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Lecture series to focus on history of First Division Museum Sept. 30

The McCormick House Lecture Series continues with the "History of the First Division Museum" from 3 to 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30, in Freedom Hall, 1S151 Winfield Road in Wheaton. The program is for age 14 or older.

Gayln Piper, director of programs and education, shares the history of the First Division Museum from its creation in 1960.

Colonel Robert R. McCormick served with the Illinois National Guard in the Mexican Punitive Expedition and the First Division in World War I. This citizen-soldier was so personally impacted that he continued charitable work with veterans for the rest of his life, resulting in the creation of a museum at Cantigny Park.

Registration is required due to limited space. Admission is free with the $5 weekday parking fee. Register at cantigny.org.

In October, the presentation will be "Amy Irwin McCormick: Army Brat, Debutante and Mistress of Cantigny." It will be 3 to 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28.

This lecture will tell the fascinating story of Col. Robert McCormick's first wife who is buried alongside him at Cantigny. The daughter of a famous army doctor, Amy was born into the frontier army at Fort Riley Kansas in 1872.

Amy's mother and father were close friends of George and Libbie Custer, and her brother was a West Point cadet who became a general in the First World War.

As teenagers, Amy and her sister, Ida, were debutantes into San Francisco society, and later frequent visitors to West Point's social "hops."

In the 1890s Amy was a prominent member of Chicago's social set when she met, and then married Colonel McCormick. A gifted artist, Amy exerted great influence on the evolution of Cantigny as cultural centerpiece in the Chicago area.

The lecturer will be Dr. John Fahey, retired from the Navy after a 30-year career and is currently in private practice in Decatur, Illinois. He has lectured extensively about 19th-century military medicine and has given talks at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, the Order of Indian Wars Symposium in Denver, and the Annual Symposium of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association in Montana.

Fahey has had articles published in North and South, Military Medicine, New York History, and the Journal of Arizona History. He is currently at work on a biography of Amy Irwin McCormick's father, General Bernard John Dowling Irwin (1829-1917), who established the first full-service field hospital at Shiloh and performed the first action for which a Medal of Honor was awarded.

For questions, call (630) 260-8222.

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