Ku Klux Klan Resources in Archives and Special Collections

Hundreds of articles have been written about Muncie as Middletown, a representative American community as defined by sociologists Robert and Helen Lynd in their landmark study in the 1920s. Archives and Special Collections has photocopies of many of these articles. The following are ones in the collection that relate to the history of the Ku Klux Klan.

Douglas, W.A.S. "The Mayor of Middletown." AMERICAN MERCURY 20 (August 1930): 478-86.Account of George Dale's struggle as newspaperman against Ku Klux Klan and his rise to mayor during time of first Middletown study. Includes discussion of political corruption in Middletown.

Roll, Charles. INDIANA, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT. Chicago: Lewis, 1931: V.pp. 191-192.Biographical entry on George Dale, noting fight with Klan and referring to fact he was mayor of city widely renowned as Middletown.

Frank, Carrolyle M. "Muncie Politics: George R. Dale, Municipal Reformer, 1921-1936." In CITIES IN HISTORY. Vol. 1, no. 4 of CONSPECTUS OF HISTORY, edited by Dwight W. Hoover and John T. Koumoulides, 34-47. Muncie, Ind.: Department of History, Ball State University, 1977.
Traces career of George Dale (only person mentioned by name in both Middletown studies) as anti-Klan editor of MUNCIE POST-DEMOCRAT and mayor of Muncie.

Hoover, Dwight W. "To Be a Jew in Middletown: A Muncie Oral History Project." INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY 51 (June 1985): 131-58.
Examines Muncie Jewish population primarily in 1920s, noting high geographical mobility, restricted access to community life dominated by Christian values, and overt discrimination accentuated by Klan influence.

Hoover, Dwight W. "Daisy Douglas Barr: From Quaker to Klan "Kluckeress." Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 37 (June 1981).