A Grave Matter in Indiana: Cemeteries and Hoosiers

Grab a lunch and meet up with Jeannie Regan-Dinius to discuss cemeteries!

Before most of any city was developed, the first thing our pioneers established was burial grounds.  Whether a family site, religious based, or community focused these essential spaces evolved in importance, design, and use. This Spark will explore the city’s relationship with these places.

Bio: Jeannie R. Regan-Dinius, Director of Special Initiatives, has a life-long interest in history, family history, and research. She earned her Bachelors in Public History from Ball State University, where she studied also anthropology and American Studies. She has her Masters in Urban Planning and Information Management/Library Science from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

She is the Director of Historic Preservation for the Crown Hill Heritage Foundation, a role she started in 2022. Before that, she worked as the Cemetery and Burial Ground Registry Coordinator for the State of Indiana. Jeannie has served on the board of directors for the Indiana Women’s History Association, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Association of Indiana Museums.

Circle Side Chats is in partnership with Indiana Humanities. Indiana Humanities is a statewide nonprofit that infuses the humanities into our daily lives. We do this by providing grants, convening discussions, uplifting humanities scholars, spotlighting humanities organizations and activities, and creating our own programs that help Hoosiers think, read and talk.

SPARK is a partnership with Downtown Indy, the City of Indianapolis, and the Indiana War Memorials Commission — and funded by the Capital Improvements Board. It is a continuation of our work last year and in 2015 on the Circle. Check our website for more.

At Big Car, we approach our work at the Circle as a site- and community-specific socially engaged art and creative placemaking project. The SPARK on the Circle pop-up park was collaboratively designed with Indianapolis-based Merritt Chase to be a restorative public place where people of all walks of life can relax, play, socialize, and engage with art and artists in the heart of our city.