Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program has received an extensive collection of records from Indianapolis’s King and King Funeral Home, a historic Black funeral home that served Indianapolis’s east side from the 1930s to 1980s.

For much of that time, the funeral home operated in a late nineteenth-century house at 1503 Columbia Avenue in the Martindale area, a historically Black neighborhood beginning in the 1920s. The Oaks Academy acquired the site a year ago. School officials invited Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program to survey the building for important artifacts to remove before the structure is demolished for a yet-to-be-identified school and community asset.

“We uncovered a treasure trove of records, including death certificates, death certificate applications, financial records, and so much more,” says Eunice Trotter, director of Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program. “We believe they will be an invaluable resource to historians and genealogists.”

The King and King Funeral Home collection has been deposited at the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) where it will first undergo an extensive analysis of condition, preservation needs, and privacy concerns for public use and availability in the archive. Once the analysis is complete, the collection will be processed and made available for viewing in the library as well as on the IHS digital platform.

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Indiana Landmarks revitalizes communities, strengthens connections to our diverse heritage, and saves meaningful places. With nine offices located throughout the state, Indiana Landmarks helps people rescue endangered landmarks and restore historic neighborhoods and downtowns. People who join Indiana Landmarks receive its bimonthly magazine, Indiana Preservation. For more information on the not-for-profit organization, call 317-639-4534, 800-450-4534, or visit www.indianalandmarks.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Eunice Trotter, Director, Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program, 317-639-4534, etrotter@indianalandmarks.org

Mindi Woolman, Director of Marketing and Communications, Indiana Landmarks, 317-639-4534, mwoolman@indianalandmarks.org