Portal:Indianapolis/Selected biography/11
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Jacob Piatt Dunn (April 12, 1855 - June 6, 1924) was a Hoosier historian and author of several books. He was instrumental in making the Indiana Historical Society an effective group, serving as its secretary for decades. He was also instrumental in the Indiana Public Library Commission. As an ethnologist, his main concern was that of the Miami Indians of Indiana and the preservation of their language. His greater Indianapolis treatise was his most important work as an amateur historian. He also served as adviser to Indiana governor Thomas Marshall and Senator Samuel Ralston. He was responsible for a new Indianapolis city charter, and use of the Australian ballot law for the city (1889), even though he never ran for office.
He would release Massacres of the Mountains: a History of the Indian Wars of the Far West 1815-1875 in 1886. Relying heavily on government documents, it was the first scholarly attempt at the subject, winning him considerable fame for publishing such a "minor classic". Massacres to this day is held in high regard by those interested in the history of the American frontier. At this time Houghton Mifflin were working on a series of books called the American Commonwealths, and invited Dunn to write the Indiana volume of the series.
