[6][7] Spending much of her time in New York and Europe, Anita McCormick returned to Chicago in October 1887, in the wake of the Haymarket Affair and the growth of Hull House and the municipal reform movement.
[8] McCormick felt that the instruction of the Howe Street Mission was largely ineffective and in 1888 she branched out to form a settlement house of her own, renting a nearby apartment building to serve as a meeting place for women and hiring a destitute widow to manage the facility.
[10] In 1880 Anita McCormick had met Emmons Blaine (1857-1892), a railroad executive and son of former Republican politician and presidential candidate James G.
[11] The pair were married in September 1889, with the union between the politically prominent Blaine and wealthy McCormick clans making national society news.
[18] Following the collapse of the League, Blaine was supportive of the foreign policy efforts of Franklin D. Roosevelt, based upon collective security against the spread of fascism.
[20] The voluminous material, which includes Blaine's correspondence and writings, is incorporated in 939 archival boxes, 16 cartons, 9 bound volumes, and 1 oversized folio and is open to researchers for in-library use.