Monday, February 12, 2007
Lincoln Bicentennial Commission appointment keeps Bigham busy
 Dr. Darrel Bigham, professor of history, has taught Civil War history at USI since the early 1970s. When he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission in 2000, he thought he knew the sixteenth president.But after having served on the commission for the last several years, Bigham has found the amount of scholarship available on Lincoln “absolutely mind-boggling.” “I thought I knew Lincoln and the Civil War,” he said, “but I’ve since realized how little I knew, not only about what had been written, but what primary source materials exist in manuscript form and on the Web. The amount is enormous. More has been written about him than any person other than Jesus and Shakespeare.” Bigham is one of five presidential appointees to the 15-member commission. Five were appointed by the House of Representatives, and five by the Senate. Among them there are academics, Lincoln scholars, collectors, and buffs, politicians, and lay people. “It’s a fascinating mix of people from all over the country.” Through his work on the commission, he has gotten to know more about the Lincoln community, as well as the man himself. “There are scores of Lincoln-oriented organizations throughout the world,” he said. “They are most numerous in Japan, surprisingly. In the U.S. there are not just local and regional organizations in cities such as Chicago, New York, Boston, and Washington, but a number of important national organizations. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Act of 2000 stipulates several mandates for the body, including the creation of Lincoln-oriented stamps, a redesigned penny, and a special rededication program at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. In addition, the commission has two major program committees: education, which Bigham chairs, and public programs. The bicentennial will kick off February 12, 2008, with a celebration at Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky, followed by a major event on Mother’s Day weekend 2008 at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Spencer County, focusing on Lincoln’s mother, who is buried there. Bigham and Spencer County efforts to mark the bicentennial were featured in a Wall Street Journal article in fall 2006. Bigham’s involvement in the Lincoln community of scholars has carried over into several other activities. He’s part of an informal group of people from Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky called Lincoln States. Along with park service sites and tourism agencies from each state, members collaborate on marketing and promotion. Historic Southern Indiana, an outreach program of the University for which Bigham serves as director, sponsors the annual Lincoln Institute for Teachers in conjunction with the National Park Service staff in Spencer County. The Organization of American Historians asked Bigham to guest-edit an issue of the Magazine of History for high school teachers entitled “Lincoln and Race.” “In 1909, people who observed the centennial were oblivious to what we consider most important,” Bigham said. “They called Lincoln ‘Preserver of the Union.’ Consider our times. We have to deal with issues of race and freedom and fundamental principles. The context of our times will shape how we reflect on him and the kinds of things we create for teachers of the next generation of students.” For more information about the bicentennial, go to www.lincolnbicentennial.gov. |
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