From USI University Notes
November 30, 2007
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Dr. Darrel Bigham,
professor of history, will see eight years of work on a federal
commission begin to bear fruit in spring 2008, his last semester before
retirement from USI. In 2000, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, charged by congress with several mandates, including the creation of Lincoln-oriented stamps, a redesigned penny, and a special rededication program at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. For Bigham, who chairs the commission’s education committee, retirement means he’ll have more time for his commission work. “My responsibilities continue through the end of 2010, so this has been almost a full-time job and I’m glad I’ll have more time to work on it,” he said. The national kick-off event is in February 2008 in Louisville. |
| Bigham joined the University in 1970.
He was instrumental in the formation and serves as director of Historic
Southern Indiana, a USI outreach program that promotes the historical,
cultural, and natural resources of southern Indiana. “It’s a program I
feel very strongly about and feel we’ve made a significant contribution
to the region,” he said. “We’ve gotten a great deal of national
attention in the past 21 years. It was one of the earliest outreach
programs of the institution, and we continue to make a mark.” He has authored, co-authored, or edited 11 books, most recently On Jordan’s Banks: Emancipation and its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley (University Press of Kentucky, 2005). He was guest editor of the Organization of American Historians October 2007 Magazine of History focusing on Lincoln and Race. Bigham organized or served as president of the Vanderburgh County Historical Society, the Evansville Arts and Education Council, the Metropolitan Evansville Progress Committee, the Evansville Museum, and Leadership Evansville, for which he was the first executive director. He chaired the Evansville committee that observed the American Revolution bicentennial during 1974-1977 and the committee that organized the city's 175th anniversary celebration in 1987. He also created and for many years provided leadership for the education committee of the Rotary Club of Evansville. He organized and chaired the Indiana Council for History Education (1991-2002) and was president of the Indiana Association of Historians (1999-2000). The Indiana Historical Society honored Bigham with its Hoosier Historian Award in 2002. When his work with the commission ends, he plans to write, travel, and spend more time with his wife Polly at her family home in Woodstock, Vermont. |
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