Photo courtesy of Steel Shavings
Sunday morning at Ninteenth and Madison, Gary, 1950
Lane
 “The issue on the history of IUN will contain stories, anecdotes—fun stuff. The intention is that it reflects my philosophy of doing history from the bottom up. —James B. Lane |
Since 1975, Jim Lane and his students at IU Northwest have been on a mission to preserve the history of Indiana’s Calumet region. Lane’s crew documents the lives of its residents by getting stories from the source: interviews and oral testimonies of families, workers and community groups. The result of their work is published in a unique magazine,Steel Shavings.
“Some decades or time periods naturally lend themselves to issue themes. Because northwest Indiana is a union area with racial polarization, those themes seemed a natural. Stressing family life came from our original interest in having students do family histories,” said Lane. Lane, a professor of history at IUN, and his students publish one issue of the magazine annually on a topic that just seems a right fit with the region’s inhabitants and heritage. He started the magazine with colleague Ronald Cohen, who co-edited the first few issues and then went on to other projects.
Lane and his students do the interviews for each issue, and Lane does the editing. “Archivist Steve McShane of Calumet Regional Archives (CRA) has been invaluable, however, as has been Terry Lukas, who helps me get the issues camera ready in Quark Express,” explained Lane.
Although it operates on a shoestring budget with minimal staff, Steel Shavings is printed to the tune of 1,000 copies per issue, with approximately 200 of those going to subscribers. Lane also uses the magazine in his courses, and the magazine is sold through the IUN bookstore and several other venues.
Popular past issues of Steel Shavings have dealt with work experiences; sports; Vietnam veterans; steelworkers’ tales; the history of Portage from Indian days to contemporary times; social trends and racial tensions during the 1960s; ‘tie-dyes & color lines’—popular culture, fashion, fads of the 1970s and, most recently, daily life in the region post-WWII.
Lane and co-editor Paul Kern recently completed work on Vol. 35, “Educating the Calumet Region: A History of Indiana University Northwest.”
“Few people realize that IUN can trace its origins back 80 years and that the campus went through several phases before it became a four-year institution in 1967,” said Lane. He calls the issue, which will be released next month, “a social history of IUN.” Its content will reflect more than 100 interviews that Lane and his students conducted with professors, students and former staff. “It will contain stories, anecdotes—fun stuff,” said Lane. “The intention is that it reflects my philosophy of doing history from the bottom up.”
When asked if three decades of working closely with the people of the Calumet region, preserving their memories and the region’s history has had an impact on his self image, Lane, a Pennsylvania native with a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, responded: “I consider myself a Hoosier, a Calumet native.”
For a complete list of back issues of Steel Shavings or an order form, go to:
http://www.iun.edu/~lib/stelshav.htm
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