BIGHAM, Darrel E. 1942-

PERSONAL: Born August 12, 1942, in Harrisburg, PA; son of Paul and Ethel (Brandt) Bigham; married Polly Hitchcock (a program director), September 23, 1965; children: Matthew, Elizabeth. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Messiah College, B.A., 1964; attended Harvard University, 1964-65; University of Kansas, Ph.D., 1970. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, gardening.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of History, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712; fax: 812-465-7061. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, assistant professor, 1970-75, associate professor, 1975-81, professor of history, 1981—, director of Historic Southern Indiana program, 1986—. Indiana State University—Evansville, codirector of regional archives, 1972-74. Indiana Historical Bureau, member of historical marker advisory committee; Indiana Council for History Education, past chair; National Council for History Education, Indiana representative; member of Indiana Council for Social Studies and National Council for Social Studies; U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, member, 2000—; appointed Vanderburgh County Historian. Leadership Evansville, executive director, 1976-79; Southern Indiana Rural Development Project, member of board of directors; past president of board of directors of Volunteer Action Center, Evansville Arts and Education Council, Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, and Democrats for Better Government; past member of board of directors of Evansville Museum, Conrad Baker Foundation, and Evansville Vanderburgh County Public Library.

MEMBER: Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Association for State and Local History, Indiana Association of Historians (past president), Indiana Historical Society, Vanderburgh County Historical Society (past president of board of directors), Rotary Club of Evansville.

AWARDS, HONORS: Grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, 1989-91; Paul Harris fellow, Rotary Club of Evansville, 1992.

WRITINGS:

Reflections on a Heritage: The German Americans in Southwestern Indiana, Indiana State University (Evansville, IN), 1980.

We Ask Only a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1987.

An Evansville Album: Perspectives on a River City, 1812-1988, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1988.

Indiana Resource Book, Glencoe/McGraw (New York, NY), 1997.

Towns and Villages of the Lower Ohio, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 1998.

Evansville, Arcadia Publishing (Mount Pleasant, SC), 1998.

Southern Indiana, Arcadia Publishing (Mount Pleasant, SC), 2000.

(Editor) Indiana Territory, 1800-2000: A Bicentennial Perspective, Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN), 2001.

Contributor to books, including Their Infinite Variety: Essays on Hoosier Politicians, Indiana Historical Bureau (Indianapolis, IN), 1981; Always a River: An Anthology, edited by Robert L. Reid, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1991; Indiana's African-American Heritage: Essays from Black History News and Notes, edited by Wilma Dulin, Indiana Historical Society (Indianapolis, IN), 1993; and The Black Press in the Middle West, edited by Henry Lewis Suggs, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 1996. Contributor of articles and reviews to journals, including Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Black History News and Notes, Old Northwest, Peace and Change, Journal of American History, American Historical Review, and Alabama Review. Member of editorial board, Indiana Magazine of History, 1982-86; member of editorial advisory board, Evansville Press, 1983-86, and Organization of American Historians Newsletter, 2001—.

WORK IN PROGRESS: On Jordan's Banks: Emancipation and Black Community Life on the Lower Ohio.

SIDELIGHTS: Darrel E. Bigham once told CA: "In brief, I have sought to explain the place in which I have lived since 1970: how and why the towns and cities of the lower Ohio are what they are; how and why the people of this region think, believe, and act as they do. My audience is general—mostly regional—though I seek to reach academics, also, with a reliable and valid narrative."