Dr. James E. Higgins, 47, a graduate of Lehigh University where he earned a Ph.D. in the study of history, has been selected as the new executive director of the Lehigh County Historical Society.

The announcement was made Dec. 19 by Stephen Gehringer, president of the society.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, Higgins replaces Executive Director Joseph Garrera who recently announced his retirement.

“We are delighted and honored to have Dr. Jim Higgins as our new executive director,” Gehringer said, in the news release.

Higgins is a respected scholar in his own right; his articles have appeared in popular media and scholarly journals.

He is the author of two books, “The Health of the Commonwealth: A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania” and “The War Against Tuberculosis: Samuel G. Dixon and the Rise of Modern Public Health in Pennsylvania.”

Higgins has deep local roots.

Raised in South Whitehall Township, he resides now in Allentown and has spent almost 50 years as a Lehigh County resident, with brief sojourns away from the Lehigh Valley for his education and teaching.

He has spent much of the 25 years researching the medical history of Pennsylvania.

His research has taken him to the state’s large cities and tiny crossroads.

Likewise, his years of fieldwork in the Lehigh Valley have led him to explore the development of Lehigh County’s rural and urban communities in detail.

“The history of our county and its communities is really a microcosm of our national history,” Higgins said about Lehigh County. “Think about it — from the archaeological record of the prehistoric people who inhabited what is now Lehigh County, to the Colonial Period and the Revolutionary Era, the changes wrought by industrialization and the subsequent deindustrialization of the last half-century — it is all here, the entire history of our country encompassed by the borders of our county and valley and imprinted upon its culture and artifacts.

“Leading a 120-year-old historical society, especially one as successful as the Lehigh County Historical Society, is the honor of my life and

“I am both excited and humbled by the trust extended to me by the board of directors and look forward to making the society even more successful.”