Over 20 years ago, members of the Irvington Historical

Society visited the soon to be demolished Indianapolis City

Hospital, then called Wishard.  During the tour they were

given a series of wet rolled up canvases which were lying

on the floor waiting to be discarded.   These were once the

murals painted by Irvington Artist Dorothy Morlan in the

Women’s Medical Ward and Sunroom.

     The Irvington Historical Society stored these canvas rolls

until 2019, when grants from the Indiana Historical Society,

the Owings Family Foundation and funding from the Irvington

Community Council, allowed the Society to begin restoring

its Dorothy Morlan collection and exploring

if these murals could be saved. 

     Art Conservator Natalia Nikolayev care-

fully unrolled and weighted each tight roll to

find six canvas strips forming two murals.  The

mural displayed here includes Morlan’s

signature as well as the date.  The plan is to

clean, mount each piece on a backer board

which will allow us to rehang these "lost"

murals.. The estimated cost of this process is

estimated to be $12,000.   Please help.
     Fragments of the second mural can be seen

on the second-floor mezzanine.

The "Lost" Murals of Dorothy Morlan

A section of the second Morlan Murals.​

One of four sections of the first Morlan Mural.

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