Pack a lunch for a lecture series at Iowa Wesleyan University

MT. PLEASANT — Friends of the Harlan-Lincoln House are presenting a Brown Bag lecture series. The series will cover four lectures and an all-day trip to Springfield, Illinois. The lectures are held at noon in the Social Hall of the Iowa Wesleyan University. The lectures are free to the public and masks are required.

“Each Tuesday in March is a different presentation,” said Director of the Harlan-Lincoln House Madison Pullis. “For this year we are having four different presentations and one day trip.”

The first lecture being presented on March 1 is “Pieces of the Past: The Harlans and the Lincolns.” That presentation will be done by Paul Juhl, author, historian, and member of the Harlan-Lincoln House and Pullis.

“We are going to be talking about different stories and histories that we have uncovered over time,” said Pullis. “Paul is a really great historian of Mt. Pleasant. He has spoken on many topics and we are excited to present our lecture.”

The second lecture will be presented on March 8, and it will cover folk cottages of Southeast Iowa with architectural history consultant, curator, researcher, and author Paul Larson. “Paul focuses on a particular style of homes that are loaded with history and significance to our area,” said Pullis.

The third lecture in the series will be presented on March 15. Presented by Jeff Meyer, “Did You Hear About the Lady Lawyer? Telecommunications, Railroads, and Information Transmission in 1869.” Meyer is a historian and IWU archivist and he will be sharing his findings on Arabella “Bella” Babb Mansfield’s admission to the Iowa bar. “Meyer has collected lots of newspaper articles from all over about Babb Mansfield’s admission to the Iowa bar,” said Pullis. “This was happing in southeast Iowa, yet it made national headlines.”

The lecture on the 22 of March is going to be a day trip to Springfield, Illinois to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. “We have reached capacity for registration on this,” said Pullis. “We are on waiting list room only for this lecture.”

On March 29 the last lecture of the series is “And Also in Iowa: Lincoln’s Iowa Cousins” and this lecture will be presented by Rich Hileman. Hileman is an author, researcher and genealogist. He is presenting on Lincoln’s public statement regarding his mother’s family, focusing on Lincoln’s first cousins who lived in Pleasant Grove Township. “Rich has done a lot of research on the Lincoln cousins that were located in southeastern Iowa,” said Pullis. “He will be sharing some really interesting research on the subjects that he has discovered over the years.”

For more information visit harlanlincolnhouse.org/events.

Contact Michelle Hillestad at michelle.hillestad@southeastiowaunion.com