The Lawrence County Museum of History, Edward L. Hutton Research Library, exhibits and collections are dedicated to engage, inspire, educate, entertain and preserve objects of lasting interest for current and future generations to enjoy.

What's Happening  

Check out the Gift Shop:
You will also find unique items—historic photo coasters/tiles, framed reproductions of vintage photos, notecards, books by local authors, limestone souvenirs, Envision handbags, mugs, and lots more.  Prices are reasonable and 100% of the profits go to the museum.

Follow the museum’s youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lawrencecountymuseumofhist8440/featured
New items posted every Tuesday.

Indiana Memory Digital Collection: Thanks to a grant from the Indiana Historical Society, the James Guthrie photo slide collection is now available online. The complete Guthrie collection can be seen at this site. Click to see the Guthrie collection as well as local African-American history.

Take a virtual tour:
Tour inside the Lawrence County Museum on Google maps.

Click to view videos of the museum and other interesting Lawrence County sites.

Book Lovers: “Who Murdered Sarah Schafer” includes 1904 pictures and records that had never before been made public. You can find a variety of books by local authors in the museum gift shop such as: “The Big white House on the Corner” by Ann Armstrong, “Garvey Lane, Bedford, Indiana: An Unofficial History,” by Danny G. Taylor, includes both researched history and first-person accounts of life on the small road that became John Williams Boulevard. Ron Bell's book "Our Hoosier Heritage and Its Foundation, 1680-1820, "The Cave's Path," a book by Shirley Williams and set in Lawrence County, "Letters Home"—Civil War letters written by Silas Mathes to his girlfriend in Bedford includes local and military pictures.  Available at the museum and online. Click to see books for sale online.

Looking for bargain books? Used books of all kinds are for sale in the museum meeting room. Paperbacks $1, and hardbound $2 each.

Lawrence County Historical Location Records Archive: Personal memories can be forgotten, and places of historic value can be lost. An online archive is being created to identify as many historic locations as possible. Click to see details.

Museum volunteers are always needed—Whatever your age, background, or ability, there's a way for you to volunteer and help your museum. Volunteer as much as you want—just a few hours or as many as you want. Contact the museum for information on how you can help.

EDWARD L. HUTTON LIBRARY

Research Family History: The research library on the second floor has a plethora of family history information. Joyce Shepherd is the librarian, and she will be glad to assist researchers in their quests.

Historic news: The easy to use work station in the library is a treasure trove of information — 390 local newspaper microfilm reels have been converted into a digital indexed database searchable by name, date or keyword. If you choose to print the results of your research, print cost is 20 cents a copy

Current and Upcoming Event

Monthly Speaker ProgramS

Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society on the second Mondays of the month—The meetings begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by our speakers program at 7. Both the meeting and the speaker program are free and open to the public.

July 14, 2025, 7 p.m. Susan Snider Salmon presenting “If Stone Walls Could Talk: Stories of Dry Stack Stone Walls in Southern Indiana.”
Susan Snider Salmon conducts historic research on the construction of dry stack stone walls in Monroe County and Southern Indiana. Her work includes identification of the “Harrodsburg” limestone sedimentary limestone layer which lies directly below the Salem/Dimensional limestone our region is known for. She studies 1800s settlement, agricultural records, tax and deed documents, transportation and census data. These sources help identify which land owners may have first engaged in wall construction and help identify who the laborers may have been who designed and implemented the iconic building method. Her goals include historic preservation of what walls remain in our landscape.

Her talk will include an overview of the geologic limestone formations which dictate where the wall construction limestone is found, how the stone differs from dimension limestone, and how socio-economic and historic wall traditions moved north to Indiana with the first settlers. Much of the how and when the walls were built is still subject to ongoing research. Her talk will include an overview of the clusters of walls in Lawrence County.

For past speakers, go to the Events page.

Many of the earlier programs have been recorded and can be seen on the museum’s youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lawrencecountymuseumofhist8440/featured
On the museum’s youtube home page, there are more videos on the site than first meet your eyes. Be sure to click on videos to see the complete list.

In the Galleries

Civil War era Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, Capt. Thomas J. Box is remembered with a display of his military sword and other artifacts provided by one of his descendants. Don’t miss reading “In His Words.”

U.S. Presidential First Ladies inaugural gown display has been updated and on display. If you aren’t sure what the First Lady does, look for the children’s book available in the Gift Shop.

Olympics—UAW-GM Kenny Dalton was a torch bearer during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Look for his artifacts in the gallery.

American Red Cross —Lawrence County’s unique role with American Red Cross founder, Clara Barton came through her friendship with Dr. Joseph and Enola Lee Gardner. In 1893, The Gardner’s donated their 782-acre farm to the Red Cross to stage emergency supplies and to create a training school. A Christmas gift from Barton is one of the items as well as unique quilt created in 1917 to support the men involved in World War I. 

Lawrence County Historic Timeline is available at the north end of the gallery.

Spring Mill: The large 1934 replica of the gristmill and a some of the village houses are on display.

Bud Isaacs—Country music fans will enjoy a sample of his music. The exhibit honors  Bedford native, Forrest "Bud" Isaacs. Isaacs revolutionized the steel guitar.  Click to see more.

Who are Lawrence County's Astronauts? The permanent exhibit is in the north end of the gallery.  

McReynolds
Community Gallery

A “Family Bible” exhibit. The earliest Bible on display was printed in the 1700s.

At Your Service