IUPUC to host presentations about Lincoln, Civil War

by Adam Frazier
July 29, 2009

IUPUC will host a program titled “Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Indiana: An Evening of Presentations for the Community” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, in the Custer-Nugent Lecture Hall in the Columbus Learning Center.

The presentation, endorsed by both the Federal and Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commissions, fulfills IUPUC’s mission of promoting lifelong learning by encouraging reflection on the legacy of the Civil War era for today’s citizens. This year marks the bicentennial year of Lincoln’s birth and 2011 will mark the sesquicentennial observance of the Civil War.

A Kentucky native, Lincoln spent much of his boyhood in Indiana, and lived his pre-Presidential adult life in Illinois.

The program, made possible by an Indiana Humanities Council grant, will be led by three scholar-historians with expertise in the era of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War in Indiana. It is free and open to the public.

“These presentations are geared for general audiences, not academics. They will feature the insights of expert scholars engaged in ongoing research on topics related to a fascinating period in the history of the state and nation. The Lincoln years undeniably continue to inform and shape current political and social discourse,” said Douglas G. Gardner, Ph.D., lecturer of history in the IUPUC Division of Liberal Arts.

“Abraham Lincoln may have been born in Kentucky, but he spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Indiana.  His time as a Hoosier played an important role in forming his character and personality.  In this 200th anniversary year of Lincoln’s birth, the issues of his times still resonate with Americans.”

Nicole Etcheson, Ph.D., and professor of history at Ball State University, will lead a presentation titled “Lincoln as a Hoosier: Race, Politics, and the Sixteenth President.” Associate professor of history at the University of Indianapolis, A. James Fuller, Ph.D., will lead “Lincoln's Man in Indiana?: Governor Oliver P. Morton and Civil War Politics.” Stephen E. Towne, associate university archivist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, will lead the presentation titled “Unloved by Many: Opposition to Lincoln in Civil War Indiana.”