Joan Flinspach, a native of Fairfield, Iowa, serves as Secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. She is CEO of Presenting the Past, a firm providing historical resources to individuals, organizations, and institutions. These resources include: speaking, writing, teaching, and consulting. Presenting the Past is located in Huntington, Indiana.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from University of Iowa with a BA in History in 1980 and Summa Cum Laude from Middle Tennessee State University with an MA in Historic Preservation and Museum Studies in 1983.
She directed the Historic General Dodge House, Council Bluffs, Iowa from 1984-86 which is the home of General Grenville Dodge, builder of the Union Pacific Railroad. From 1986-1993, she directed the Boys Town Hall of History in Omaha, Nebraska. This history museum chronicles the story of the founding of Father Flanagan's Boys' Home and its growth to national stature as a child care facility. Here Joan directed the design of much of the new museum and the creation of numerous traveling exhibits.
Appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Photograph of Joan Flinspach taken by Samuel Hoffman of The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
