Bartelt to speak about Lincoln at upcoming Historical Society meeting

Bill Bartelt will speak on “Abe’s Youth: Setting the Record Straight” at the meeting of the Dubois County Historical Society at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 28, 2021. The meeting will be held at the Dubois County Museum, 2704 N. Newton St., Jasper, Indiana. A buffet dinner will be served followed by a business meeting, an election of officers and the program about Abraham Lincoln.

In the 1920s a group of Southern Indiana amateur historians, including Dubois County residents, were troubled with the negative image of Abraham Lincoln’s time in Indiana. The purpose of the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society’s “Lincoln Inquiry” was to present Lincoln’s formative years in a positive light. This presentation will examine their work.

William “Bill” Bartelt grew up in Holland, Indiana and taught social studies at Evansville’s Harrison High School for 37 years. He was the social studies and fine arts department chair at the school when he retired in 2005. From 1986 to 2007 he was an adjunct American history instructor at the University of Southern Indiana. He serves as a trustee of the Indiana Historical Society, Secretary of the Indiana Library and Historical Board, first vice-president of the Abraham Lincoln Association, a member of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana board of directors and a board member of the Lincoln Forum. 

He has served as president of the Vanderburgh County Historical Society, the Southwestern Indiana Historical Society, the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Sciences Board and the Newburgh Museum Foundation.  In 2003 he received the Indiana Historical Society’s Hoosier Historian Award for contributions to historical scholarship.

In 2008 the Indiana Historical Society Press published his book There I grew up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth.  He co-edited a book with Josh Claybourn entitled Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President published by the Indiana University Press in October 2019.

Reservations are due by October 22. The cost of the meal is $15. Membership dues of $5 are also payable.

For reservations call Mary Ann Hayes 482-2847, call Tom Fierst 812-630-8882 or send an e-mail to mhayes@duboiscountymuseum.org.

The public is invited to attend.