USI's Bigham wins state historical society award
 

The Indiana Historical Society honored Dr. Darrel Bigham, professor of history and director of Historic Southern Indiana, with its 2002 Hoosier Historian Award in Indianapolis in January.

"We have been selecting individuals around the state that we feel have made significant contributions to Indiana history," said Tom Krasean, IHS Awards Committee member. "This year, there was no doubt Darrel Bigham fit that bill very well."

The annual award recognizes "distinguished contributions to the world of scholarship." Bigham, Krasean noted, has dedicated 30 years of his life to the study, promotion, and dissemination of Indiana history.

"He is a historian who's a scholar," Krasean added. "He also is capable of working with folks on the local level and has their respect as well."

Bigham was instrumental in the formation of Historic Southern Indiana, an outreach program of USI that seeks to identify, protect and preserve, enhance, and promote the historical, cultural, and natural resources of the 26 counties that constitute the historically distinctive southern third of the state.

Appointed by President Bill Clinton, Bigham also serves on the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and is chair of its Education Committee. The commission is charged with planning the 2009 celebration of Lincoln's bicentennial. Lincoln's boyhood home, Lincoln City, Ind., is in Historic Southern Indiana's 26-county area.

As an author, Bigham has published a number of works, including Images of America: Evansville; We Ask Only for a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community in Evansville; Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio; and Reflections on a Heritage: The German Americans in Southwestern Indiana. He co-wrote Images of America: New Harmony, Indiana, and his On Jordan's Banks: The Aftermath of Emancipation on the Lower Ohio River is forthcoming from University Press of Kentucky.

His recent scholarly activities also include serving as chair of the Indiana Council for History Education, as president of the Indiana Association of Historians, as president of the Vanderburgh County Historical Society Board of Directors, as Vanderburgh County historian, and on the Organization of American Historians Newsletter Editorial Board.

Bigham joined the USI faculty in 1970, and his areas of interest include community/regional history of the Midwest, American history since 1815 with emphasis on social and intellectual history, and African American history.

He holds a BA from Messiah College, was a Rockefeller Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, and earned a PhD at University of Kansas.

The Indiana Historical Society, a nonprofit organization, has worked since 1830 to collect, preserve, interpret, and share stories of the state's history.

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