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At the Jacksonville Historical Society, we’re making history every day. Our monthly Speakers Series offers in-depth information on surprising and diverse aspects of our city’s past, and our fun Pop Up events are designed to bring attention to the forgotten history buried in our own back yard. Throughout the year, we also lead countless school groups on “insider tours” of our city’s most significant landmarks and events. Why don’t you join us?
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“Casanova Killer” “Citrus King” trial 1888 5K race A Genealogical History of Florida Revealed in the Historical St. Nicholas Cemetery aardwolf brewing company AASLH actor airport Anastasia Island Andrew Jackson in Florida Andrew Young anniversary annual meeting 2017 architecture archives aviation Banned banned books beer Berta Arias Black history month Brendan Burke British Florida broadcasting Bryan Simpson Camp Blanding Casket Factory Castillo de San Marcos censorship Charles Lindbergh Charles Weston Charlie Towers Jerry Ferguson Chuck Meide civil rights Civil War civillian Clara White Mission Climate Cohen Brothers Connie Bradshaw Conrad Veidet Consolidation Cowford Cuban refugees don r. colee jr Dorothy K. Fletcher downtown Dr. Kay Ellen Gilmour drive-ins Duval County Schools Eartha White Ed Booth Edward Waters College Elizabeth Towers Elsie Jun Oishi Elvis Presley Emily R. Lisska Evergreen cemetery Evergreen Cemetery tour Exhibit Father Walsh feature first coast trawler history First Thanksgiving florida Florida Founder William P. DuVal Florida Legislature Florida Theatre Fredric L. Pirkle free speech French Novelty fundraiser Furchgott’s geologist George Winterling Gingerbread Extravaganza Great Fire Great Fire 1901 Great Fire Run Grover Cleveland Halloween Helen Lane Henry Morrison Flagler higher education Hispanic Heritage Month History Conference History Consortium homefront homosexuality Hurley Winkler Hurricane Hurricane Dora Jacksonville Jacksonville Beach Jacksonville Genealogical Society Jacksonville Historical Society Jacksonville Landing Jacksonville Public Library Jacksonville Zoo James Cusick James M. Denham Japanese Japanese community Jean Ribault Jeff Gardner Jewish Jewish Community Joel McEachin Johnnie Mae Chappel Jose Ramirez Joseph E. Lee Jr. Judge Brian Davis Judge Marion Gooding Judith Poucher Kermit Hunter Kiley Secrest La Caroline landmarks Landon High School Laudonniere Leah Mary Cox lect Leslie Kirkwood Levy’s Liberty Ships Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program Lightner Museum Lunch & Learn Lyndon Johnson Mae Axton Maple Leaf Marcia Jo Zerivitz maritime maritime history Marshall Rowland Mary A. Nolan Mayor Jake Godbold Menendez Merrill Merrill House Metropolitan Park military Mineral City Mining movie houses movies murder NAACP NAS Jax National Archives National Preservation Month navy Next Day In the Morning NFL Night of Terror Norman Studios North Florida Northeast Florida Old St. Andrew’s Church Old St. Andrews Old St. Luke’s Operation Pedro Pan Otis Toole party Paul Orlac Playing with History Pokey Towers Lyerly pop up history Prime Osborn Convention Center program series Public Library railroad railroad bridge REALM Consulting Remarkable Women in History Remembering for the Future Community Holocaust Initiative retail Rev. Tom Are Ribault River May Riverside Robert Scott Davis Roger Smith Sarah Van Cleve seaport Sherry Johnson shrimping Silent film Silent Sundays skyline Southern Genealogist’s Exchange Society Spanish-American War Speaker Series Spirit of St. Louis Springfield St. Augustine St. AUgustine Historical Society St. Johns River St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company St. Johns Town St. Nicholas Cemetery Stephen Cargile suffragette Susan Caven The Beatles The Hands of Orlac The Johns Committee The Joys and Noise of 19th Century Toys theatres Tim Gilmore Tokutaro Takami Tom Schmidt Tour Tours toys trawler vaudeville Virginia King Vogue Shops Wayne W. Wood Wayne Wood Weather WJCT women Women’s History Month women’s rights workshop World War II Ximenez-Fatio House Year of the River Yellow Fever epidemic
An exhibit with guest curator, Stephen Cargile.
The Jacksonville Historical Society pauses to reflect on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, a war that forever changed our city, our nation and the world. The monumental local role in the effort is highlighted in an exhibit of photographs and objects from guest curator, Stephen Cargile. The exhibit also includes items from the society’s collections, including Merrill Family Liberty Ship images.
The exhibit is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday beginning August 13th and ending Veteran’s Day, November 11th located at Old St. Luke’s, 314 Palmetto Street. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
This exhibit and the 2015-16 JHS program series is generously sponsored by Retina Associates, P.A., Dr. Fred H. Lambrou, Jr.
An exhibit with guest curator, Stephen Cargile.
The Jacksonville Historical Society pauses to reflect on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, a war that forever changed our city, our nation and the world. The monumental local role in the effort is highlighted in an exhibit of photographs and objects from guest curator, Stephen Cargile. The exhibit also includes items from the society’s collections, including Merrill Family Liberty Ship images.
The exhibit is open every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday beginning August 13th and ending Veteran’s Day, November 11th located at Old St. Luke’s, 314 Palmetto Street. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
This exhibit and the 2015-16 JHS program series is generously sponsored by Retina Associates, P.A., Dr. Fred H. Lambrou, Jr.
Throughout Jacksonville history, Jewish families have been immersed in city commerce, government and the community’s cultural life. In fact, prior to the 1930’s, Jacksonville’s Jewish population was the largest in Florida. Eventually, Miami took the lead. January speaker Marcia Jo Zerivitz features the city’s Jewish history and the important “firsts in Florida” that happened in Jacksonville.
About the Speaker
Marcia Jo Zerivitz, Founding Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida, has been a leader in the American and Floridian Jewish communities for 50 years with a specific focus on museums and Florida Jewish history for the past 26 years. Marcia Jo retired from JMOF on October 1, 1011. Beginning in 1985, Marcia Jo traveled around Florida to research and retrieve the state’s unknown Jewish history, created a collection and a storyline of Jewish life in Florida and helped develop the MOSAIC exhibit that traveled to thirteen cities (1990-1994).
In 1985, under her direction, this project evolved into the Jewish Museum of Florida, now housed in two restored former synagogues, on the National Register of Historic Places. JMOF collects, preserves and interprets 250 years of the Jewish experience in Florida in the context of American and world Jewish history, art and culture and also to reflect the immigration experience of all Americans.
In 2012, the partnership with Florida International University was finalized, resulting in JMOF-FIU.
Marcia Jo frequently lectures on topics related to discrimination and Florida Jewish history, which she originally collected, compiled and documented, and consults and conducts workshops nationally for non-profits, including museums, on strategic planning, collections, exhibitions, non-profit governance and management, adaptive reuse of historic structures and fundraising.
She initiated the legislation for both a Florida Jewish History Month (January) and a Jewish American Heritage Month(May) to increase awareness of the contributions by Jews to the state and nation. In May 2010, 2011 and 2012, Marcia was invited to President Barack Obama’s White House receptions for Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM). On behalf of the Board of JMOF, she loaned the original 2006 Presidential Proclamation for JAHM to Jewish astronaut Dr. Garrett Reisman to take on the Atlantis Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station in May 2010 and in August 2010, Reisman returned the document to her. Marcia serves on the Board for Jewish American Heritage Month.
Marcia wrote (with co-author) Florida Jewish Heritage Trail, published by Florida Dept. of State (250 sites in 44 cities with Jewish historical significance). Marcia authored all of the Florida entries for the Encyclopedia Judaica and her scholarship has been used in films and books, including by Brandeis University Press; she has been published internationally. In 2009, her photodocumentary book, Jews of Greater Miami, was released.
The 60th Anniversary of the King at the Florida Theatre
Elvis performed in Jacksonville many times — once as an opening act for country music singer Hank Snow. But the Elvis appearances everyone still talks about sixty years later were August 10 and 11, 1956, when he headlined at the Florida Theatre. Judge Marion Gooding stood in the wings to insure Presley’s movements excluded hip twisting and grinding. We’ll hear from individuals who were in the audience or involved with the event.
Country music radio pioneer and concert promoter of the day, Marshall Rowland, knew Elvis and will offer firsthand accounts of “the King” in Jacksonville.
We’ll also here the story of Jacksonville’s Landon High English teacher, Mae Axton, who co-wrote the Elvis hit, Heartbreak Hotel.
Elvis is gone, but six decades later, Jacksonville still talks about his memorable local connections.
Free parking is available in the lot behind the Merrill House and Old St. Andrew’s, along Duval Street.
Security will be on duty.
Your guests are welcome.
A suggested donation for non-members is $5, students free with proper ID.
This program and the 2016-17 JHS program series is generously sponsored by Retina Associates, P.A. Dr. Fred H. Lambrou, Jr.
According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom(OIF), “hundreds of books are challenged in schools and libraries in the United States each year. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, while a banning reflects the actual removal of those materials”. 275 challenges were recorded nationally during 2015. The OIF staff believes far more challenges occur, however, because reporting is not mandatory in all states.
In the Duval County School System alone, 300 book challenges have been reported from 1978 – 2012. The Jacksonville Public Library reports 70 challenges to materials (books, DVDs, etc.) since 2000.
Leslie Kirkwood, Chair of Banned: A Community Conversation about Censorship and Free Speech will present crucial history and background and Barbara A. B. Gubbin, Director of Jacksonville Public Library in this important conversation. The presentation also incorporates performances by Jason Woods, actor/director. The presentation will also highlight the history of the Nazi-era censorship and its relevance today; Banned Books Week; a review of national, local public school and public library challenges; and a discussion of First Amendment rights.
Leslie Kirkwood is is a current chair of Banned: Censorship and Free Speech (a series of public programs—community conversations—that examines the delicate balance between censorship and free speech) and Remembering for the Future Community Holocaust Initiative (an organization that focuses attention on Holocaust education and remembrance through educational resources, teacher training, major exhibitions and community programs.). She is also the Vice-President of Urban Dynamics Corporation, a member of the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library and the former Executive Director of the Jacksonville Public Libraries Foundation.
The reception begins at 6:30pm with the program to follow at 7pm. Both events will be held at Old St. Andrew’s, 317 A. Philip Randolph Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Free parking is available in the lot behind the Merrill House and Old St. Andrew’s, along Duval Street.
Security will be on duty.
Your guests are welcome.
A suggested donation for non-members is $5, students free with proper ID.
This program and the 2016-17 JHS program series is generously sponsored by Retina Associates, P.A. Dr. Fred H. Lambrou, Jr.
The January program at Old St. Andrew’s features former broadcaster Donn R. Colee, Jr., author of Towers in the Sand: The History of Florida Broadcasting. Towers in the Sand is the only comprehensive history of Florida’s broadcasting industry 1922-2016. The book explores the people, over eighty Florida broadcasting pioneers and current leaders, who brought Florida broadcast stations to life, and the events that saw Florida grow from boom to bust and back again to now, the nation’s third most populous state.
A celebration of broadcasting’s proudest moments through hard-hitting journalism and editorials, lifesaving moments through decades of hurricanes, and lighthearted moments with favorite personalities and promotions, Towers in the Sand also laments the loss of a national treasure, as most stations were transformed from local community partners to lines on corporate balance sheets.
This program is presented by in partnership with the Jacksonville Historical Society, Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library, and Jacksonville Public Library.
About the author
A seventh-generation Floridian whose family settled in St. Augustine in 1820, Donn R. Colee Jr. is a second-generation Florida broadcaster, starting as a teenage disc jockey playing rock ‘n’ roll music at WLOF-AM in Orlando. His broadcasting career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Navy and 13 years in the advertising and public relations business in South Florida. He returned to broadcasting at West Palm Beach’s CBS affiliate, WPEC Channel 12, in 1988, serving in marketing and programming roles before being promoted to station manager. He retired in 2009.
Colee is a member of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, the Florida Historical Society, Historical Society of Palm Beach County, and Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. He lives in Palm Beach Gardens with his wife, Martha. They have three grown children, and six grandchildren. Donn is an avid boater and fisherman and serves on the board of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club.
This observation of Black History Month connects Jacksonville to some of the Civil Rights era’s most pivotal events, which took place in Northeast Florida. Demonstrations in St. Augustine, led by giants of history such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Andrew Young, were forcefully suppressed by local authorities. Legal appeals by the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were decided in the Jacksonville courtroom of federal judge Bryan Simpson, whose rulings defied heavy community resistance and personal criticism. Worldwide attention to local events helped move Congress to act on civil rights legislation. In 2008, Jacksonville’s United States Courthouse at 300 North Hogan Street was named in honor of Judge Simpson.
Program speakers will describe local civil rights conflicts, and the judicial process that critically upheld the right to public demonstrations.
Co-sponsors: the Jacksonville Historical Society, the Jacksonville Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, and the Daniel Webster Perkins Bar Association of Jacksonville.
Please note the time change:
Reception: 6pm
Program: 630pm
This event is open to the public. A suggested donation for non-members is $5.
We ask that you register for the event online, by following this link, by emailing info@jaxhistory.org or phoning 904.665.0064.
Free parking is available behind Old St. Andrews along Duval Street. Security will be on duty. Your guests are welcome.
This program and the 2016-17 JHS program series is generously sponsored by Retina Associates, P.A., Dr. Fred Lanbrou, Jr.
In honor of National Preservation Month, Wayne W. Wood, the “godfather of Jacksonville History,” is speaker for the Jacksonville Historical Society annual meeting. Dr. Wood’s presentation explores Jacksonville’s greatest architectural gems, including amazing landmarks that are long gone, and his 25 favorite buildings existing in Northeast Florida. You” hear dramatic stories of local significant structures that have been rescued and preserved. Also covered during the presentation are Jacksonville’s most endangered buildings, which include some big surprises!
About the speaker
Dr. Wood, a retired optometrist, is author or editor of numerous books exploring Jacksonville’s history, including the best selling, Jacksonville’s Architectural Heritage: Landmarks for the Future (currently out-of-print). Other publications include, but are not limited to The Jacksonville Family Album: 150 Years of the Art of Photography, The Great Fire of 1901, The Architectural of Henry John Klutho: The Prairie School in Jacksonville, The Broward Family in Florida: From France to Florida, and The Living Heritage of Riverside and Avondale. A few remaining copies of The Jacksonville Family Album will be available for sale at the May 31 program along with other books by Dr. Wood, or purchase them online by clicking on the highlighted book name.
He was the greatest celebrity on earth when he touched down in Jacksonville on October 27, 1927. Five months after Charles Lindbergh’s record setting transatlantic crossing, from New York to Paris, he landed in Jacksonville
to a hero’s welcome. He was piloting his famous plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. The local Lindbergh tribute “surpassed anything in state history,” said the city’s major newspaper, the Florida Times Union. It was all part of a victory tour, and Atlanta was his next stop, but not before more people than residents lined the city’s streets— just to get a glimpse of Lindbergh — as his motorcade was escorted from the new landing field on North Main Street to downtown. Jacksonville Historical Society Past-President Ed Booth, Jr., tells the little known stories of Lindbergh’s visit—and arguably the most dramatic “invitation delivery” in area history. Ninety years to the day, we examine an unforgettable moment in Jacksonville aviation.
About the speaker
Edward M. Booth Jr., is a partner at Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. He received his B. A. degree from Emory University in 1978, and was awarded his Juris Doctorate from Florida State University College of Law in 1981. He served as chairman of The Florida Bar Aviation Law Certification Committee and The Florida Bar Aviation Law Committee. He was the 2007-8 President of the Lawyer Pilots Bar Association, a 1,200 member international association. He served on the Jacksonville Aviation Authority Board of Directors (2013-2015) and oversaw the operation of four local airports having a combined annual budget in excess of 80 million dollars. An experienced pilot, he holds a multi engine Air Transport License issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Mr. Booth is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and a frequent guest commentator of Jacksonville’s WJXT Channel 4 on topics related to aviation and air safety. He has also appeared on the news magazine Inside Edition and the Chinese network SZMG TV on matters related to recent air disasters.
April’s Lecture Series event at the Jacksonville Historical Society will feature George R. Burns, Vice-President of the Cowford Archaeological Research Society (CARS), speaking on the Jacksonville Wall Project.
CARS has been at work on locating and identifying evidence of the security wall built by the U.S. Army around Jacksonville during the U.S. Civil War. Recently CARS and the Jacksonville Historical Society collaborated in the establishment of an historical marker at the site of Ft. Hatch, a strongpoint in the Jacksonville Wall.
Mr. Burns, of Jacksonville, holds an MA in anthropology, and is a member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
Social half-hour with light refreshments begins at 6:30, and the program begins at 7:00 PM.
*This event is free for members, we ask non-members for a donation of $5