Born and reared in Bloomington, Hoagy Carmichael became one of the most important American songwriters of the twentieth century. He began attending Indiana University in 1920 and graduated with a law degree in 1926. After trying law as a career, he returned to music. He wrote that he composed “Stardust” in part on the piano of the Book Nook located here. Among his other popular songs were “Heart and Soul,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Lazybones,” and “Old Buttermilk Sky,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1946. He won an Academy Award in 1951 for “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” from Here Comes the Groom. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971. He died on December 27, 1981 in California and was buried in Bloomington.