11,603 people described themselves as a printer’ or bookbinder’s apprentice in the 1920 United States census. Today Kim Miller would label herself as a printer and a business owner. Here’s a picture of Kim at her business, Tribune Showprint, the oldest continuously running printshop in the nation. #ModernMiddletown #233multi

A post shared by Holly (@holly_west_of_the_field) on May 1, 2018 at 12:37am PDT

For almost 100 years sociologists have been studying Muncie and looking at a large variety of different social trends such as divorce rates and voter turn out. The major studies are referred to as the Middletown studies,
the first of which occurred in the 1920s and the second, less extensive study, occurred
in the 1940s.












Kinsella says this is because Delaware is made up of a largely rural community who tends to vote conservative surrounding the city of Muncie, which tends to vote democratically. As a result of this close proximity, Delaware county is a great litmus test for the voting patterns of the entire United States. His research into this topic is a part of his ongoing project, which focuses on the 2016 election but also looks at past elections. He explains his research and his findings in greater detail in this video.



If you are interested in learning more about Muncie and seeing how it has grown, please look at the interactive timeline below or look up #ModernMiddletown on Instagram and Twitter to see more content.