Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr

Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr., Indiana historian, Journalist, and political reformer, has been called a "political man of letters" for his successful merging throughout his life of his careers in history and politics. His wide-ranging interests included campaigning to establish free public libraries across the state, working to enact a new city charter for Indianapolis, revitalizing a moribund Indiana Historical Society during the 1880s, painstakingly preserving the language of the Miami Indians, and, at age sixty-six, prospecting for mineral deposits in the jungles of Haiti. From his key role in adopting the Australian ballot system in Indiana to his ultimately failed attempt at enacting a new state constitution during the administration of Gov. Thomas R. Marshall, Dunn, working both behind the scenes and in public, did more than anyone, including elected officials, to reduce fraud and ensure honest elections in Indiana. Dunn's fusion of history and politics, and his passion for reform, continue to affect Hoosiers' lives even today. Every time a voter goes into a voting booth, closes the curtain, pulls a lever, and makes a choice for representation in secrecy; every time patrons check out books at their local library; every time a researcher uses the materials at the Indiana Historical Society and state library - all of these activities are able to happen in large part because of Dunn and his lifelong commitment to the betterment of life in the nineteenth state.