainly didn't stop the likes of Sophie Kurys, the most prolific base stealer in the history of the league.

In her 1946 season alone, she stole 201 bases.

>> We never quit.

Listen, you could get strawberry upon strawberry and go on the other side, and you would get another strawberry.

But I tell you, the women were far tougher than these guys that are playing ball nowadays.

>> As the women continued to prove themselves, the league began to catch on.

By 1948, there were 10 teams across the Midwest, and attendance soared to 900,000.

>> An all-American pastime, baseball brings out the All-American Girl Baseball League for spring training at Alexandria, Virginia.

>> The competition was fierce!

A shortened baseline, and the eventual introduction of the overhand pitch made for a fast-paced game, on par with the men's league.

>> Tiby Eisen slides home with a run and a nicely bruised leg.

Better a bruise than long pants, hey, gals?

>> The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was 100% real, professional baseball!

And they are out there busting their butts so that they could do something that they loved.

>> But it wouldn't last.

After years of mismanagement, the small town clubs began to falter.

Television and the automobile were drawing fans elsewhere.

In 1954, after 12 seasons, the league abruptly folded.

It was soon largely forgotten.

>> People made fun of you.

Like, you told them you played and you played men's rules and that.

They're like, yeah.

You know?

Yeah, right.

So you -- you felt embarrassed, you know?

So there came a time where you didn't tell anybody.

>> In 1986, former players founded the players association.

They began advocating on behalf of the members, and by 1988, they were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

>> Okay.

Let me see what happens, Rosie and Madonna.

>> Then in 1992, Penny Marshall gave the women of the All-American the Hollywood treatment!

>> There's no crying!

There's no crying in baseball!

>> "A League of Their Own" was a box office grand slam!

It brought the All-American out from the shadows and elevated the players to near folk hero status.

>> You know, nobody paid attention to us for the longest time, and then all a sudden Penny Marshall, it clicked in her head, that'd make a great baseball movie, and by golly it did!

>> Today, the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League are considered pioneers in women's sports, but back then, they were just playing a game they loved.

>> We all would have played for free!

Just to have -- just to be out there playing in front of the public.

That's it.

Loved the game.

They really loved the game.

There's no kidding about that.

>> ASHLEY: Brandon, are you a fan of "A League of Their Own"?

>> BRANDON: Oh, yeah.

Are you?

>> ASHLEY: I actually -- you know, it's a running joke here that I've not seen any movies, especially the ones that are based in Indiana, but I actually have seen this movie.

Big Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna fan, so -- and Tom Hanks.

He's fantastic in that.

Want to learn more?

Just head to the address on your screen.

>> BRANDON: Up next, producer Tyler Lake takes us right next door to tour the stupendous Studebaker National Museum.

>> For over 15 years, this building in South Bend has been home to the Studebaker Museum, a one-of-a-kind collection of pieces from America's transportation history.

But this group of rare and significant vehicles is a lot older than you might think.

>> Well, there's been a Studebaker Museum, actually, since the early 20th century when the Studebaker Corporation maintained its historic vehicle collection.

The museum has about 120 wheeled vehicles.

We display about 70 to 75 at any one time.

And when visitors come to the Studebaker National Museum, they will first encounter the family's Conestoga wagon, really the earliest parts of Studebaker history, when the company was two men in a blacksmith shop.

And from there, they see the company's growth into the world's largest builder of wagons and buggies.

You see the evolution to automobiles.

They were still selling wagons as fast as they could build them, but the automobile was taking up more and more of their business.

We see them fully transition to the automobile era in 1920, and then their survival of The Great Depression and wartime.

It's this journey that takes you from the earliest -- you know, the horse drawn days, when we were still getting around on foot, and things pulled behind draft animals up until the space age in the 1960s, and Studebaker can take you there with something with their name on it.

The collection began when Clement Studebaker began acquiring vehicles he felt were significant to not only his company's history, as well as American history.

And that's how the Lafayette carriage and the Lincoln carriage and several other presidential carriages came into the fold.

President Lincoln's carriage.

This is the carriage he took to Ford's Theater the night of his assassination.

We have people come from all corners of the earth, it seems, to see that, as well as Lafayette carriage and our other presidential carriages, which by the way, is the largest collection of presidential carriages anywhere, not the Smithsonian, not anywhere else in the country, but right here in South Bend, Indiana.

>> The museum tells the story of a rapidly changing America through the evolution of Studebaker models and designs.

>> A Studebaker's position in the industry is really a tale of two different eras because the horse drawn era, they were the biggest.

They were the best in an era when most wagon manufacturers were local and regional, Studebaker was global.

If you had to pick a handful of examples of their products, the farm wagon.

This was the bread and butter, the volume model.

It plied the trade throughout thousands of farms across the country.

Going to the automobile era, the Flanders 20, their first lower priced mass produced car.

Going forward to the Light Six in the 1920s.

This was the first Studebaker built in South Bend.

The fact that South Bend history in so many ways -- I would say just about every way, from having that infusion of workers, of capital, investment in the company, which had begun in South Bend since the 1850s, was going to be here, you know, for many years to come.

Their 1950 model, the bullet-nosed model.

By now, Studebaker had gained a reputation as a styling leader.

They had retained Raymond Loewy Associates in 1936 to handle the company's design.

And Loewy, for Studebaker, it was one hit after another.

>> And that high-flying design is still one of the most iconic cars in the collection.

>> They had a fresh look for 1950.

You see the bullet spinner like an airplane, and that was Lowey's instruction to his staff.

I want it to look like an airplane.

And the cars were just a huge hit.

They had sold more of these than any other model, and this was really pushing the envelope.

Really very bold for 1950 as well.

Even Ford adopted -- they had a little bullet spinner in the early '50s as well, but they didn't take it to near the lengths that Studebaker did.

>> This was the era of peak Studebaker design.

It was one masterpiece after another.

>> The '53 Starliner was their next jaw-dropping, gorgeous car from Raymond Loewy Studios, completely unlike anything else produced in America.

And really the Avanti was the coda, Studebaker's great design legacy.

Again, they went back to Loewy to produce an exciting new automobile.

He succeeded.

The Avanti was a critical hit, and unfortunately, had Studebaker not had the production woes they did with the car, due to the accelerated timetable, who knows what their history could have been in the mid-1960s.

But it was kind of a fitting end to a company that had gone through so much, and they were able to finish on a high note.

>> But Andrew admits, one of the most striking cars in the museum isn't actually a Studebaker.

>> This is the 1956 Packard Predictor.

It was built by Packard for the 1956 auto show circuit, and they really wanted to create a wow factor.

So they commissioned a fresh design, and just a truly stunning automobile.

It's even more remarkable that the car actually survived.

Generally cars like this were just broken up after their use was done.

And just some neat features on here.

There's no sun visors in the windshield because they didn't want to obscure the view into the car.

It's got the roll tops, the T-top, if you will, but they retract into the roof.

The rear window goes up and down.

The hidden headlights.

It's really just a truly stunning vehicle, and we're so delighted it survived to the present day.

>> From carriages to electric cars, the collection takes visitors on a ride through American transportation history.

>> Well, many people are surprised to find out that Studebaker's first automobile was actually an electric.

Electrics came out in 1902.

Studebaker gasoline-powered cars didn't come out until 1904.

J.M.

Studebaker much preferred the electrics.

He called gasoline-powered cars dangerous, clumsy, noisy brutes that stink to high heaven and break down at the worst possible moment.

And we are actually telling the story of Studebaker electric, and also the electric automobile in general through our Charged Exhibit looking at the history of the electric vehicle from the late 19th century up until the present day, looking at some of the newest, you know, electric models on the market, the GM EV1 prototype here.

Just a fascinating history on how electrics, that's what Studebaker started out with, and that appears to be where we are going 120-some years later.

>> And if that doesn't interest you, no problem!

The museum has something for everyone.

>> We also have an extensive military collection showcasing Studebaker's defense production.

Of course, it supplied wagons for the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and every conflict up through Vietnam.

We have a special children's area, the Super Service Center.

The kids can come in and learn how a car operates through an interactive exhibit.

For some people, it's a nostalgic trip, because they remember my father, my grandfather.

I learned to drive on one of these cars.

This is, you know, what the relatives had.

Some people, it's pure discovery.

They -- you know, their entire automotive existence or experience has been driving a Toyota Prius or something like that, and this is completely foreign to anything they've ever experienced.

Some see it as a study in automotive design.

And some people are avowed military enthusiasts, and they will spend all day downstairs staring at the military collection.

And I think that's one of our strengths we can bring.

There's just so many different aspects of the Studebaker history that are accessible for people.

It's -- you know, we don't care what your takeaway is, you know, just so you don't go away hungry.

That's all we ask.

>> ASHLEY: Brandon, this is now the second car museum that we have gone to that talked about how electric cars came first before gas cars, which is not something that I think I knew, and how cool that it has such a rich Indiana history to that as well.

>> BRANDON: Yeah.

Want to learn more?

Head to Studebakermuseum.org.

>> ASHLEY: And as always, we'd like to encourage you to stay connected with us.

>> BRANDON: Just head over to JourneyIndiana.org.

There you can see full episodes, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, and suggest stores from your neck of the woods.

>> ASHLEY: We also have a map feature that allows you to see where we've been and to plan your own Indiana adventures.

>> BRANDON: All right.

Well, we have got three floors to explore.

Are you ready?

>> ASHLEY: Yeah, I mean who knows what we're going to find here.

>> BRANDON: I know.

We'll see you next time on -- >> TOGETHER: "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by WTIU members.

Thank you!