









































Vol. 1, Issue 1


Vol. 1, Issue 1 

 

ENGAGE!  2019 Vol. 1 No. 1 https://doi.org/10.18060/22812 

Copyright © 2019 Author(s). 

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 

THREE JOURNEYS: ONE PROJECT 

OLIVIA MCGEE-LOCKHART, KISHA TANDY, AND ANDREA COPELAND 

ABSTRACT 
The Bethel Project is about the history of 

Indianapolis’ oldest Black church, archival records, 

preservation technologies, virtual experiences, and 

collaboration and co-creation among many different 

departments, heritage institutions and community 

members. This paper provides three perspectives on 

this project from individuals who’ve worked closely 

together over the past four years. This may seem like a 

long while to work on one project but for those whose 

research is community-based it seems about right. 

Three unique voices will be presented with each telling 

their own narrative of what she thought when the 

project started and how her thinking has changed until 

now. Andrea Copeland is an associate professor in the 

School of Informatics and Computing whose research 

focuses specifically on public libraries, community 

collections, and engagement. Kisha Tandy is the 

associate curator of social history at the Indiana State 

Museum who researches African American history and 

culture. At the center of the project is Olivia McGee-

Lockhart: Bethel AME Church of Indianapolis’ Keeper 

of History, Indianapolis native, and an Indianapolis 

Public Schools educator for nearly four decades. 

Working on this project produced many 

questions and was a learning experience. Who were 

the people who made up the congregation? What did 

they accomplish? Why is the physical structure 

important? Why fight to preserve the building? Why 

preserve the paper collection? What do these records 

tell us about the neighborhood and the African 

American community in downtown Indianapolis? 

What led the congregation to the point of selling? How 

do you move forward? Everyone associated with this 

project will have various views, journeys if you will in 

response to the aforementioned questions but we can 

write with some assurance that we all learned new 

dates, new names, new circumstances as a result of this 

journey that had an impact on what we now believe.  

 
Photo 1. The altar in the Bethel AME Church 

OLIVIA MCGEE-LOCKHART  
Lockhart is a remarkable woman in so many 

ways. In over three-quarters of a century, she has 

witnessed much positive social progress but also in 

that time endured some discrimination and denial of 

equitable access to opportunities solely because of the 

color of her skin. One day I asked her, “do you ever feel 

anger regarding what your life could have been like if 

https://doi.org/10.18060/22812
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/


ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

35 

our social systems were just?” She replied, “No, I’ve 

always felt like I was right where I needed to be, doing 

what was needed to be done.” That has certainly been 

the case with the Bethel project. 

Until this project, she had not been in the 

news. Over the past four years, she’s been interviewed 

by Amos Brown on his radio show, the Indy Star, 

the Indianapolis Monthly, Fox 59, and Wish TV. (See 

the reference section at the end of the article for 

publications and media related to this project.) Her 

love of the Bethel congregation, history, and this city 

inspired her to connect with new partners and allies 

outside of the church community to share Bethel’s 

amazing story of strength and accomplishment. Given 

the historically significant African American 

community and landscape that existed before the 

IUPIU campus, Olivia is asked on occasion, “Are you 

sure it’s okay to join with IUPUI to share our story?” 

She tells them that she believes intentions have 

changed and she senses a sincere desire on the part of 

IUPUI and Indianapolis’ heritage institution partners 

to respect, remember and reflect on the contributions 

made by African Americans that occurred long before 

the campus arrived.  

An interview with Lockhart conducted by 

Copeland will provide her perspectives on this project 

and how she came to a place where she could make 

that statement with confidence. Given the power and 

importance of her voice in this project, you are 

encouraged to view a short video of her talking with a 

reporter from the Indy Star (Lewis, 2016). 

The excerpts provided below are from the 

interview with Copeland on August 24, 2018 at the 

Lincoln Square Diner in Indianapolis, Indiana.  

Getting to Know You 

Andrea: What did you think when you first met 

me?  

Olivia: Don't make me laugh! 

Andrea: You can be honest. 

Olivia: Well, the fact that we just got through 

saying, it's been four years. I'm trying to 

remember. Tell me, where were we? 

When we met?  

Andrea: We were in Spade Park Library, public 

lib- Rodney Freeman. We met at 

Rodney's. He had his Project-Back-Up 

group.  

Olivia: Oh yeah. 

Andrea: You brought in those amazing photos. 

Olivia: Okay. Right. 

Andrea: That was the first time I met you. The 

photos of women who were dressed as 

nurses, who were members of the 

Nurses Corps of Bethel. 

Olivia: I was on the sidelines. I was watching, 

listening to all these people talk. It was 

an easy kind of thing, but I was not 

thinking about you individually, but I'm 

thinking, "I'm sitting here with all these 

librarians … It was interesting, but I 

wasn't ready to jump into a whole lot of 

work at that time. So I backed off. It was 

like, "Okay, you're just one of the other 

librarians,” … to know what we'd be 

doing right now: that never crossed my 

mind. 

Olivia: Miss Frances used to say to me, "Now, 

be careful about who you allow to see 

our papers and stuff like that." She said, 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

36 

"You know, we’ve got to be careful some 

folk can't tell our story like we tell it. 

Some folks take our stuff and they run 

with it and get all the credit."  

Andrea: She's not wrong. She speaks the truth. 

Olivia: I was holding back, you know, just 

trying to see -- what was going on!  

Andrea: I could tell.  

Olivia: What else were you trying to do here. 

And it wasn't so much, it wasn't against 

you as an individual or anything like 

that. It was just the caution that Black 

folks have had to take all of their lives. 

And I said, "So, you have to" ... they talk 

so much about this at church, "Having 

discernment about people." After a 

while, you can just about figure that 

out. Of course, if you ever get crossed by 

anybody, then you say, "Okay, you close 

shop all together, you won't share a 

thing except among persons that you 

really know and trust.” You have been a 

good girl. You've been fantastic. Because 

after you sat down when you came here 

to the Lincoln Square Diner, I said, "Oh, 

shoot." I wrote a little poem about you. 

Andrea: You did? Oh my gosh! I gotta see this 

poem.  

Shared Cultural Identity 

Andrea: I have said that had there not been an 

African American archivist and an 

African American curator, I sincerely 

doubt that Olivia would have felt as 

comfortable in trusting the church's 

history and their archive. I think having 

African Americans in those positions 

helps to establish trust in these 

institutions where there had been a lack 

of trust. 

Olivia: Yes, right. 

Andrea: Since the team members were African 

American, did that help you in terms of 

opening up this archive to the greater 

community?  

Olivia: Oh, yes. Not even realizing that Rodney 

was moving on in a different direction, 

or at least no longer be present, enough 

happened with him and through him to 

venture out. Rodney Freeman was a 

direct link for considering any efforts 

toward sharing our treasure. Rodney, 

too, is a young, gifted African American 

-- a true guardian. 

Andrea: Agreed.  

Olivia: With what belongs to us. 

Olivia: And then making an acquaintance, in 

addition to that, with genuine people, 

based on his recommendations … It does 

make a difference. It really does. You 

know, it pulls so many commonalities 

together, when that happens.  

Andrea: Was having Wilma Moore, a Black 

woman, and somebody with amazing 

archives credentials related to Black 

history. Did that help inspire trust? Is 

that what helped you trust an 

institution to represent the heritage and 

history of the church? Did that give you 

confidence? 

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ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

37 

Olivia: Yes. Absolutely. She was saying, "Now 

Olivia. I can't tell you what to do, but ... 

you know this might be the best option 

to make sure the history of the church 

never gets lost.” I said, "Yeah, I know, I 

know." She said, "Well, just think about 

it." 

Just talking about this now, I'm thinking 

about the difference between Wilma's 

age and mine. 

Andrea: Not much. 

Olivia: No, it's not much. But it was enough for 

me to say, "Well, if we moved it back 

into history, when I was graduating 

from high school, Wilma was in 

whatever elementary grade somewhere 

along the line." I said, "Now, here it is in 

reverse, where she says, 'Okay, now, you 

have to get involved … Come on. Let's 

get this done.'" 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Olivia: Wilma being of the same sex, of the 

same ethnic group, of the same 

everything, and then for me to having 

taught her youngest daughter just me 

our working relationship more binding.   

Andrea: Yes. 

Olivia: Yes, see, that was a triangle thing: a 

triangular sisterhood connect.    

Andrea: Oh yeah, yeah. 

Olivia: You know?  

Andrea: It took a lot. 

Olivia: Yeah. Right. 

Andrea: It took a lot.  

Olivia: And when, what was it, Kisha had said, 

"One of my favorite photos is of you, 

Wilma, and I, looking at that journal," 

you know, that kind of thing.  

Photo 2. Kisha Tandy, Wilma L. Moore, Olivia McGee-Lockhart in the 

Fellowship Hall of the Bethel AME Church in the spring of 2016. 

Andrea: I love that photo. 

Olivia: Wilma and I were sitting in the 

fellowship hall of the church. A couple 

boxes around and she's looking through 

them. We sat down and talked a little 

bit more. She said, "Now, you think 

about it." And I said, "Well ... " Now 

right now? I can't remember if I took a 

minute to think about it or a day, but I 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

38 

said, "Okay." I said, "Now what do I 

have to do now?" 

Prior to that day, Kisha and one of her 

interns had already started outlining, or 

at least listing all of the items in various 

boxes. Wilma said, "Okay, I'll make 

arrangements for these items to be 

picked up."  

This project took place during a period of great 

transitions for the Bethel congregants. Given the 

repairs needed to the building, the displacement of 

African Americans from the neighborhoods 

surrounding the church, and a resulting dwindling and 

elderly congregation, the church building and property 

needed to be sold for the congregation to survive. This 

reality was not an easy one for the then-Pastor Louis 

Parham, who during all of this was fighting cancer. We 

had many conversations about this over lunch. Even 

though the survival of a building paled in comparison 

to the survival a congregation, he understood deeply 

that this was a painful loss to the African American 

historical and cultural landscape.  Olivia was faced 

with making the decision to give (lose) the archive to 

the Indiana Historical Society during a time of when 

she and others were already experience a great sense of 

loss regarding their church building.    

Who Keeps What? Where? 

Olivia: It may have been, Paul, who came along 

with Wilma to pick up boxes from the 

church. It was in the sense somewhat of 

a relief. But at the same time, I said, 

"Hm. I'm not giving everything." So I 

said, "Keep some of this stuff for the 

church, because we need to have 

something here, hands on, and visually, 

for persons who come to church." 

They'll come to the church, first, before 

they visit the historical society. So I 

said, "If they think I'm releasing 

everything, they have another thing 

coming." 

Andrea: They don't call you the keeper of history 

for nothing. 

Olivia: That's right. Those things that I kept 

are in three-ring binders that says, 

"Kept for Us." I gave it that title. It is, as 

of right now, good that I held some 

things back. Since we're now in the new 

church, some of those photos have been 

framed. I went to Goodwill and got my 

frames, you know? 

Andrea: Yeah. 

Olivia: When folks step into the archive room, 

“Ooh, Ahh, Oh! There's so and so. Oh! I 

remember that!" So those are the kind of 

conversations they're having. And so 

many of what I have are duplicates that 

are at the historical society ... then 

there's some that they don't quite have, 

yet, so I've to figure out how to get some 

of those things to them.  

“I said, ‘Hm. I'm not giving everything.’ 
So I said, ‘Keep some of this stuff for the 

church, because we need to have 
something here, hands on, and visually, 

for persons who come to church.’” 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

39 

Andrea: Well, there's always time. 

Olivia: Oh, yes. There's plenty of time.  

Andrea: It's a living community, a living archive. 

I don't think archivists are used to 

dealing with living, breathing 

organisms. They receive things when 

people are dead. 

Andrea: We had this kind of intense 

conversation around where does this 

archive really belong? Does it really 

belong at the church itself, the AME 

Headquarters or at a local institution 

like the Indiana Historical Society? 

Andrea: You were torn, because you could see all 

sides.  

Olivia: Mm-hmm (affirmative).  

Andrea: Now, given that- 

Olivia: Where am I now on that? No, no, no. 

We've moved past that. IHS, the 

collection and the virtual experience. All 

become part of the local vernacular; 

we've been on the local news. None of 

that would have happened had we gone 

the AME route. But we, Bethel are still 

obligated to share with the connectional 

AME officer.  

Andrea: Do you think there will be greater 

impact on the African American 

narrative, on our understanding of our 

own history, since the collection stayed 

in Indianapolis and became a resource 

to this community?  

Olivia: Yes. Bethel as always been a vital part of 

Indianapolis history.  

Andrea: So we made the right decision? 

Olivia: Yes. I've grown a little bit in the past five 

years. Our decision was the best action 

taken. We, Bethel, once again, serve as a 

model for others. Bethel is in the 

position to encourage and support other 

African American landmarks and 

community histories.  

The Teacher Becomes the Student 

Andrea: So what's your biggest take away from 

working with me and Kisha?  

Olivia: Have I learned anything from you guys? 

Andrea: Yes, have you learned anything from us? 

Olivia: Well yeah, because all the technology 

and stuff. I had no idea about all this 

stuff. Well, yes, hearing about it, 

because I'm just not familiar with how it 

works and all this. But I don't mind 

sitting back and listening and learning. I 

don't necessarily have to know how to 

do it. But I can appreciate the fact that 

the technology does and has put things 

in a different perspective and makes it 

easy to have access to so much. But out 

of everything, there's some good in it. 

Just to matriculate with young blood 

keeps, you young, too, at the same time.  

You and Kisha, you could have been one 

of my students.  

Andrea: We could have been. Yes. 

Andrea: Easily.  



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

40 

Olivia: For now, it's not role playing, it's just, 

right now, that's the only thing I can 

say, role reversal. That's it. That's what 

it is.  I became the student and my 

students becomes the teacher. That's 

cool! 

KISHA TANDY 

In 1999, I had the opportunity to visit a 

recently renovated church building on the canal. The 

interior shined with new paint and upholstery.  The 

building was Bethel African Methodist Episcopal 

Church. My Bethel journey first began in earnest when 

I met Mrs. Olivia McGee-Lockhart around 2002. I had 

visited the building as part of my new duties as a 

curator at the Indiana State Museum and working to 

collect artifacts, photographs and stories for the 

exhibits that would open in 2002. In 2012, Rodney 

Freeman, a fellow librarian and alum of Indiana 

Librarians Leading in Diversity fellows, contacted me 

about a project to scan materials, in particular 

photographs, from Bethel congregants. A simple 

request in the grand scheme of things.  

Mr. Freeman also contacted Dr. Andrea 

Copeland, IUPUI School of Library and Information 

Sciences (now School of Informatics and Computing) 

and other librarians along the way. Mr. Freeman left 

the city in pursuit of professional opportunity shortly 

after the project began but Dr. Copeland and I 

continued to discuss the Bethel Project and preserving 

the archives. In one meeting, the Pastor, the late Louis 

Parham, shared a dated structural report. An architect 

reviewed the structure and found parts of the building 

to be deteriorating but stable. However, this report and 

financial hardship quickly changed the conversation 

from preserving documents to saving a treasured 

building.   

It is important to note how we, Copeland, 

Lockhart and Tandy (there are many names that will 

not be mentioned in this essay), arrived to digitizing a 

collection. I was born and raised in Indianapolis, 

Indiana. This is home. This place has meaning and 

significance. Bethel is part of what makes history 

important to me, a building built by African Americans 

in the years following the end of slavery, that could 

stand for over one hundred and fifty years.  

Through the discussions and efforts to save the 

building, one thing remained constant preserving what 

we could. The historical record of the congregation 

went beyond the members and served as a 

chronological record of a community and the annals of 

the African American community in Indianapolis. Its 

potential value to researchers both academic and 

general was significant. This worth as a resource to 

document the residents of Indianapolis and in 

particular the Black community in the near Westside 

of downtown Indianapolis is what led my desire to 

work with the Bethel Project. With the support of the 

Chief Curator & Research Officer and interpretation 

department as well as the then-CEO of the museum 

and most importantly the congregation, I worked in 

earnest to collect and deposit into repository an 

appreciated history. I along with Jamillah Gabriel, a 

This place has meaning and significance. 
Bethel is part of what makes history 
important to me, a building built by 

African Americans in the years following 
the end of slavery, that could stand for 

over one hundred and fifty years. 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

41 

museum studies intern from IUPUI and then librarian 

at the Purdue Black Cultural Center, began processing 

what would become the Bethel A.M.E. Church 

(Indianapolis, IND.) Records 1922-2015 Collection 

(Moore, Blair, & Tandy, 2017). 

Ms. Frances Connecticut Stout, an English and 

Spanish teacher at Indianapolis Crispus Attucks High 

School, served as the archivist and historian for Bethel 

AME before she died in 2004 at the age of 97. Ms. Stout 

passed on the archives, memories and a dedication to 

the history of Bethel to educator, Olivia Lockhart. Due 

to their painstaking efforts, documents dating from the 

1800’s are now available to interested scholars. When 

Jamillah and I arrived to review the collection, the 

documents were organized and boxed for easier access. 

We visited the church every Tuesday afternoon for a 

few hours.  

One of my favorite memories was the 

handwritten notes with phrases like “HISTORY TO BE 

FILED AND DISPLAYED” “DO NOT DISTURB!” 

“THANK YOU!” and “Treasures from Bethel.”  

Photo 3. Boxes from the church archive 

Photo 4. Manuscripts and church publications in the church 

archive. 

Photo 4. Boxes ready to be shipped the Indiana Historical 

Society archive 

From the wedding announcements 
to the pupil progress record to the 

listing for Black businesses in 
Indianapolis, these records shed 

light on the community. 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

42 

By the time that the archives went to the 

historical society in May 2016 to be completely 

processed and organized into folders for public use by 

archivist Wilma L. Moore and Lyndsey Blair, Ms. 

Gabriel had reviewed at least nine boxes of 

manuscripts, binders, bags, loose items, scrapbooks, 

packages, and photographs. The contents included 

substantial evidence of the events of the congregation, 

however, as a researcher; it was the individual, family 

and neighborhood records that caught my attention. 

From the wedding announcements to the pupil 

progress record to the listing for Black businesses in 

Indianapolis, these records shed light on the 

community. The Bethel archives are a community 

chronicle and for me the project was always about the 

institutions physical location as one of the last African 

American presences on the canal and role as a beacon 

of progress in the city as opposed to religion.  

We lost two important people along this 

journey. Mrs. Wilma L. Gibbs Moore, longtime 

archivist at the Indiana Historical Society, community 

historian and mentor to many passed away on April 18, 

2018. The Bethel Collection was one of the last 

collections that she processed. It was her goal to 

complete before leaving the society; she reached that 

goal. Louis Sidney Parham, Rev., the Pastor at Bethel 

during the transition from downtown to its current 

location on Zionsville Road, passed away on June 6.   

Both were committed to ensuring Bethel’s 

place in Indianapolis, Indiana and national history. 

ANDREA COPELAND 

From the start of this project, I was unsure of 

how best to serve and to research at the same time. 

This project provided me the opportunity to explore, 

on the ground, the connections and disconnections 

among communities, their archives and heritage 

institutions. Specifically looking for a framework that 

connects communities with the resources needed to 

preserve and make more accessible their histories and, 

in the process, create a more inclusive historical record 

for us all.  

The amazing history of Bethel inspired changes 

to and motivated risk-taking in my research agenda.  

When this project started, I did not have tenure and 

my research was focused in a somewhat different 

direction, born-digital community archives rather than 

ones that exist in tangible formats. Further, 

community-based research projects are time intensive 

and I was aware that my clock was ticking, I needed to 

secure grant funding, to produce and to publish to 

satisfy institutional requirements for keeping my job.  

Additionally, I had to be quite careful that my 

publications were about the process of these connects 

and disconnects not the Bethel history, even though it 

was the motivating factor in my research direction. I’m 

not qualified in any way to tell or interpret it – either 

by disciplinary background or by lived experience. 

Writing about the history of Bethel would not establish 

the scholarly record needed in my discipline for a 

successful tenure dossier.  

Being mindful of my positionality 
throughout these public, scholarly and personal 
experiences, I believe was a critical component of 
the success of this project. By being intentional 
about my positionality, I was able to facilitate 
rather than hinder the development of co-creation 
and the building of equitable partnerships with 
community members. 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

43 

As a white woman from the east coast, my 

positionality on this project has always been an issue 

for me and quite possibly for the others, although no 

one has ever shared concerns. Personally, I was 

inspired by the Bethel story and I wanted to share it 

widely in whatever way the congregants felt 

comfortable. However, I did not want my enthusiasm 

and passion for having the Bethel voice heard to 

become the voice of this project. As the saying goes, 

“how can someone tell her own story, when you are 

standing on her throat.” There were several occasions 

where I spoke with the media over the course of the 

past four years and again I was faced with how to 

position myself in this project. Being mindful of my 

positionality throughout these public, scholarly and 

personal experiences, I believe was a critical 

component of the success of this project. By being 

intentional about my positionality, I was able to 

facilitate rather than hinder the development of co-

creation and the building of equitable partnerships 

with community members.  

Intellectually, I began this project with a desire 

to gain a better understanding about how to build a 

more inclusive infrastructure to support the access and 

preservation of diverse histories. I focused early on the 

technical and institutional affordances and constraints. 

But as time progressed and with reflection, I’ve learned 

that while technology and institutional resources are 

important, any infrastructure of support has to be built 

on a diverse profession. Without diversifying the 

profession, our local and national histories will remain 

exclusive.  If Wilma Moore and Kisha Tandy where not 

there to serve in their capacity as archival and museum 

professionals, none of this work would have been 

possible. Therefore, before we can address the 

technical and organizational structures that support 

access to diverse archival collections, we need to build 

professions that reflect the great diversity of human 

experiences.   

This journey has been full of emotions. At the 

start, I was in awe of the archive and Olivia.  

The archive evidenced a powerful history of 

human strength and triumph: The Bethel AME 

Church, built in the shadow of slavery, housed 

congregants who contributed the economic and civic 

development of our city as they actively worked to 

improve the quality of life for the city’s African 

American citizens.  

Olivia McGee-Lockhart, while she wrote a 

poem about me, I’m not sure I have the words to 

describe her justly. She is wisdom, strength, and 

compassion She is funny and loving. She is my friend. 

Photo 6. Olivia McGee-Lockart opening the door to the church’s bell tower 
at 414 W Vermont Street 



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

44 

With the realization of the impending sale of 

the church building, I became angry that the city 

didn’t seem to want to save this national treasure. 

Where was this respect for those who had gone before 

us? Access to one’s cultural heritage is a human right 

and the African American footprint from downtown 

was and is being steadily erased. This anger turned to 

sadness when the church was to be sold to become a 

hotel and would not be transformed into something 

for the community like an African American Heritage 

Center. Real tears and letters to Oprah. Not answered. 

Capitalism won. Hotels generate significant taxes for 

cash starved cities with mounting physical and social 

infrastructure needs.  

Fortunately, the building will be preserved 

(with thanks to Indiana Landmarks) and repurposed. 

With the forthcoming renovation of the 

church, a virtual sanctuary was built on a 3D imaging 

scan of the sanctuary. This work was done in 

partnership with my colleagues Zeb Wood and Albert 

William in Media Arts and Science. Virtual Bethel is a 

completely born-digital archive of the church building 

and with that I’ve come full circle to my initial interest 

in digital community archives.  

My re/search for a framework that connects 

communities to heritage institutions to build a more 

inclusive history has fundamentally changed because 

of this project. I now view diversification of the 

profession as the most critical element. Kisha Tandy 

and I are working with others in our community to 

increase the representation of persons of color in 

libraries and archives. The successes gained through 

the Bethel project towards the goal of creating a more 

inclusive history has created momentum towards 

future projects. Our first step was to create an 

endowed scholarship in honor of Wilma L. Moore. The 

purpose of this scholarship is to remove economic 

barriers from those individuals from underrepresented 

backgrounds that would otherwise want to join the 

heritage professions. We are just getting started and 

welcome your engagement with us.  

Photo 7. Bethel AME Church, located in downtown 

Indianapolis. 

The archive evidenced a powerful 
history of human strength and triumph: The 
Bethel AME Church, built in the shadow of 
slavery, housed congregants who contributed 
the economic and civic development of our city 
as they actively worked to improve the quality 
of life for the city’s African American citizens.  



ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

45 

REFERENCES 

Amos Podcast. (2015, August 20). Is Indy’s oldest black 

church in danger? 

https://praiseindy.com/2066304/amos-

podcastaug-20-is-indys-oldest-black-church-

in-danger-in-peril-2-black-lawmakers-pushing-

for-police-bodycams-dashcams/   

Donnelly, B. (2018, January 29). Get an exclusive look 

inside Bethel AME Church as developers plan 

hotel. https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-

news/get-an-exclusive-look-inside-bethel-ame-

church-as-developers-plan-hotel/1096655821  

Donnelly, B. (2018, February 22). Preserving the legacy 

of Indy’s Bethel AME Church. 

https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-

news/bethel-ame-church-indianapolis-

legacy/1096554021  

Donnelly, B. (2018, February 22). Hidden History: 

Bethel AME Church. 

https://www.wishtv.com/news/hidden-history-

bethel-ame-church/1095915036  

Copeland, A. (2017). The Bethel AME Church Archive: 

partners and participants. In Participatory 

Heritage. London: Facet, pp. 15-24. 

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dle/1805/12030/Copeland-2017-BethelAME.pdf 

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ENGAGE! / Vol. 1, Issue 1 Copeland/Three Journeys 

46 

Digital Preservation in a Virtual Reality 

Environment, the Case of Virtual Bethel. In 

International Journal of Digital Curation: 

International Digital Curation Conference 2018 

Proceedings. Barcelona, Spain. 

Reed-Woodard, M. (2018, August 16). Scholarship 

named after local historian Wilma Moore. 

Indianapolis Recorder. 

http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/educati

on/article_17d3c294-a16e-11e8-b5e9-

93c2c2506af1.html  

Virtual Bethel Project. 

https://comet.soic.iupui.edu/bethel/ 

http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/education/article_17d3c294-a16e-11e8-b5e9-93c2c2506af1.html
http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/education/article_17d3c294-a16e-11e8-b5e9-93c2c2506af1.html
http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/education/article_17d3c294-a16e-11e8-b5e9-93c2c2506af1.html
https://comet.soic.iupui.edu/bethel/

	Abstract
	Olivia McGee-Lockhart
	Kisha Tandy
	Andrea Copeland
	References

