By Aleasha Sandley
August 16, 2008 10:43 pm
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ANDERSON — The Civil War book Stephen Jackson received as a gift when he was 10 years old didn’t last long.
Jackson looked through the book so many times, he quickly wore out its pages, but the demise of the book was only the beginning of Jackson’s passion for history.
Now, at 65, Jackson has taken the lead on researching Madison County’s own history, recently being named by the Indiana Historical Society as the county’s new historian.
“You have to have an insatiable appetite to want to learn more,” Jackson said. “I was approached by the Madison County Historical Society (as a nominee). My immediate answer was yes, absolutely.”
Jackson started his role as county historian July 18, taking over for former historian Richard Bowman, who retired. Since then, he has primarily been researching and preparing programs to present to county organizations, one of the main roles of the county historian.
He hopes to develop programs on the Delaware Indians and Moravian missionaries who made the area their home long before Indiana was a state. Other goals include creating presentations on the history of each Madison County township and on the types of transportation that have influenced the county.
Finally, Jackson hopes to prepare local residents for Madison County’s 200th birthday, coming up in 2023.
“I’d like to spend this next 15 years in educating the people of Madison County about our rich, colorful history,” Jackson said. “It makes up who we are, and it’s so important for us to understand who we are in order to be able to go forward.”
A member and past president of the Madison County Historical Society, the county’s heritage has intrigued Jackson since ninth grade, when he took a local class that exposed him to a kind of history that wasn’t about memorizing dates and names.
“It was events, people and names that you could connect to,” he said. “That connection was the key in sparking my interest because you could reach out and touch history. It was real, and I loved that.”
Jackson submitted a résumé and local Historical Society President Roger Hensley wrote a letter to the Indiana Historical Society recommending Jackson to the county historian role, a post administered in each Indiana county by the Local History Services Department of the IHS.
County historians are nominated by their local historical societies and appointed to three-year terms. When a county historian retires, the IHS asks county historical groups to nominate new historians and then chooses one, said Jeff Harris, director of Local History Services for the state society.
The IHS looks at the nominees’ knowledge of local history, and the fact that Jackson was born and raised in Anderson was considered an asset to his qualifications, Harris said.
“He’s very well qualified for the job,” Harris said.
Jackson’s commitment to learning about the Civil War also is an asset, Hensley said. He is a member of Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War and Sons of the Confederate Veterans of the Civil War and past president of the Indianapolis Civil War Roundtable — he counts 187 of his ancestors involved in the conflict.
Jackson also is the 1999 winner of the Elwood H. Phillips Award given to those who have made outstanding contributions toward preserving heritage. He is an Indiana University graduate, Indiana Master Gardener and volunteer at Saint John’s Medical Center.
As county historian, Jackson will act as the coordinator for the county’s historical resources and as the resource person for inquiries from the public. He will educate local organizations on county history and learn new techniques and technology associated the preserving and studying history.
Finally, he will promote cooperation among Madison County’s historical societies, including MCHS and historical organizations in Pendleton and Elwood.
“If we could get these guys together, we can get a better feel for the history of Madison County,” Hensley said. “We’re not only Anderson; we are the county.”
Jackson’s job will be an important one in preserving the sense of community in Madison County, Harris said.
“History is what really ties that community together,” he said. “If a community doesn’t share history, they’re not a community, it’s just a place for people to sleep. Once it has shared experience, that’s when it really starts to become a community.”
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