The Center for Middletown Studies

The Mission of the Center for Middletown Studies is to build on the research and scholarship inaugurated by Robert S. and Hellen Merrell Lynd, in their landmark studies Middletown (1929) and Middletown in Transition (1937). Between 1924 and 1937 the Lynds lead a team of researchers investigating life in Muncie, Indiana. The two books became classic sociological studies and they identified Muncie as a barometer of social trends in the United States. In the years since, scholars in a variety of fields have returned to Muncie to follow up on the Lynds' work, making this small city perhaps the most studied community in the nation. The Center continues this tradition by sponsoring and promoting research on Muncie as Middletown and on the themes and issues the Lynds explored.

For more information about the Center, please visit the links located on the left-hand side of the page.