BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – James Horton has lent his expertise to museums across the nation, but has spent his career bringing history directly to people as an advisor, Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and consultant for The History Channel.
An historian emeritus with the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, Horton will deliver an address titled “Abraham Lincoln: Slavery and the Civil War” for Illinois Wesleyan University’s annual Founders’ Day Convocation at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 in Westbrook Auditorium in Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington). Horton’s visit is supported in part by the David and Ann Lawrence Speaker’s Series. The event, which is free and open to the public, honors the 30 founders who signed the charter for the University in 1850.
The Benjamin Banneker Professor Emeritus of American Studies and History at George Washington University, Horton has been on the national and international stage for decades, working toward the preservation and understanding of history. He was the senior Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Munich, Germany, from 1988 to 1989, and has also lectured throughout Europe, and in Thailand and Japan. In 1991, he assisted the German government in developing American Studies programs in the former East Germany. Two years later, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt appointed Horton to the National Park System Advisory Board, and in 1996 he was elected board chair. His work for the board included serving as senior advisor on historical interpretation and public education for the director of the National Park Service.