Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Third annual Lincoln Institute for Teachers brings Lincoln's frontier years to life
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Teachers will learn about Abraham Lincoln’s frontier life during Historic Southern Indiana’s third annual Lincoln Institute for Teachers, June 15-16 at University of Southern Indiana. The Institute, to be held annually until the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, attracts teachers from all grade levels and disciplines, with a different theme each year. Leslie Townsend, assistant director of Historic Southern Indiana, said the Institute will cover the period from when the Lincoln family moved to Indiana in 1816 until the late 1830s. “We’ll be discussing what life was like on the American frontier, using the Lincoln family as a model,” she said. “Teachers can do a lot with this topic at many grade levels. At the younger levels they can discuss pioneer life, and older students can do research on topics such as who Lincoln’s neighbors were, and what impact that had.” The keynote speaker is Douglas Wilson, co-director of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He will address the development of Lincoln’s character in “Becoming Abraham Lincoln,” the first presentation of the day on Thursday, June 15, in Carter Hall in the University Center. Much of Wilson’s research is based on letters and interviews collected by William H. Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner and biographer. Wilson is the author of Honor’s Voice: The Emergence of Abraham Lincoln, as well as a collection of lectures and essays on the early years of Lincoln’s life, which have been published in Lincoln Before Washington: New Perspectives on Lincoln’s Pre-Presidential Years. Other speakers are Nichole Etcheson, Alexander M. Bracken professor of history at Ball State University, who will discuss the society, culture, politics, and economics of the lower Midwest during Lincoln’s boyhood years; and Martha Beckort, media specialist at Lanesville Community School Corporation, who will review online and print teaching resources related to this year’s topic. Institute participants also will tour the Living History Farm and Cabin site at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. For more information, go to the Historic Southern Indiana Web site or call 812/465-7014. |
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