Wikipedia:WikiProject Indiana/GNIS cleanup

{{further|Project:Reliability of GNIS data/Cleanup methodology and resources}}

As of March 2025 only a minority of the counties in Indiana have had their county histories located and properly cited, with links to (in the case of the 19th century histories) where they can be read via the HathiTrust or the Internet Archive.

You can help complete this task.

{{inline list}}

• Adams
• Allen
• Bartholomew
• Benton
• Blackford
• Boone
• Brown
• Carroll
• Cass
• Clark
• Clay
• Clinton
• Crawford
• Daviess
• Dearborn
• Decatur
• DeKalb
• Delaware
• Dubois
• Elkhart
• Fayette
• Floyd
• Fountain
• Franklin
• Fulton
• Gibson
• Grant
• Greene
• Hamilton
• Hancock
• Harrison
• Hendricks
• Henry
• Howard
• Huntington
• Jackson
• Jasper
• Jay
• Jefferson
• Jennings
• Johnson
• Knox
• Kosciusko
• LaGrange
• Lake
• LaPorte
• Lawrence
• Madison
• Marion
• Marshall
• Martin
• Miami
• Monroe
• Montgomery
• Morgan
• Newton
• Noble
• Ohio
• Orange
• Owen
• Parke
• Perry
• Pike
• Porter
• Posey
• Pulaski
• Putnam
• Randolph
• Ripley
• Rush
• Saint Joseph
• Scott
• Shelby
• Spencer
• Starke
• Steuben
• Sullivan
• Switzerland
• Tippecanoe
• Tipton
• Union
• Vanderburgh
• Vermillion
• Vigo
• Wabash
• Warren
• Warrick
• Washington
• Wayne
• Wells
• White
• Whitley

{{endflatlist}}

Some GNIS records cite this atlas as their source, which can be checked directly to see what it is an article is likely actually about:

• {{cite book|title=Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana|year=1876|location=Chicago|publisher=Baskin, Forster & Co.}} ({{Internet Archive|id=historicalatlasindi00unse|name=Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana}})

Several of the "populated places" that the GNIS compilers took from this atlas (e.g. {{GNIS 4|id=452234|name=Crossroads}}) are little red-coloured pictures of envelopes, clearly denoting post-offices.

The legend at the start of the atlas also explains the symbols for schools, blacksmith's, and so forth.

Ronald L. Baker is often cited as a supporting source in many 2-sentence or 3-sentence GNIS "unincorporated community" articles.

Not only does Baker usually say explicitly that things are villages, hamlets, or post-offices; but Baker is often erroneously cited saying that something was a post-office, or that there was a post-office at a railway station, to support a statement that a non-existent settlement had a post-office.

• {{cite book|last=Baker|first=Ronald L.|title=From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History|date=October 1995|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-32866-3}} ({{Internet Archive|id=fromneedmoretopr00bake|name=From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History}})

Some of the Federal Writer's Project sources that Baker cites (which xe explains are the Manuscript Files of the Federal Writers' Project, Cunningham Memorial Library, Indiana State University, Terre Haute) can be checked directly, and it is important to cross-check Baker against at least 1 other source.

• {{cite web|url=https://library.indianastate.edu/c.php?g=1439546&p=10690500|title=Rare Books & Manuscripts: State of Indiana Collections|website=Cunningham Memorial Library|publisher=Indiana State University|access-date=2025-03-06}}
• {{cite book|title=The WPA Guide to Indiana: The Hoosier State|series=American guide series|author=Federal Writers' Project|publisher=Trinity University Press|year=2013|isbn=9781595342126}}

The history of the FWP files is explained at

• {{cite magazine|author1-last=O’Neill|author1-first=Robert K.|date=1980-06-01|title=The Federal Writers’ Project Files for Indiana|magazine=Indiana Magazine of History|volume=76|issue=2|pages=85–96|publisher=Indiana University Press|jstor=27790430|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10226}}
• {{cite magazine|title=The Federal Writers' Project Revisited: The Indiana Historical Society's New Guide to the State of Indiana|author1-first=Errol Wayne|author1-last=Stevens|magazine=Indiana Magazine of History|volume=76|issue=2|date=1980-06-01|pages=97–102|publisher=Indiana University Press|jstor=27790431|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/10227}}

In addition to the national-scope gazetteers on the general resources page, there are some state-wide gazetteers:

Polk published gazetteers regularly.

This is not an exhaustive list.

• {{cite book|title=Indiana gazetteer and business directory|publisher=R.L. Polk & Company|year=1916}} ({{Internet Archive|id=indianastategaze01rlpo|name=Indiana gazetteer and business directory}} {{Internet Archive|id=indianastategaze03rlpo|name=Indiana gazetteer and business directory}})
• {{cite book|title=Indiana state gazetteer and business directory|publisher=R.L. Polk & Company|year=1880}} ({{Internet Archive|id=indianastategaze12rlpo|name=volume 1}} {{Internet Archive|id=indianastategaze12rlpo_0|name=volume 1}})

• {{cite book|title=Indiana State Gazetteer and Shippers' Guide for 1866‐67|volume=1|author1-first=M. V. B|author1-last=Cowen|location=Lafayette, Indiana|publisher=Rosser, Spring & Cowen|year=1866|oclc=43856353}} ({{HathiTrust Catalog|id=011805880|title=Indiana State Gazetteer and Shippers' Guide for 1866‐67}})
• {{cite book|title=Redfield & Logan's Columbus & Indianapolis Central Railway Business Guide, and Western Gazetteer of Indiana and Ohio for 1866–67|location=Indianapolis|publisher=Redfield & Logan|year=1866|oclc=32059051}} ({{HathiTrust Catalog|id=101820358|title=Redfield & Logan's Columbus & Indianapolis Central Railway Business Guide, and Western Gazetteer of Indiana and Ohio for 1866–67}})
• {{cite book|title=The Indiana gazetteer, or Topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana|location=Indianapolis|publisher=E. Chamberlain|year=1849|edition=3rd|lccn=rc01001620|oclc=1198988825}} ({{Internet Archive|id=indianagazetteer1849indi|name=The Indiana gazetteer, or Topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana}} {{Internet Archive|id=indianagazetteer00cham|name=The Indiana gazetteer, or Topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana}} {{HathiTrust Catalog|id=008734638|title=The Indiana gazetteer, or Topographical dictionary of the State of Indiana}})
• {{Internet Archive|id=indianagazetteer00indi|name=The Indiana gazetteer, or Topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana}} is still the same 3rd edition, reprinted in 1850.
• {{cite book|title=The Indiana Gazetteer, Or, Topographical Dictionary|author1-first=John|author1-last=Scott|edition=2nd|publisher=Douglass and Maguire|year=1833|ol=45006444M|oclc=38444858}} ({{Internet Archive|id=indianagazetteer00scot|name=The Indiana Gazetteer, Or, Topographical Dictionary}} {{HathiTrust Catalog|id=100220538|title=The Indiana Gazetteer, Or, Topographical Dictionary}})
• Beware that because of some incompetent scanning by Google in 2008 that did not fully turn pages, there are false Google Books matches to several erroneous names that are parts of entries on following or preceding pages.
• Beware that seemingly later 20th century republications of this by the Indiana Historical Society are actually republications of the earlier 1826 first edition. They were more competently scanned, though. ({{Internet Archive|id=indianagazetteer181scot|name=The Indiana Gazetteer, Or, Topographical Dictionary}})