- Registration is required for this event.
- Registration is no longer available for this event.
- This event is for registrants age 15 and above.
Program Description
Event Details
Our popular book-inspired lecture series returns! Three different presenters will take participants beyond the book to discuss the history of when each book was written and the contemporary topics that take place within the stories. Partnering with the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum and the Grayslake Historical Society, the three books and their respective presenters are as follows:
May 13: Diana Dretske will present her award-winning book, The Bonds of War: A Story of Immigrants and Esprit de Corps in Company C, 96th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, published by Southern Illinois University Press.
Dretske’s collective biography was inspired by a portrait in the collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of five immigrants from Britain and Ireland, who served in the American Civil War. The book is the most intensive examination of the 96th Illinois Infantry since the regiment’s history was published in 1887. The presentation will include the author’s research to identify the men in the portrait, the significance of voluntary military service by immigrants, and Avon Township soldiers who served in the Civil War.
Diana Dretske is the senior curator and Lake County historian for the Lake County Forest Preserves’ Bess Bower Dunn Museum. She has researched the history of northeastern Illinois for 35 years, and published three books on Lake County, Illinois. Dretske is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society for her outstanding contributions in promoting, preserving and commemorating Illinois history.