Welcome to the Daviess County Museum's Online Collection
The mission of the Daviess County Museum is to preserve, protect and promote the unique history of Daviess County, Indiana. You can explore over 18,000 artifacts (photos, letters, journals, diaries, high school yearbooks, newspapers, business and church records) by clicking the buttons above or the featured collections below. We encourage you to visit this site often because additional items from the Museum's extensive collection continue to be uploaded.
The public is invited to visit the Daviess County Museum and view the numerous exhibits and displays. The Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Admission is free and volunteers are available to conduct tours and answer questions. If you are researching your family history, you can study photographs, documents and genealogy records in the Museum's Research Room. To schedule a visit, or if you wish to become a Museum member or benefactor, please contact us at daviesscountyhistory@gmail.com or 812-257-0301. You may also visit our website at www.daviesscountyhistory.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/daviesscountyhistory.
You can read about historic Daviess County people, places and events at daviesscountyhistory.com/blog.Stella Bogner Collection
Stella (Mulholland) Bogner was a teacher in Washington, Indiana and a tireless genealogy researcher. From 1903 to 1961 she compiled 60 scrapbooks of newspaper articles about people and events in Daviess County with an index in each scrapbook of names referenced. She also hand copied hundreds of marriage and death records—some dating back to 1817—at the Daviess County Courthouse. Many of these original records were lost when the courthouse was gutted by fire in 1927. Ms. Bogner’s extensive collection provides a wealth of information about Daviess County families. Click the images to the right or left to explore this impressive body of genealogy data.
Charles & Fannie Luder Collection
Charles Luder was born in Basel, Switzerland. He came to America in1884. In 1907 he established his photography business in Washington, Indiana, Luder Photo Studio, that he operated until 1963. The Daviess County Museum has hundreds of professional photos taken by Mr. Luder of individuals, families, schools, churches, lodges, businesses, sites and events in Daviess County. In 1909 Charles Luder married Frances "Fannie" Palmer. Included in this collection are several Palmer or Bradford family photos that predate 1900. Click either Charles or Fannie Luder's image and scroll through a fascinating photographic history of Daviess County.
Tips for Searching our Online Collection
Keyword Search
The Keyword Search button allows you to perform a general search across multiple fields for any catalog records online. Keyword searches use OR as the default connector between words (e.g. a search for Graham Farms will return records associated with Graham OR Farms). If you want to find records where both keywords are found, type in AND between the two words. To search for a specific phrase, be sure to put the phrase within quotes (e.g. "Washington High School"). You can also use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard (e.g. a search for history* would come up with records containing history, histories, historical, etc.). Searches are not case sensitive.
Researching Family History
You can research photographs and genealogy records about your family using the Advanced Search or Search Names & Terms buttons. For example, typing in Arthur in the People Biography field of Advanced Search will bring up any collection item associated with the Arthur family. In Search Names & Terms there are more than 64,000 alphabetized names and over 5,000 search terms to help you find photos, documents and artifacts linked to a specific family, school, church or business.
Random Images
The Random Images button is a great way to just browse the collection. Each Random Images page displays a random assortment of images from the records online. If something piques your interest, click the thumbnail to view a larger version of the image.
Catalog Searches (Archives / Photos / Libraries / Objects)
The catalog buttons can also help narrow down your search, by only searching with a selected catalog. If you only want to search for Photos, click the Photos button and type in your keyword(s) or phrase. You can also browse records within that catalog without performing a search. Phrase searching, wildcards (*) as well as AND/OR statements are available when performing catalog searches.