Indiana State Museum Tours and Activities

The Indiana State Museum has an impressive 500,000 artefacts just waiting to be explored. Right at the centre of Indianapolis, the museum is packed with items that make Indianapolis, America - and the world - great.Located on the White River Wapahani Trail, the route to the Indiana State Museum is a superbly scenic and historical trail, suitable for walking and cycling. Arrive at the museum through the grounds and you’ll find yourself wandering past a sculpture park adorned with 92 different works of art.This really is the history of the world in half a million objects! The exhibitions are spread over three floors and range from the Birth of the Earth to the latest blockbusters at the IMAX Theatre. The exhibits explore the earth’s geological history and the political, social and cultural history of Indiana State.Fred, the skeleton of a three-tonne bull mastodon greets you as you arrive, 13,000 years after he wandered the plains of Indiana. Learn about how the pioneers of the Wild West met with Native Americans in the ‘Nineteenth State’ exhibition. Hear stories of creativity, industry and the fight for votes from Indiana’s late nineteenth-century Golden Age in the ‘Crossroads of America’ exhibition – in a vintage train carriage, and marvel at the carefully designed consumer goods that were manufactured locally in the twentieth-century in ‘Enterprise Indiana’. You’ll find out how Indiana became an active part of the wider world in the ‘Global Indiana’ collection, from the floor-to-ceiling Pop Culture Wall to pieces about famous Indiana natives David Letterman and Kurt Vonnegut.The L.S. Ayres Tea Room contained within the museum is an exhibit itself: a replica of one of the city’s favourite cafés, it serves traditional dishes like Monte Cristo sandwiches and chicken velvet soup.If 500,000 artefacts aren’t enough for you, never fear: there’s more. Catch the latest blockbuster at the largest IMAX Theatre in Indiana pop next door to the Eiteliorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, or drop in to the nearby Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Centre.