Tony Edmonds was an accomplished Ball State University history professor. So accomplished that many years ago he made a three-hour-plus night class in the subject both interesting and intriguing. (Trust me, that wasn’t often the case in one of the education challenges of the time).

I’ll credit that class (and a few other experiences) for igniting my personal interest in history – to the point that I typically stop and read just about every plaque or sign that accompanies an exhibit, display or other historical occasion.

Which brings us to today – the dawn of a new decade – and the current issue of our BizVoice® magazine in which we use previous decades to look back at Indiana business history.

For instance, most of us know Indiana became the 19th state in 1816. But far fewer are aware the Gardner-Brockman Funeral Home in Vincennes also opened for business that year. It still exists today, as does the Log Inn restaurant established in 1825.

Those are two of the elements in our pre-1860s story. I’m also particularly intrigued by two of the “later” stories in our travel through time. They share the similar tale of huge success for a major company for a number of years before departures took place. I think you will enjoy what you read and learn about International Harvester and Fort Wayne, as well as RCA and Bloomington.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jody Blankenship of the Indiana Historical Society, leader of a passionate team that cares for and shares up to eight million items in its collections. The quote below from Blankenship adds another reason for the importance of historical perspectives.

“Mark Twin said, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.’ If you give us an issue today, we can probably find a couple of instances in the past in which we have dealt with something very similar. That doesn’t mean we will repeat that exact same thing, but what we can learn from it is what questions did we ask, what didn’t we consider, what were the unintentional consequence of our decisions. Then, when dealing with contemporary issues, we do so in a thoughtful and informed way.”

Read the full ExecConnect feature with Blankenship – and enjoy the BizVoice Digital issue.

Tom Schuman is the senior vice president of communications & operations for the Indiana Chamber. He is also the editor of the Chamber’s award-winning BizVoice magazine and has been with the organization for 21 years.