James Whitcomb Riley was born in 1849 in Greenfield, Indiana, to Reubin A. and Elizabeth Riley. Like Lew, Riley disliked school but loved to read; he left school at age sixteen. He read law with his father for a time, but apparently had little inclination or talent for it, and […]
Stephanie Cain
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The 2019 exhibit “From Crawfordsville to Constantinople: Traveling with the Wallaces” opens at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 9 in the Carriage House Interpretive Center at the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum. The exhibit discusses the many locations in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa the Wallaces visited. When […]
Although Susan Wallace traveled with her husband Lew quite a bit, she didn’t always enjoy the experience.
We are pleased to announce the completion of an extensive oil painting restoration project! Grant Funding In 2017, we successfully secured two grants for the restoration of oil paintings owned by the museum. A priority assessment was funded by the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by the Lilly Endowment, […]
With an exploration of “Redeeming Messala,” Dr. Howard Miller, professor emeritus from the University of Texas at Austin, joined us for one more lecture in 2018. Ben-Hur Adaptations It’s possible that more adaptions of Ben-Hur have appeared in the past thirty years than in the previous eighty. And their variety […]
Dr. Thomas Slater of Indiana University of Pennsylvania spoke last night about June Mathis and her involvement with the 1925 silent film of Ben-Hur. Dr. Slater discussed June Mathis’ life and glass-ceiling-breaking career in Hollywood. In addition, he focused on Mathis’ script for Ben-Hur, which ultimately was not used. Dr. Slater […]
MGM’s 1959 Ben-Hur has been called “the most honored film of all time.” The winner of an unprecedented eleven Academy Awards, director William Wyler’s epic won virtually every international “best picture” award, was seen by millions around the globe, and earned MGM tens of millions of dollars. On Thursday, July […]
The 1925 Ben-Hur cinematic adaptation marked the end of two eras. MGM’s colossal production epitomized and culminated the tradition of spectacular silent epics. Additionally, the film came at the end of almost six decades in which Wallace’s “Tale of the Christ” was never far from the center of American religious […]
Her The General Lew Wallace Study & Museum is hosting several regional authors for their second annual Lew Wallace Hoosier Author Fair. The public is invited to the Carriage House on Saturday, November 25 from 1 – 4 pm to meet eight Hoosier authors and celebrate Small Business Saturday. This […]
Dr. Howard Miller joined us from Austin, Texas, this week to deliver a presentation on the traveling Ben-Hur stage play developed by Klaw and Erlanger. He graciously allowed us to stream “The ‘Sacred Circus’: Ben-Hur on the Stage and on the Rails” on Facebook Live. We are reposting the video here […]