A rapt audience stood and listened as Indiana University Indianapolis Chancellor Latha Ramchand read Mayor Joe Hogsett’s proclamation declaring Oct. 8 Ray Bradbury Day in Indiana at the opening of IU Indianapolis’ newest cultural asset, the Ray Bradbury Museum.
In attendance were Jonathan Eller, co-founder of the Ray Bradbury Center; professors and administrators associated with the School of Liberal Arts; and current Ray Bradbury Center Director Jason Aukerman.
“Tonight is more than a celebration of a building or a collection,” Aukerman said in his closing remarks. “It is a celebration of what happens when people believe that books matter. That reading matters. That imagination matters. That preserving the past can help us imagine a better future.
“Ray Bradbury spent his life believing in the power of stories. And what I love about tonight is that this place is the result of a whole lot of people believing in that same idea.”
Who is Ray Bradbury?
A preeminent science fiction author and the godfather of Midwestern gothic, Bradbury is most well-known for his 1953 book “Fahrenheit 451,” a dystopian novel set in a futuristic America where books are illegal. But lesser known are his television Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, his work on major shows like “The Twilight Zone,” and his connection to cultural icons like Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg, who wrote that Bradbury “was my muse for the better part of my sci-fi career.”
A second life
Information about Bradbury’s life and career has always been available to the IU Indianapolis community and the city at large, but for a long time the Ray Bradbury Center was on the first floor of Cavanaugh Hall, with tours available by appointment only.
Now the campus will have two spaces dedicated to Bradbury’s work. In an archive and research reading room in the new IU LAB building, an archivist paid for by a $210,000 grant awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services will sort and analyze over 150,000 of Bradbury’s documents. And the museum, which is outfitted with a gallery space and a replica of Bradbury’s basement office with entirely original artifacts, will live on the first floor of the Education and Social Work Building in Room 1125.
Aukerman said he is particularly excited because the museum now presents the center with the opportunity to give back to the Indianapolis community that has supported the vision for so long.
“We’ve done so many things at Indy Fringe, KanKan, Indy Reads, District Theater and many other organizations throughout the city,” he said. “Now we have a space where they can come to us, and we can give back to them the way they’ve given to us.”
These spaces have hosted events for Festival 451indy, which is in its fifth year. The Bradbury Center calls Festival 451indy “a celebration of the humanities” that encourages lifelong learning through public programs, workshops, performances and events throughout Indianapolis.
Service to the community
The Multilingual Read Aloud event, part of the festival since its inception, was hosted this year at Indy Reads. Bradbury’s work has been translated into 40 languages, and the read-aloud brings together Indianapolis community members from all over the world. They read excerpts of poems, books and short stories in their native language, creating meaning together in a shared space even when their words are worlds apart.
Ray reads a short story in her native language, Bangla at The Multilingual Read Aloud hosted at IndyReads. Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana UniversityCommunity member Pallavi Ray, who read a poem in her native language of Bangla at last year’s event, came back for a second year.
“Last year I read a poem that I wrote on the history of my language, and that poem was very close to my heart,” Ray said. “The appreciation, acknowledgement and validation felt really good. (This event) made me feel connected to others and like I’m part of the community.”
Ray’s experience speaks to the broader vision that Aukerman and Carrie Cooper, assistant director of the Ray Bradbury Center, hope to carry forward through Bradbury’s legacy. For them, preserving his work is about safeguarding personal artifacts as well as the ideas that made them timeless.
“What Ray Bradbury cared about more than anything else was the human experience,” Cooper said. “And there’s nothing that we do in our work that’s more important than getting people together to recognize how we exist in public space and what it means to belong in a city environment.”
An enduring legacy
With newfound institutional backing and a dedicated museum and gallery space, the Ray Bradbury Center has a renewed opportunity to expand its impact across campus and throughout the Indianapolis community, bringing people together through literacy, imagination and the power of storytelling.
The center’s full potential is still unfolding, but Aukerman offers a simple place to start for anyone hoping to carry Bradbury’s legacy forward: “Bradbury would say develop an active reading life because literacy is our best gift.”
What’s next
This year’s Common Read will be Ray Bradbury’s “Illustrated Man.” The capstone event will take place Nov. 10 at the Indiana Historical Society. You can register for the event online or email inres@iu.edu if you have any questions.
