Alan Bliss has served as CEO of the Jacksonville Historical Society (dba Jacksonville History Center) since January 2018. Prior to then he served on the JHC’s board of directors and taught U.S. history at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. His courses include urban history, maritime history, the Great Depression and the New Deal, Civil Rights, and proseminars on public history—all emphasizing Jacksonville.
Bliss holds bachelor’s (summa cum laude) and master’s degrees, as well a Ph.D., all from the University of Florida, where he investigated urban political economy in the Sunbelt during the twentieth century. His dissertation, Making a Sunbelt Place, focused on growth in Tampa, Florida from 1923 to 1964. His research on modern Florida has won professional awards, and he has made presentations at numerous academic conferences nationwide. He consults widely on preservation and historic resources, and in 2015 he authored a 50-year history of Jacksonville’s Haskell Company.
Bliss’s memberships include the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Downtown Council and the Naval Order of the United States. He is a member of Riverside Presbyterian Church, where he serves on the Property Committee. From 2017-2019, Bliss served on the Board of Directors of Fonkoze, USA, Inc., a microfinance organization directed at assistance for Haiti’s rural ultra-poor. Before to returning to higher education, he worked in the real estate industry and as a commercial mariner. He is an experienced offshore sailor, and continues to enjoy boating on the St. Johns River and surrounding waters.