We enjoyed the presentation by Bill Kemp of the McLean County Museum of History. It was 'The Woman in Blue: Civil War Soldier Albert D.J. Cashier'. There were at least 22 people in attendance and we gave away the raffle prize - the gift certificate to Java Eats-n-Sweets and the Dove candy. Bill's presentation was about 45 minutes and we learned about the interesting life of Jennie Hodgers/Albert Cashier, including several of the worst battles that Albert Cashier was involved in and information about where Albert Cashier lived and what happened to him in his older years. We want to thank Bill Kemp for coming to our library to present this information and also to all the folks in the audience who came to listen. An audience member had interesting information to offer about the medical evaluation that soldiers got prior to enlisting in the Civil War and also about Albert Cashier's home. Another audience member recently read an interesting book about another female soldier disguised as a male that she shared with us. The name of the book is 'An Uncommon Soldier: the Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment New York State Volunteers, 1862-1864' by Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. We hope that we can have Bill Kemp come again to talk about another historical subject.
Bill Kemp also told us about an upcoming event at the museum on Tuesday, June 6th at 7 pm called 'Suffrage in Stitches'. This is from the website of the McLean County Museum of History: Join the Museum in welcoming Katherine Durack, crochet designer and Ph.D., who will present a trunk show program that will explore the curious connections between needle arts and women’s suffrage. This free program will be held on Tuesday, June 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the Museum’s Governor Fifer courtroom and is open to anyone.