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Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

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Dr. Darrel E. Bigham

Image of Dr. Darrel E. Bigham

Born August 12, 1942, in Harrisburg, PA; education in Harrisburg Public Schools

BA, history, Messiah College, 1964

Rockefeller Fellow, Harvard Divinity School, 1964-1965

PhD, history, the University of Kansas, 1970

Member of the History faculty, University of Southern Indiana, since 1970; recipient of USI's Distinguished Professor Award, 1989

Named Hoosier Historian for 2002 by the Indiana Historical Society

Director, Historic Southern Indiana, a heritage-based regional development project of USI, since 1986

Author of 6 books and numerous journal articles, mostly about urbanization, race and ethnicity in the lower Ohio Valley; currently working on a book on the impact of emancipation along the Ohio River in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 1861-1885.

Married to Mary Elizabeth Hitchcock since September 23, 1965. Father of two children--Matthew, an anesthesiologist, who lives in St Louis, and Elizabeth, a writer, who lives in New York City. Both are married. We have three grandsons, ranging in age from nearly 3 to 6 months, and another grandchild on the way.

Appointed by the President of the United States on the recommendation of the Governor of Indiana.

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March 25, 2003