The 1968 Florida Teachers’ Strike
- Branscomb Auditorium
On the morning of February 19, 1968, roughly 35,000 teachers and administrators in Florida walked...
Jody Baxter Noll, Ph.D.
Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History
Preserving the rich and unique history of Florida.
About the Center
Founded in 2001 and housed in the Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr., Archives Center, the Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History is dedicated to the teaching, study, appreciation, and preservation of our state’s past.
We work alongside historical societies, museums, and preservation groups to collect oral histories, safeguard photographs and manuscripts, and bring the public into conversation with leading scholars. Through our monthly Florida Lecture Series, a growing oral history collection, and original scholarship from our faculty, the Center serves as a hub for anyone who wants to understand where Florida has been, and where it’s going.
Florida Lecture Series
Each month, the Florida Lecture Series brings leading scholars, writers, and public figures to Florida Southern’s Branscomb Auditorium for a conversation about Florida and its place in the wider world. The series spans history, law, politics and policy, criminal justice, environmental affairs, music, literature, and the arts, reflecting the many ways Florida’s story can be told.
Past speakers include Governors Reubin Askew, Bob Graham and Bob Martinez, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, and prize-winning historians and writers like Douglas Brinkley, H.W. Brands, Robert V. Remini, Isabel Wilkerson, and Gilbert King.
Lectures are free and open to the public.
Just Freedom: Inside Florida’s Decades-Long Voting Rights Battle
- Branscomb Auditorium
When Florida voters approved Amendment 4 in 2018, the decision was celebrated as one of the largest...
Daniel Rivero
Shake, Rattle N’ Roll: Florida’s Iconic Rhythm and Blues Artists and Their Music
- Branscomb Auditorium
The Reverend Billy Wirtz has a mission: he wants to see Florida blues artists get the recognition...
Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People
- Branscomb Auditorium
Tampa Bay is more than a body of water; it is a living estuary whose history is deeply tied to the...
Evan P. Bennett, Ph.D.
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The Oral History Collection
Some of Florida’s most important stories aren’t written down. They live in the memories of the people who shaped communities, witnessed change, and carried traditions forward. The Center’s Oral History Collection captures those voices before they’re lost, building a permanent record of Florida life as told by the people who lived it.
The collection grows with the help of Florida Southern students, who work directly with Center faculty to conduct interviews, transcribe recordings, and prepare oral histories for the archive. It’s hands-on scholarship with lasting public value, and it’s one of the ways the Center connects classroom learning to the preservation of our state’s history.
Scholarship and Publications
The Center supports original scholarship on Florida’s history, with books authored and edited by our faculty and partners. A selection of recent and notable titles appears below.
James M. Denham
Scourge of the Caribbean: Charles E. Hawkins, Sailor of Three Republics
The story of a nineteenth-century naval officer who served the United States, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas, drawn from archival sources across three nations. Published by the University of Alabama Press.
James M. Denham
A Rogue’s Paradise: Crime and Punishment in Antebellum Florida, 1821–1861
A vivid account of frontier justice in territorial and early-statehood Florida, examining how a young state confronted lawlessness, vigilantism, and the slow building of legal institutions.
Edited by James M. Denham and Keith L. Huneycutt
Echoes from a Distant Frontier: The Brown Sisters’ Correspondence from Antebellum Florida
A rare firsthand portrait of nineteenth-century Florida life, drawn from the letters of two sisters writing home from the frontier.
Canter Brown, Jr.
(Polk County Historical Association)
None Can Have Richer Memories: Polk County, Florida, 1940–2000
Canter Brown, Jr.
(Commissioned by the Polk County Historical Association)
In the Midst of All That Makes Life Worth Living: Polk County, Florida, to 1940
Edited by James M. Denham and Canter Brown, Jr.
Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives: The Florida Reminiscences of George Gillett Keen and Sarah Pamela Williams
William Warren Rogers and James M. Denham
Florida Sheriffs: A History, 1821–1945
James M. Denham
Fifty Years of Justice
James M. Denham
Florida Founder: William P. Duval, Frontier Bon Vivant
Edited by James M. Denham and Keith L. Huneycutt
The Letters of George Long Brown
Leadership and Governance
These individuals devote their knowledge and their energies to developing the Center into a premier facility for keeping Florida history available for students and the general public.
Board of Governers
- Mr. Philip O. Allen
- Mr. Ken Keck
- Mr. Kent Lilly
- Carolyn Hicks Lindsey
- Professor Walter W. Manley II
- Mrs. Paula Mims
- C. Richard Nail
- Mr. Donald R. Selvage
- Mr. Stephen R. Senn
Leadership
Dr. James M. Denham
Executive Director and Professor of History
Dr. James M. Denham has led the Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History since its founding in 2001. A specialist in Southern, Florida, criminal justice and legal history, he is the author or editor of nine books. His work has earned the Florida Historical Society’s Arthur W. Thompson Prize, James J. Horgan Book Prize, and Rembert Patrick Book Prize, and in 2016, he was named Distinguished Author of the Year by the Florida House on Capitol Hill.
Dr. Denham has held fellowships at Harvard, Columbia, West Point, the National Humanities Center, and the Virginia Historical Society. He lectures widely across the state for the Florida Humanities Council and is a frequent contributor to Florida Public Radio.
Dr. Eugene C. Fanning
Assistant Director and Assistant Professor of History
Dr. Fanning is an Assistant Professor of History, specializing in labor, immigration, and environmental history with a focus on Florida. A graduate of Florida Southern, Dr. Fanning also earned his doctorate in History from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MA from Georgetown University, and his career has included positions in organized labor, the UN system, and the University of Florida. His forthcoming monograph “Empire of the Everglades” (working title) examines the 20th-century transformation of South Florida into a hemispheric hub for industrial agriculture and migration and the trajectory of Florida's farmworkers’ movement.
Support the Center
The work of preserving and promoting Florida’s history depends on the generosity of people who believe it’s worth preserving. Gifts to the Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History support the lecture series, the oral history collection, student research, and the scholarship that brings our state’s past to wider audiences.
Individuals, corporations, and foundations all play a role. Whether you give once or build a lasting commitment through the endowment, your support helps keep Florida’s history accessible to students, scholars, and the public.
To make a gift or learn more, contact the Center directly or the FSC Advancement Office.
Get in Touch
Whether you're a researcher exploring Florida's past or a community member with a story or collection to share, we'd love to hear from you.
James Denham, Ph.D.
Professor of History
- 863.680.4312
- 863.616.6407
- jdenham@flsouthern.edu
- McKay Archives