Monday, December 31, 2012

Flint and Walling Manufacturing Company

Kendallville, Indiana

Flint and Walling Manufacturing Company: makers of the Original Star Windmill (red, white and blue) popular on the southern Great Plains in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries (made from 8178-1915).

Sold in sizes ranging from 10 to 26 feet in diameter; a 10-foot windmill sold for $90,000 in 1887.


(Photo ©2012 by Susan McKee of a 10-foot Original Star Windmill now in the Panhandle Plains Museum, Texas)

Louis Oscar Griffith

Louis Oscar Griffith

1875-1956

born in Indiana

Moved to Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago.

Lived in Nashville, Indiana (part of "Brown County School)

In the Panhandle Plains Museum, Texas: "Tranquil Afternoon" (1929)

Monday, December 17, 2012

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins

born: 10 August 1962, Hartford, Connecticut

author, "The Hunger Games"

graduate of Indiana University (Bloomington): double major in drama and telecommunications.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith
born: August 24, 1948; Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
lives: Edinburgh, Scotland

Why does this Scottish author have an Indiana connection? That's yet to be determined, but there must be one.

In his "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, there is a character named Clovis Andersen. He's referenced in the early books as the author of The Principles of Private Detection, a book that the protagonist, Precious Ramotswe, considers her prized manual.

Clovis Andersen makes a personal appearance in the 13th title in the series (The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, 2012), turning up in Botswana on a visit not related to Mma Ramotswe.

Turns out that his business is called Muncie Investigations -- because it's located in Muncie, Indiana. "We have a river, and we make glass jars," Andersen says. "We make some very famous glass jars for pickling fruit."

Later, Anderson talks about an orphanage in Muncie. "The orphans' home was a place made of a curious yellow brick and its windows were painted red around the edges." He mentions a boy from the orphanage, who "went to college in Bloomington. As I did."

There is every indication that Andersen will make future appearances in the series, and perhaps reveal more of his Indiana connections!

(Photo ©Chris Watt, courtesy of Alexander McCall Smith website)