February 14, 1 pm February brings recollections of our early presidents, and our First President is probably the most prominent.

Jeff Finegan, who has researched the great man for many years, will give an illustrated talk, “George Washington: His Views on Slavery,” in coordination with Black History Month. He published a novel, Colonel Washington and Me, which focused on the relationship between Washington and his personal slave, William Lee.

The talk will be held Saturday, February 14, at 1 pm at the Sigal Museum, 342 Northampton St. Easton. The talk is included with admission to the museum or $5 donation requested.

Finegan may have channeled George Washington again, or at least his private physician, Dr. James Craik, for a second study of Washington, because he was drawn to the doctor as a strong presence in our first President’s life. Craik and Washington had met during the Revolutionary War and stayed in contact. When the aging Washington retired, Craik became his personal physician. Craik was the one who closed the nation’s leader’s eyes in death. In ‘Tis Well: The Life and Death of George Washington Finegan takes a deeper look into our first President’s family history and his early development and focuses especially on the last two days of the general’s life and funeral

Following the talk he and illustrator Preston Hindmarch will hold a book-signing for both books.

April 11, 1 pm Would President Lincoln have lived with modern medical treatment? What was the recently discovered statement of the first physician to reach the President at Ford’s Theatre? Did the doctors really kill President Garfield? Why did the doctors call in Alexander Graham Bell to treat President Garfield? Was President McKinley’s wound truly fatal? Why was President McKinley not taken to a hospital? How did the medical team approach the treatment of President Kennedy? Why was this testimony hidden for many years?

In an illustrated talk on Saturday, April 11, at 1 pm at the Sigal Museum – “The Medical Treatment of Four Assassinated Presidents,” Herb Kaufman will examine the medical methods and treatment of our four assassinated presidents. He will follow the circumstances of their shooting, explore the medical practices of that era, and analyze the medical advances or lack thereof, over the decades that intervened between the assassinations.

The talk is included with admission to the museum or $5 donation requested. Sigal Museum is located at 342 Northampton St., Easton, PA.

Herb Kaufman has been a life-long student of the Civil War era. He is a founding member of the faculty of the Civil War Institute at Manor College, and has taught courses on a wide variety of Civil War topics at a number of local universities and community centers. He is currently a member of the Editorial Staff of the Civil War News, writing both news and feature articles. He also has been a Civil War re-enactor, and has received numerous awards for his continuing work in education and support of the history of the Civil War.