Civil War Summer at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum
In this 200th anniversary year of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, a Civil War theme will prevail throughout the summer at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum located at 2405 Indiana Ave. in La Porte.

Illustrated lectures, a Civil War Encampment and Ball, and a program of music of the Civil War period are all scheduled.  A museum display of Civil War period dresses and uniforms, photographs of La Porte County people during the war, diaries, Grand Army of the Republic memorabilia and more will be on exhibit starting in June. 

Civil War Summer events include:

• The Underground Railroad in La Porte County: June 6 at 1 p.m.
  Fern Eddy Schultz, La Porte County Historian, will be giving this presentation on the places and people that were believed to be part of the Underground Railroad. Photos, sketches and maps will illustrate the talk. 
  
  
• Civil War Encampment and Living History: June 27 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  This outdoor event will be open to the public at no charge, with impromptu demonstrations of camp life, cooking over an open fire, care and use of weapons, explanations of military uniforms, and more going on throughout the day.  An artillery drill will take place at 11 a.m. and a skirmish at 2 p.m. A reduced admission charge to the museum building will be in place for the day. Attention re-enactors!  Please contact us about arrival and departure dates, and services and supplies being provided.
  
  
• Civil War Ball: June 27 from 6 to 9 p.m.
  Party food and drink inspired by recipes of the mid-1800’s will be featured.  Live music by Susan Brown and Company will be provided for traditional dances of the period.  Come in period attire or modern, and watch the dancing, or join in!  The museum building is designed in the manner of an antebellum Greek Revival mansion, surrounded by several acres of lawn, providing the perfect setting for such an event. The Ball is free to re-enactors taking part in the Living History event, but a charge applies to the public: $8 for La Porte County Historical Society members or $10 for nonmembers.  R.S.V.P. at  (219) 324-6767.
  
  
• Songs of the Civil War: Aug. 1 at 1 p.m.
  This program will feature Jill VanLew, a Civil War reenactor, music teacher and performer from Osceola.  Her program is a musical walk through the Civil War, singing songs such as “Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Wait for the Wagon.”  She will be wearing dresses of the period and showing the progress of the war as it was reflected in the mood and words of the songs.
   
• La Porte County Civil War Soldiers: Aug. 8 at 1 p.m.
  This program will detail the lives of several La Porte County residents who fought in the Civil War, including two who fought for the South.  Fern Eddy Schultz is the La Porte County Historian, and will be presenting this talk, illustrated with photographs of the soldiers and sites associated with them.  

For more information, call (219) 324-6767 or visit http://www.laportecountyhistory.org/.

GenFest 2009 in Shelby County
This annual Indiana Genealogy Convention is hosted by the Shelby County Genealogy Society and will be held June 12 through 14 at various sites in Shelbyville.

According to SCGS president, Susan Armstrong, GenFest is an old-fashioned gathering of researchers doing genealogy in East Central Indiana.

Highlights for year’s convention:

• Meet and Greet at the Strand Theatre
• A performance open to the public by James Whitcomb Riley impersonator Danny Russell
• Vendors will be selling genealogy material and maps at the Grover Museum, the
• Genealogy Society office at the Town Hall Building, and the Shelbyville-Shelby County
• Public Library Genealogy and History House.
• A guided walking tour of historic Forest Hill Cemetery
• Wilderness Plots, an evening of songs and stories inspired by the history of settling the American wilderness in the time between the Revolution and the Civil War
• Guided walking tour of the downtown area called “Empty Places”

Many of the events are free, although some have admission fees. Registration is requested for for the event, which is open to the public.

For more information about GenFest 2009 or to donate goody bag material such as pens, pencils and other trade fair items, call the Shelby County Historical Society at (317) 398-8773 or visit www.sscpl.lib.in.us/library2005/genfest_2009.htm.

Lincoln Festival in South Bend
This event will be held on Saturday, June 13, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Museums at Washington and Chapin, comprising the Center for History and Studebaker National Museum in South Bend.

Across the nation, Americans are commemorating the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, and the Michiana community is invited to the Lincoln Festival. The event marks the opening of the new exhibit, Lincoln: The Man You Didn’t Know. The festival features several activities, beginning at 11 a.m. with the exhibit’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Using Abraham Lincoln’s own timeless words and wearing period attire, including Lincoln’s signature stovepipe hat and black frock coat, well-known Lincoln interpreter Lance Mack will greet visitors and give programs at noon and 4 p.m. Mack’s presentations will feature Lincoln’s "Gettysburg Address" and "A House Divided" as well as the Indiana-related speeches, including Lincoln’s response to Indiana Gov. Morton's welcome at Indianapolis.

The 5th Veterans Reserve, Company G, who are Civil War regimental re-enactors, will provide the Honor Guard for the Lincoln Catafalque and the Lincoln Presidential Carriage. A changing of the guard at both locations will take place at half-hour intervals during the festival.

"African-American Civil War Heroes" will be presented by the Storyteller’s Drum at 1 p.m. "Major Delany" recounts his recruitment of and instruction to volunteers enlisted in the "105th Massachusetts Colored Infantry," the first federally-authorized African-American military regiment in the Civil War. He is accompanied by "Andrew Jackson-Smith," a runaway slave who eventually joined that regiment. Vernard Chambers, a member of the Sons of Union Veterans, will discuss his great-grandfather’s experience as an African-American Union soldier.

Local dignitaries and government officials, including U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly and South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke, will participate in a reading of the names of Civil War veterans, taking place every 30 minutes. Interpreters dressed in period costumes will provide presentations about several topics relating to the 1860s, including medical techniques of the time and women’s roles in that era.

Civil War music will be presented. At 2 p.m., Stephen Anderson Day of Power in Praise Crusade Ministries, will lead the performance, "Songs of Slavery," a collection of African American spirituals. At 3 p.m., the Michiana Concert Band will perform "Troopers’ Salute," a medley of favorite songs of Abraham Lincoln.

Food vendors will be on site, and crafts and stories will be available for children.

Lincoln: The Man You Didn’t Know explores Lincoln’s boyhood in Indiana, his connections to Indiana as an adult and Indiana’s reactions to his years as President. Visitors can view the newly conserved carriage that took President and Mrs. Lincoln to Ford’s Theatre that fateful Good Friday in 1865. They can also learn about the conspiracy concerning the assassination and trace the route of the funeral train which brought his body through Indiana on the way to its final resting place in Illinois.

Admission for Lincoln: The Man You Didn’t Know is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and free for children ages 17 and under, and includes all events that day as well as tours of the exhibit.

For information, call (574) 235-9664 or visit http://www.centerforhistory.org/.

Lincoln Highway Adventure to South Bend
The Four Presidents Corners Historical Society in Monroeville is sponsoring a bus trip on Thursday, June 18, to the Historic Lincoln Highway 17th Annual Conference in South Bend.

Trip participants will enjoy lunch, an artists and authors reception, a Lincoln Highway stamp cancellation, and an afternoon of free conference activities. For more details about the conference, visit http://www.indianalincolnhighway.com/.

The cost is $50 per person.

To make a reservation or for more information, call Lois Ternet at the Four Presidents Corners Historical Society at (260) 623-3316 or (260) 623-3017. Reservations are due by June 11.

This trip is a collaborative project of Four Presidents Corners Historical Society, the History Center, ARCH, the Whitley County Historical Society and the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association.

Rural Heritage Driving Tour in Switzerland and Ohio Counties
This driving tour from the Switzerland County Historical Society and the Ohio County Historical Society will be held on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning in Vevay and Rising Sun.

Barns and rural sites in Switzerland and Ohio Counties are the focus of an amazing tour that the historical societies from the participating counties have organized. The tour was developed as a way to honor the rural heritage that established the two counties and showcase sites that have shown a high level of stewardship towards preserving rural architecture or are works-in-progress to revitalize properties undergoing adaptive reuses.

Take this rare opportunity to visit operating farms, country churches and developing museum sites. The variety of barns includes a scissor-truss barn, hay press barns, a Gothic arch-roofed barn and a gambrel-roofed dairy barn.

The Switzerland County sites include:

• The Roger and Lisa Garland dairy farm
• The Norman W. and Mary Earls family farm
• The Stevens farm
• The Thiebaud farmstead
• The Markland Baptist Church and school

The Ohio County sites include:

• The Siekman Environmental Park
• The Casey Knigga hay press barn
• The Jay/Fisher-Barricklow barn
• Salem Ridge Methodist Church

Tickets are $8 and are available the day of the tour at the Switzerland County Historical Museum at 208 E. Market St. in Vevay or the Ohio County Historical Society at 212 S. Walnut in Rising Sun.

A map with specific directions will guide you on this incredible rural adventure, and a booklet with information about the sites will further enhance the drive. Plan to spend the whole day, as you won’t want to miss any of the nine sites on this driving tour through the picturesque countryside.

For further information contact the Switzerland County Historical Museum at (812) 427-3560 or the Ohio County Historical Museum at (812) 438-4915.

Journey of Faith Church Driving Tour in Scott County
In partnership with four Scott County churches, the Scott County Heritage Center and Museum is sponsoring the Journey of Faith church driving tour on Saturday, June 20, from 1 to 4 pm. 

Participants will be able to visit and tour the Austin United Methodist Church, the Lexington Christian Church, the Ox Fork Primitive Baptist Church and the Scottsburg First Presbyterian Church. 

The driving tour is self-guided and participants will be free to visit the churches in any sequence anytime during the afternoon. Church members will provide histories of their congregations as well as tours of the buildings at each location. In addition, museum volunteers will provide refreshments at Ox Fork Baptist. Directions, maps and a brochure with brief histories of each church will be provided with ticket purchases.

Tickets for the event are $10 per person and are available at the museum.

The Scott County Heritage Center and Museum is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For additional information about the tour or other upcoming events, please call the museum at (812) 752-1050.

The 2009 Newsom Family Reunion in Fulton, Mo.
This event will be held on June 27 beginning at 1 p.m. at the Atkinson Shelter located in Veterans Park in Fulton, Mo.

All descendants of the Newsom (Newsome) family are encouraged to attend. Please bring any pictures, documents and stories to share. All information will be recorded and transferred to CD to be shared with future generations. We’re looking for a great turnout so be sure to mark your calendars!

We will provide ham, turkey, bread and drinks. Please bring a covered dish and place setting for your family. NO Alcohol, please! The goal will be to not only have everyone meet one another but to record information for the present and future. Mary Sue Newsom Holst will bring her laptop, scanner and all of the techy stuff to record any documents, pictures, letters, etc. that might be of interest to future genealogists. After organizing it all, she will make it available to anyone who may be interested.

For more information contact Mary Sue Newsom Holst at (573) 449-0667, (573) 864-5879 or angel42148@centurytel.net, or Karen and John Fox at (573) 642-9642.

Internships:

Collections Management Internship at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Del.
Hagley Museum and Library seeks a collections intern to assist with the continuing collections move and inventory project. This opportunity is directly related to the completion of the new collections preservation storage space which was finished in November 2008.

Internship duties include:

• Moving museum objects using correct handling techniques
• Assisting with ongoing inventory of collections (read object tags, record object numbers, create object descriptions)
• Assisting with ongoing bar-coding project (place bar-code labels on acid free tags, scan bar-codes with bar code scanner)
• Completing other duties as assigned (assisting with object surveys, data entry in Vernon database and filing related to projects)

Applicants should:

• Be currently enrolled in a graduate program, or have recently completed a graduate program in museum studies or related field (undergraduates with exceptional backgrounds will be considered)
• Have previous hands-on collections management experience (specifically, familiarity with and skills in object handling, collection databases and inventory);
• Have strong attention to detail, problem solving skills and flexibility
• Be able to bend, stoop, lift 40 pounds occasionally and 25 pounds frequently and independently, and climb stairs and ladders.

The internship is accompanied by a stipend compensation for 210 hours or approximately six weeks, beginning in June 2009. Hagley is willing to work with the intern’s institution to meet course credit requirements.

Send letter of interest, resume and references to Amy M. Martina, Registrar, Hagley Museum and Library, P.O. Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807 or e-mail to amartina@hagley.org. The closing date for applications is Friday, June 12, 2009.

For more information, please visit http://www.hagley.org/employment.html.

Preservation Library: Articles, Regulations and Policy Online
This resource from PreservationDirectory.com contains a repository of historic preservation and building restoration articles that provide expert guidance for the rehabilitation and preservation of historic structures, as well as links to essential policy and legal documents that pertain to historic preservation and cultural resource management.

The Preservation Library features:

• The Arciform Article Series
• Preservation Laws, Executive Orders and Regulations
• The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Properties
• Preservation Briefs (National Park Service)
• Preservation Tech Notes: Case Studies in Historic Preservation (National Park Service)
• Miscellaneous Historic Preservation and Building Restoration Documents
• The Preservation Resource Guide: Preservation Resources on the Web (prepared by PreservationDirectory

To view the Preservation Library, please visit http://www.preservationdirectory.com/PreservationBlogs/LibraryArticles.aspx.