Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Bigham contributes to redesign of penny to mark Lincoln's birthday
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Dr. Darrel Bigham, professor of history and director of Historic Southern Indiana, has had a hand in the redesign of the penny to mark Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. Bigham was appointed to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and serves as chair of its Education Committee. The commission is charged with planning the 2009 celebration of Lincoln’s bicentennial. Lincoln’s boyhood home, Lincoln City, Indiana, is in Historic Southern Indiana’s 26-county area. Bigham also coordinates the bicentennial task forces in “the Lincoln states” of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. “One of the duties of the ALBC mandated by Congress was to plan a redesign of the Lincoln penny, which was introduced for the centennial in 1909,” Bigham said. “In 1959, the sesquicentennial year, the reverse side was changed, as the Lincoln Memorial replaced the wheat image. “The ALBC agreed that, following the model of the redesigned quarter, the obverse side would be enhanced, and the reverse side would commemorate places - in this case, his birthplace in Kentucky, his boyhood home in Indiana, his Springfield home, and Civil War Washington.” The present image of Lincoln will remain on the front of the penny. The redesigned pennies will be issued in 2009 as part of the bicentennial festivities. “The ALBC will be working with the Bureau of the Mint on designs of the four coins,” Bigham said. “The two of us from Indiana on the ALBC hope that the Indiana penny will stress Lincoln’s self-education - his focus on reading during his formative years, ages 7 to 21. That will also, I hope, promote literacy as well as self-improvement.” |
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