A new visual record of Indianapolis' past is emerging from crime scene photos

Historians in Indianapolis are uncovering a visual record of the city's past from an unlikely source — crime scene photos. Originally taken to document acts of violence, the images now serve as a vital window into a world that no longer exists.

At the center of this project is one man digitizing photos and documents deep within the records of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. WFYI's Kyle Long spoke with people behind the project to find out what they've discovered.

Check the bottom of this story to see a few of the images being studied.

This transcript has been edited for style and clarity.

Patrick Pearsey: My name is Patrick Pearsey, and I am a civilian employee of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. My title is archivist. In my own job right now, since about 2021, I've been assigned as the homicide archivist. What I'm doing right now is going through all the homicide files, starting with the ‘20s. The photos start around 1942.

Kyle Long: Though Pearsey is a civilian employee, his ties to the department run deep. This history is personal.

Pearsey: Well, I grew up with my father serving. He was an identification guy, a fingerprint expert, and his dad had been a beat policeman. You get it in your blood, and I started here as just a typist.

Long: Pearsey's journey into the archives began more than 20 years ago. He credits the late IMPD officer Bill Lichtenberger with inspiring his preservation efforts.

Pearsey: He was very, very dedicated to preserving IPD history. He grabbed stuff out of dumpsters that had been thrown out carelessly, old photos, and we've got that now. Thank God we've got all those things in our physical archive, and I'm trying to follow in his footsteps.

Long: Initially, Pearsey's goal was simple: to identify the officers captured in the photographs.

Pearsey: The guy on the right, the Black man, he's a famous homicide detective here, and I recognized him: James Rogers. Him and his partner, Spurgeon Davenport, were quite a team in the 40s. When that photo was taken in 1949.

Long: But he soon realized the images were documenting a much broader history.

Pearsey: The first thing the crime scene photographer would do, he'd take a photo of the building where the crime occurred. Some of these were very historic buildings that don't exist anymore.

Long: As you might imagine, the archive includes graphic material, but Pearsey says images of victims will remain closed to the public.

Pearsey: Some of it's pretty difficult to look at, but I've looked at literally 1000s of bodies at this point. Nobody will ever see those.

Long: Within the halls of IMPD, Pearsey's work has become a source of pride. Public Information Officer Tommy Thompson says Pearsey's work serves as a bridge between the department's past and present.

Tommy Thompson: You know, the work that Patrick does hits home with so many officers, young and old, men and women, every creed, religion that have worked and come through these doors, many retired. If it wasn't for him, some of that stuff would be lost forever. I’m so thankful, so thankful Patrick's here with us.

Long: The photographs are also drawing attention outside the department.

Eunice Trotter: I’m Eunice Trotter. I'm director of Indiana Landmarks' Black Heritage Preservation Program.

Long: Trotter is also a Hall of Fame journalist who built her career reporting on Indianapolis communities.

Trotter: Well, you know, having been a newspaper reporter, I'm very aware that whenever there is a criminal act, there is a police department photographer who comes and photographs that scene. And not just, you know, if it's a death, where the body is and of the body, but the community that surrounds that incident.

Long: Trotter first discovered Pearsey's work on social media, where he shares highlights from the archive.

Trotter: Patrick would post these photos on social media, and when I'd see them, I'm like, "Hey, where are you getting these pictures from?"

Long: As a former police reporter, she says she isn't troubled by the origins of the photographs.

Trotter: Look, you know, I've been a reporter. I was a police reporter. I got hazed by the police department. They showed me sacks with heads inside, so I'm good. But he never sent a picture that was that graphic.

Long: For Trotter, the images matter because they document everyday life in historic Black neighborhoods like Indiana Avenue and Martindale-Brightwood. She says Pearsey's work is preserving history that might otherwise have been lost.

Trotter: They tell the story of a community that could not otherwise have been told in a visual way. You know, we always hear about the Avenue, but what did the buildings look like? Where were the buildings located? What was going on inside of those buildings? They document just the volume of businesses that existed along the Avenue. I am absolutely thankful for the work he is doing and has done, and he's passionate about it too, and he's also passionate about telling the full story and the truth. Without him doing that work, who would you know? Who would have done that work? So yeah, he is providing a generationally impactful service to the city.

Long: When Pearsey's digitization work is complete, the photos will be available in a publicly accessible online archive.

This interview aired on WFYI's Cultural Manifesto.