Using Indiana Legacy
There are several ways to search Indiana Legacy. There is not one best method, but the method you choose will depend on what you are trying to find.
Searching from the Homepage
From the Indiana Legacy homepage, put your search terms in the search box in the center of the page. Do not use quotation marks or other punctuation. If you would like to conduct a search using exact terms or limiting the results by date, you will need to use Advanced Search.
If you are searching for a person, see our search suggestions below.
If you are searching for a place, event, or other keyword search, enter your search terms, omitting common words such as “a” “an” or “the.” If you receive too many results, you may need to add more search terms. If you receive too few results, you may need to provide fewer or broader search terms.
You may also search using an Indiana county name or a year.
Use the drop-down menu to narrow down your search results to one record type or leave it on All Types to search all indexes.
The Search Results page will list all the indexes contained in Indiana Legacy along with the number of results in each index. Click on the index in which you are interested to see the list of results from that index.
The search box stays in the upper right as you go from page to page so you can refine your search terms at any point.
Searching Individual Indexes
From the Indiana Legacy homepage, click on List of Indexes in the Site Menu on the right side of the page. Select the index you would like to search. Do not use quotation marks or other punctuation in your search. If you would like to search more than one index but not all the indexes, see the Advanced Search section.
Advanced Search
From the Indiana Legacy homepage, click on Advanced Search in the Site Menu on the right side of the page. Put your search terms in the search box. Do not use quotation marks or other punctuation.
Using the checkboxes, you can limit your search results by type of record and by index. Select Limit by Date Keywords to limit your search results by a date range.
Tips on Searching for People or Couples
If you are searching for a person, enter the name: first last (e.g. John Smith).
If you are searching for a couple, enter the first person’s name followed directly by the second person’s name (e.g. John Smith Jane Doe).
If one person has a more common name while the other has a less common name, try searching by just the less common name.