Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History
The Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History strives to enhance the teaching, study, and writing of Florida history.
Founded in 2001, the Center seeks to preserve the state’s past through cooperative efforts with historical societies, preservation groups, museums, public programs, media, and interested persons.
As such, the Center’s long-term goals are to:
- Expand and upgrade the Florida Lecture Series.
- Offer training in Florida history for public and private school teachers.
- Work with and advise historical associations in the collection and preservation of historical artifacts, including oral histories, photographs, and manuscripts.
- Hold symposia on special topics in Florida history.
- Host a visiting scholar in Florida history.
- Publish new and out-of-print works of Florida history.
- Continue and add to our Oral History Collection.
This unique center, housed in the Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr., Archives Center is a source of continuing information created to increase appreciation for Florida history.
Florida Lecture Series
The lecture series covers a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, and art. The overall objective of the series is to bring members of the community, the faculty, and the student body together to interact with and learn from leading scholars in their fields.
Watch on YouTube
Starting in 2021 we are live streaming our lectures from Branscomb Auditorium. Check out the Florida Southern College YouTube channel to watch past lectures!
Get our Newsletter
Join our mailing list for more information regarding the Florida Lecture Series.
Past Florida Lecture Series and Speakers
Among our Series speakers have been distinguished leaders, historians, writers, and public officials such a Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, Janet Reno, Douglas Brinkley, H.W. Brands, and Robert V. Remini.
Recent Publications
None Can Have Richer Memories Polk County, Florida, 1940-2000
Canter Brown, Jr.
Polk County Historical Association
Echoes from a Distant Frontier
The Brown Sisters’ Correspondence from Antebellum Florida
Edited by:
James M. Denham
Keith L. Huneycutt
In the Midst of All That Makes Life Worth Living:
Polk County, Florida, to 1940
Canter Brown, Jr.
Commissioned by the Polk County Historical Association
"A Rogue's Paradise"
Crime and Punishment in Antebellum Florida,
1821-1861
James M. Denham
Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives, The Florida Reminiscences of George Gillett Keen and Sarah Pamela Williams
Edited by:
James M. Denham
Canter Brown, Jr.
Florida Sheriffs: A History 1821-1945
William Warren Rogers
James M. Denham
Fifty Years of Justice
James M. Denham
Florida Founder - William P. Duval - Frontier Bon Vivant
James M. Denham
The Letters of George Long Brown
Edited by:
James M. Denham
Keith L. Huneycutt
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