INDIANAPOLIS, IN.- The Indiana State Museum is presenting a variety of programming to honor Indiana’s past and present as part of the statewide celebration of the bicentennial of Indiana’s statehood.

The exhibition Indiana in 200 Objects is on view April 30, 2016 through January 29, 2017 and features superb artifacts, including rare and priceless objects and documents.

“This exhibition will introduce significant moments, events, artifacts and people from Indiana’s past and present, as well as present our state’s amazing natural history,” said Dale Ogden, chief curator of history and culture. “The experience will showcase the breadth and depth of Indiana’s history including its contributions to the nation and the world.”

In addition to nearly 140 artifacts from the Indiana State Museum collection, contributions from institutions, museums, libraries, corporations and private collections from throughout the nation are being utilized to tell Indiana’s story. The US National Archives, Indiana Historical Society, Rolls-Royce, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Cummins Inc., Cranbrook Institute, Butler University, Indiana University, Notre Dame and Purdue University are among the 40 partners on this project.

A tiny sample of the artifacts exhibited includes a fully mounted mastodon skeleton, Mario Andretti’s Indy 500 fire suit, a leather jacket Elton John gave to Ryan White, a Duesenberg automobile, Reverend Theodore Hesburgh’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, Amelia Earhart’s flight jacket, Johnny Appleseed’s drinking flask, Indiana’s electric chair, a copy of the 13th Amendment signed by Abraham Lincoln and a military drone built by Rolls Royce.

“There are so many amazing objects in this exhibition like Larry Bird’s college player of the year trophy, the Act of Congress that officially made Indiana the 19th state, astronaut Gus Grissom’s U.S. Air Force uniform and Cole Porter’s Tony Award… and that’s just barely the tip of iceberg. The curators could present a similar inventory with completely different artifacts that are as important and familiar as those on this list and we’d still just be getting started,” Ogden added.

200 Objects is organized into nine themes addressing some aspect of Hoosier life from statehood to globalization, local to universal and inspirational to cautionary.