Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana is proud to announce that the Hon. Frank J. Williams, retired Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice, will speak at the annual R. Gerald McMurtry Lecture. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in the theater of the Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza.

Williams is co-founder and chairman of The Lincoln Forum, an assembly of people who share a deep interest in the life and times of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era. He is a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and the author of several books about the 16th president, including “Judging Lincoln” and “Lincoln as Hero.”

His lecture, titled “Abraham Lincoln: Indianan and the West,” will focus on the Lincoln family’s move to Spencer County, Indiana, in 1816, the year Indiana became a state. Williams will discuss their move within the larger context of westward American migration that was pivotal in U.S. history. He will also give an informal talk at a brown bag lunch at noon Sept. 20 in Meeting Room A of the Allen County Public Library.

Sponsors for the McMurtry Lecture include Parkview Health, Steel Dynamics and Sweetwater.

The McMurtry Lecture series was established in Fort Wayne in honor of R. Gerald McMurtry, the second director of The Lincoln Museum. It is one of the premier annual events in the national Lincoln community; throughout the years its guest speakers have been among the leading authorities on the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln and his era. The first lecture, in 1978, featured Richard N. Current speaking on “Unity, Ethnicity and Abraham Lincoln.”