Indiana limestone, known to geologists as the Salem Limestone,is quarried in a narrow 30-mile-long area of south-central Indiana that is alsohome to Indiana University. Gracing up to 75 percent of all limestonebuildings in North America, this stone is known for its particularstrength, durability, and ageless beauty, and clads the nation’s most eminentbuildings, including the Empire State Building, Pentagon, andNational Cathedral.
 For more than 100 years, this local stone hasbeen used for buildings on the Bloomingtoncampus. Beginning in 1890 with Maxwell Hall,to 2017 and the completion of Luddy Hall,home of the School of Informatics, Computing,and Engineering, nearly all academic buildingshave been built of Indiana limestone.
 Architectural styles on campus span threecenturies. From the highly ornate carvings andpointed arches that define Collegiate Gothicarchitecture to the streamlined Art Deco styleof the early 1900s, the beauty of the campusreflects the skills of local stone artisans. In1979, the National Register of Historic Placesadded the Old Crescent portion of campus toits list to ensure its preservation.
 Walking around campus, you’ll see manycarvings on the exteriors of the buildings. Fish,maize, and chemical symbols can be foundon the science buildings on the south side ofcampus, while decorative scrolls of text adornseveral of the art buildings to the east. Themost common carved figure on campus is theowl, a symbol of learning and education, andtwelve are scattered on various buildings.
 Today, the history of Indiana’s limestone legacyis preserved in several campus collections andarchives. Most of the photographs used for themosaic on this calendar belong to the IndianaLimestone Photograph Collection. Curated bythe Indiana Geological and Water Survey since2012, this impressive archive consists of morethan 26,000 architectural photos depictingquarries, mills, and buildings from the earlyto mid-1900s. The digitized photographs arestored on IU Libraries Image Collections Online(http://go.iu.edu/16dx).
 Other photos in the mosaic are from researchand outreach efforts and the collections of theIndiana Geological and Water Survey.