William Bartelt

Last updated
William Bartelt
Bartelt.jpg
Born (1946-03-09) March 9, 1946 (age 78)
Alma mater Indiana State University (B.S.)
University of Evansville (M.S.)
Occupation(s)Author and educator
Known forscholar of Abraham Lincoln
Board member of Abraham Lincoln Association, Indiana Historical Society

William Bartelt, often referred to as Bill Bartelt, is an American historian and author based in Newburgh, Indiana. He is considered the greatest living scholar on Abraham Lincoln's youth in Indiana. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Bartelt graduated from Holland High School and received a Bachelor of Science in history education from Indiana State University and a master's degree from the University of Evansville. He worked more than fifteen summers at the Living Historical Farm at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana. [3] He also worked at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. [4]

Career

Bartelt has published books, articles, and numerous historical reports on Lincoln's life, including a 2008 book titled There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Indiana Youth. [5] In the book Bartelt guides readers through the various texts that provide much of historians' knowledge about Lincoln's boyhood. There I Grew Up helped to inspire The Better Angels , a 2014 American biographical drama-historical film about Lincoln's formative years. Bartelt also served as a historical consultant for the film, with the film's director A. J. Edwards referring to Bartelt as the "greatest living scholar on Abraham Lincoln's youth in Indiana." [1] Together with Joshua Claybourn, he co-edited Abe's Youth: Shaping the Future President (Indiana University Press, 2019).

Bartelt is a leader within several Lincoln-related organizations. He is vice-chair and board member of the Abraham Lincoln Association, was appointed by President George W. Bush to the federal Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission's advisory and education committees, and served as vice chair of the Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Bartelt lectures before Civil War and Lincoln groups and at museums, colleges, and historical societies conferences throughout the country. [6]

In addition to his Lincoln scholarship, Bartelt serves on the board of trustees of the Indiana Historical Society and received the Indiana Historical Society's "Hoosier Historian" award in 2003. [7] He taught social studies at Harrison High School from 1968 until 2005 where he also chaired the social studies department, and he served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Southern Indiana from 1986 until 2007. Bartelt has also been president of the Vanderburgh County Historical Society, president of the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, and served as historian of Trinity United Methodist Church in Evansville. [3]

Publications

Books

Journal articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln</span> President of the United States from 1861 to 1865

Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the United States through the American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the insurgent Confederacy, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spencer County, Indiana</span> County in Indiana, United States

Spencer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,810. The county seat is Rockport. Despite not being in the Owensboro Metropolitan Area, the entire riverfront of the city of Owensboro, Kentucky borders the southern tip of the county.

Lincoln City is an unincorporated community in Carter Township, Spencer County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Indiana. It lies five minutes south of Interstate 64, northeast of Evansville, and approximately twenty miles north of the Ohio River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Lincoln</span> Father of Abraham Lincoln (1778–1851)

Thomas Lincoln Sr. was an American farmer, carpenter, and father of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Unlike some of his ancestors, Thomas could not write. He struggled to make a successful living for his family and faced difficult challenges in Kentucky real estate boundary and title disputes, the early death of his first wife, and the integration of his second wife's family into his own family, before making his final home in Illinois.

Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the mother of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Her marriage to Thomas Lincoln also produced a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Thomas Jr. When Nancy and Thomas had been married for just over 10 years, the family moved from Kentucky to western Perry County, Indiana, in 1816. When Spencer County was formed in 1818, the Lincoln Homestead lay within its current boundaries. Nancy Lincoln died from milk sickness or consumption in 1818 at the Little Pigeon Creek Community in Spencer County when Abraham was nine years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park</span> National Historical Park in LaRue County, Kentucky, U.S.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is a designated U.S. historic park preserving two separate farm sites in LaRue County, Kentucky, where Abraham Lincoln was born and lived early in his childhood. He was born at the Sinking Spring site south of Hodgenville and remained there until the family moved to the Knob Creek Farm northeast of Hodgenville when he was two years old, living there until he was seven years of age. The park's visitor center is located at the Sinking Spring site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial</span> United States historic place in Spencer County, Indiana

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is a United States presidential memorial and a National Historic Landmark District in Lincoln City, Indiana. It preserves the farm site where Abraham Lincoln lived with his family from 1816 to 1830. During that time, he grew from a 7-year-old boy to a 21-year-old man. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and at least 27 other settlers were buried here in the Pioneer Cemetery. His sister Sarah Lincoln Grigsby was buried in the nearby Little Pigeon Baptist Church cemetery, across the highway at Lincoln State Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early life and career of Abraham Lincoln</span>

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring farm, south of Hodgenville in Hardin County, Kentucky. His siblings were Sarah Lincoln Grigsby and Thomas Lincoln, Jr. After a land title dispute forced the family to leave in 1811, they relocated to Knob Creek farm, eight miles to the north. By 1814, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, had lost most of his land in Kentucky in legal disputes over land titles. In 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln, their nine-year-old daughter Sarah, and seven-year-old Abraham moved to what became Indiana, where they settled in Hurricane Township, Perry County, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln State Park</span> State park in Indiana, United States

Lincoln State Park is a state park of Indiana, United States. It is located in southern Indiana in Spencer County approximately 35 miles (56 km) east of Evansville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission</span> 21st-century U.S. congressional commission

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC) was the congressionally created, 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010. Its official successor organization, announced in 2011 with an expanded board and broadened mission, is the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank J. Williams</span> American judge

Frank J. Williams is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a notable Abraham Lincoln scholar and author, and a justice of the Military Commission Review Panel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Holzer</span> American academic (born 1949)

Harold Holzer is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. Holzer previously spent twenty-three years as senior vice president for external affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York before retiring in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abraham Lincoln Association</span>

The Abraham Lincoln Association(ALA) is an American association advancing studies on Abraham Lincoln and disseminating scholarship about Lincoln. The ALA was founded in 1908 to lead a national celebration of Lincoln's 100th birthday and continues to mark his birthday with an annual banquet and symposium. The ALA holds no archive of materials and instead functions primarily as a scholarly forum. It remains "the nation's oldest and largest Lincoln organization."

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation is the successor organization of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), which was created by Congress and the President of the United States to plan the commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission sunset on April 30, 2010

<i>The Better Angels</i> (film) 2014 American film

The Better Angels is a 2014 American biographical historical drama film about United States President Abraham Lincoln's formative years. It was written and directed by A. J. Edwards and produced by Terrence Malick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Pigeon Creek Community</span> Indiana settlement, boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln

Little Pigeon Creek Community, also known as Little Pigeon Creek Settlement and Little Pigeon River settlement, was a settlement in present Carter and Clay Townships in Spencer County, Indiana along Little Pigeon Creek. The community, near present-day Lincoln City, Indiana, was established on frontier land by 1816. There were enough settlers in the Indiana wilderness to enable Indiana to become a state in December, 1816.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Pioneer Village</span> United States historic place

Lincoln Pioneer Village is a memorial along the Ohio River in Rockport, Spencer County, Indiana to President Abraham Lincoln who lived in the county during his boyhood years. It was built in 1934 and 1935 in the city park by the Works Progress Administration. George Honig, an artist and sculptor from Spencer County, designed the memorial. He also oversaw the building of the pioneer village replica, which was sponsored by the Spencer County Historical Society and the Rockport City Council. It was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Claybourn</span> American attorney, author, and historian

Joshua Claybourn is an American attorney, author, and historian considered one of the foremost living scholars on Abraham Lincoln’s youth in Indiana.

Allen J. Payton was an American farmer and politician. He represented Spencer County in the Indiana General Assembly.

References

  1. 1 2 Adams, Sam (12 November 2014). "'The Better Angels': Director A.J. Edwards on Young Abe Lincoln (INTERVIEW)". Biography. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  2. McWhirter, Christian. "Roundtable: The Better Angels". Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Lincoln's Assassination". Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. "Holland Fest to host nationally renowned historian". Dubois County Free Press. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  5. Bartelt, William E. (2008). There I Grew Up. Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN   978-0871952639.
  6. Uebelhor, Casey (12 February 2019). "95th Annual Lincoln Day". Spencer County Leader. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  7. "Board of Trustees". Indiana Historical Society. Retrieved 22 August 2016.