HistoryMiami

Key West during the Civil War

2011-04-13T11:42:00.001-04:00

Print of Fort Taylor, Key West. From Frank Leslie's Magazine, 1861.
Image no. 1998-413-1.

2011 is the sesquicentennial year of the start of the Civil War (150 years ago). Hostilities began April 12, so expect this anniversary to be in the news for the next few weeks and years.

Florida joined the Confederacy, but its largest and wealthiest city, Key West, remained under federal control, a situation that affected all of South Florida throughout the war. Southern sympathizer Jefferson Brown described the situation in his book, Key West: the Old and the New, first published in 1912:

“The election of Abraham Lincoln … stirred up the people of Key West, in common with the rest of the Southland. The cultivated and wealthy citizens were nearly all strongly pro-Southern. …

“The succession of South Carolina was soon followed by a proclamation from the Governor of Florida for a convention of the people to take into consideration the present and future relations of Florida towards a Federal Union, which brought our people to the question of succession or submission.

“A meeting was held … for the purpose of nominating delegates to the State convention to assemble in Tallahassee … for the object of taking into consideration the dangers to this State in remaining in the Federal Union. … [Three] pronounced secessionists were elected by an almost unanimous vote. …

“[Soon thereafter Federal army] Captain [James M.] Brannan on the night of the 13^th of January, while the city slept, marched his entire command from the barracks to Fort Taylor, and took possession of it. …

"Key West, the most strategic point within the Southern Confederacy, being in the hands of the Federal government during the entire war and used as a naval base, was one of the determining factors in the result of the War between the States. The sentiment of Key West was strongly Southern, but with the fortifications in possession of the Federal troops, and no military organization here sufficient to wrest this control from them, the secessionists were deterred from taking any active steps to capture them. …

“Facts were distorted or manufactured to curry favor with the Federal army officers. One instance of this was when a young scion of a distinguished family was given a small toy pistol, from which a cork was driven out by compressed air, with a loud ‘pop.’ It happened to be about the time that news of a Confederate victory reached Key West, and Union sympathizers carried the report to the Federal commanding officer that Mr. ----, a rebel, was celebrating the Confederate victory by a champagne party, and that the popping of champagne corks could be plainly heard.”

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Head, Special Collections

Miami Stories

2011-03-10T14:26:00.000-05:00

Porter at FEC Railway station in downtown Miami, Fla., 1957.
Charles Trainor, photographer. Miami News Collection, HistoryMiami, 1995-277-9470.

A little over a year ago I moved to Miami. I moved for an opportunity to work at HistoryMiami, and quickly settled into life as a South Floridian. One of the first questions people ask me when I comment on my recent relocation is why I moved to Miami. I then proceed to tell my story, and the discussion turns to my life here in Miami.

This last year I was in search of a museum education job somewhere in the nation. So I applied to museums around the nation that were hiring. HistoryMiami was one of the museums at which I interviewed. In February of 2010 I received a call from the Education Manager here at HistoryMiami informing me that I had a job as an educator if I wanted it. It was just a part-time position, but it was in the field I wanted to work in.

I have always been what I call a wondering spirit, not staying in one city for too long. I thought the move to Miami would be a great adventure, so I told the museum I would take the job. At the end of February I packed up my car, left Alabama and headed south. On March first I started here at HistoryMiami and have been here ever since. My gamble has paid off, for now I am the School Programs Manager at the museum.

Every family has a story about coming to Miami. Now you have read my story, what is yours? It may be you are a recent arrival, like me, or a generations-long resident, but there is still a story.

Here at HistoryMiami we have teamed up with the Miami Herald to collect Miami Stories. To read these stories go to http://www.miamiherald.com/miamihistory/

If you are interested in telling your story, please share it with us. Contact HistoryMiami at education@historymiami.org or call Sarah at 305-375-1492.

-- Sarah Coles, School Programs Manager

It Still Works!

2010-11-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

“They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.” I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase plenty of times. Things break all the time, and it never seems like whatever just broke worked for long enough before needing to be replaced. Nowadays, that phrase tends to be accompanied by a derision of Chinese-made products since factories in that country make so many of the goods that American consumers purchase.

At the museum, we have loads of mechanical artifacts – machines, if you will. We rarely make any attempt at operating them since knowing they work rarely improves their ability to be conserved or displayed and trying to force an item might break it.

While going through a portion of Pan Am section of our aviation collection, I came across a machine that let me know it still worked without me having to do anything. The solar calculator pictured above came to life and soon as I flipped open the cover to see what was inside. Sure enough, it still works perfectly, adding and dividing whatever numbers I asked of it, despite having been in the collection for fifteen years.

On the back the calculator proudly states that it was made in Hong Kong.

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator

Video Games in a Museum?

2010-07-26T15:20:00.000-04:00

At lunch the other day, the chief curator and I were kicking around the idea of a video game exhibition. As an avid gamer and a curator, this was a topic I had spent some time daydreaming about. To have her bring up the topic … well, let’s just say I was geeking out a little.

We both had a moment where we were lamenting that there weren’t more connections to video games in South Florida, so we were discussing Ms. Pacman arcade cabinets and Nintendo Wiis. Then, as we dug deeper in our discussion, we realized there are connections. IBM built their first PCs in Boca Raton. She informed me that she used to work for the studio that created Cabela’s Big Game Hunter, which was based in Greater Miami. Legendary arcade gamer Billy Mitchell calls Hollywood home. There are plenty of games that are set in Miami, from Miami Vice tie-ins to DRIV3R to the barely-fictionalized Vice City of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Writing this has gotten me excited about all of the possibilities. What do you think of this idea? Is there a South Florida connection to video games that I missed?

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator

America's Most Wanted

2010-06-30T10:54:00.000-04:00

As with many exhibits, the materials in Crime in Miami came from a variety of sources. Most of the artifacts and photographs are from HistoryMiami’s collection, but there are also a variety that come from law enforcement agencies and private individuals.

One portion of the exhibition that did not come from our collection is a video that features Samantha Steinberg, a forensic artist who works for the Miami-Dade Police Department, showing how she creates an age progression. The age progression, which is featured in the “Forensic Art” section of the exhibition, is of Gustavo Falcon, an alleged drug kingpin from the 1980s who was never apprehended.

The video came to be a part of the exhibition because of the television show America’s Most Wanted. AMW featured Gustavo back in 2008. The goal of the show, of course, is to encourage private citizens to help law enforcement locate fugitive criminals. Since the most recent photograph of Gustavo was from 1990, Samantha was enlisted to give viewers a better idea of what he would look like almost twenty years later.

After locating the video on the website of America’s Most Wanted, I contacted them to see if they would provide us with a copy. As with any organization that is unfamiliar, it took me some time to locate the people who were able and willing to help. There were many phone calls and a number of e-mails, but I found people with a passion for what they do in the form of the Miami-based producer and the folks at the D.C. headquarters, including a lawyer who authorized the use of the footage, technicians who located the master file and burned it to a disc, and the administrative assistant who coordinated it all.

When all was said and done, I had the finished product in my hands about a week and a half before the exhibition opened. It was a bit tight, but into Crime in Miami it went. Getting the disc to play the way we wanted in the space we already had was a task, but that’s a story for another time.

If you want to see the footage, check out the Gustavo Falcon fugitive brief on the America’s Most Wanted website: http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=61019 (click on the “Media” tab). Maybe you’ll see something that will help to bring in the last of the Cocaine Cowboys.

-- Robert Harkins

Out with the Old, in with the New!

2010-06-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

The Education Department at HistoryMiami has had the pleasure of working in the community for decades. We service a wide array of students, from ages 4 through the collegiate level. Our programs engage students in as many subject areas as we can, while sticking to our mission to educate people about South Florida history. This summer, we will officially scrap most of the programs we have and roll out a new, sophisticated, inter-disciplinary and highly interactive series of programs.

The menu for our programs once looked like an “all you can eat buffet,” and has slowly been whittled down to an a la carte list of options. The curriculum team has lately been looking at our galleries through new lenses. This reassessment, coupled with input from teachers we surveyed for the last two years, enabled the team to come up with seven new programs. We are thrilled to introduce just a few to you.

Our new Architecture: We Built this City program takes students through different techniques and tools used for the last 10,000 years in South Florida. The tour also hits the streets of downtown Miami for a first-hand look at the Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival styles for which our city is world renowned.

Technological progress presents new possibilities and problems. Did the Tequesta people have technology 10,000 years ago? Of course they did! The Technology through Time program encourages students to look creatively at tools from the Miami Circle tools from the Miami Circle archaeological site, and hypothesize how the dredges, famously put to work in the Everglades, drained our wetlands and make space for people.

Lastly, we have all come to Make Miami Home, and our new program with the same name looks at the different people who have done this over time. Were you born in South Florida? How about your grandparents? Chances are your family came here from somewhere else for one reason or another. People migrate for a variety of different reasons, and we will connect students to their family stories.

The curriculum team will spend the summer perfecting titles for the programs, inventing and crafting different hands-on projects and writing scripts for our Educators to use. Teachers may begin booking these new programs in September 2010.

-- Jenna Vaisman, School Programs Manager

Go Team Audio Tour

2010-05-21T14:38:00.003-04:00

A three-person team, including myself, has been working for more than six months of putting together an audio tour of Tropical Dreams, the permanent exhibition at the Museum of HistoryMiami (formerly the Historical Museum of Southern Florida). The exhibition chronicles the history of South Florida, beginning with Miami’s prehistoric inhabitants and ending with the region’s growth into a modern metropolis.

We just completed our second draft of the script, which has about fifteen stops, some of which are serious, while others are a bit more light-hearted. We’ll be testing the script out over the next few weeks, so if you visit the museum, you may hear us reading portions of it in the gallery. We might even ask you to listen and give us your thoughts!

-- Robert Harkins, Assisstant Curator

Purse Snatching … It’s a Crime!

2010-05-21T11:36:00.000-04:00

In 1996 local quilters collaborated with the museum to create the Miami Centennial Quilt, now part of our collection. Quilters submitted too many blocks to fit in the quilt, so some gems had to be left out.

This block made it into the museum’s collection, but not the quilt. This block is decorated with tiny doll’s purses surrounding a tiny toy revolver. The purses contain little messages.

What’s this about? The maker had recently had her purse taken at gunpoint. Liz Chifari describes the incident and the block she had made in this paragraph:

“I needed to make ‘Paradise Stolen’ for therapeutic reasons, as I was mugged downtown several years ago. … The block shows that one criminal with a gun has his choice of easy targets who are powerless to stop him. It also points out the incongruity of the ugliness of crime and the beauty of the tropical backdrop against which it is played out. … “

Lift the flap at the bottom of the block, and there’s a larger message.

“Under the flap at the bottom of the block is a clear message that we must begin saying no to those who would take our paradise away. Inside some of the little purses are further messages of protest against crime …”

The Crime in Miami exhibition presented curatorial staff with a variety of challenges, one being having too many artifacts to fit into the gallery. Once again, this bittersweet quilt block was left out. Nevertheless, it conveys a victim’s perspective on a crime in Miami.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Head, Special Collections

Artist Mieko Kubota Wins Award

2010-05-12T16:42:00.001-04:00

It’s my pleasure to report that local artist Mieko Kubota has won the 2010 Florida Folk Heritage Award, an annual award given to traditional artists and folklife advocates who have made significant contributions to the state’s cultural life. Florida’s Secretary of State has given out the award since 1985. Click here to learn more about the award and past awardees, many of whom live in South Florida.

Ms. Kubota is an expert practitioner of ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers. She was born in Japan in 1937, and began studying ikebana as a teenager. Over the course of more than five decades, she has practiced this art and become a respected master. In addition to ikebana, she practices a variety of other Japanese traditions, including bonsai, calligraphy, origami and the tea ceremony.

For many years, she has shared Japanese traditional arts with the South Florida public. She has taught classes, offered demonstrations and exhibited her work, including as part of HistoryMiami’s exhibition Florida Folklife: Traditional Arts in Contemporary Communities. The online version of this exhibition features additional information about Ms. Kubota.

Altogether, her exceptional artistry, knowledge of Japanese folk culture and dedication to sharing her heritage with the public make her a deserving Florida Folk Heritage Award winner. We here at HistoryMiami congratulate her.

If you live in South Florida and would like to learn more about ikebana, please contact the Miami chapter of Ikebana International, a non-profit organization dedicated to the art form. You can email Susan Garcia at susangarcia54[at]aol.com. And if you would like to take ikebana lessons, please call Mieko Kubota at (305) 310-2511. She can also be reached at miekokubota[at]bellsouth.net.

-- Michael Knoll, Folklorist

Parting Fingerprints on Crime in Miami

2010-04-14T10:06:00.000-04:00

Crime in Miami. It’s been quite a ride already and it’s not even done yet. The latest temporary exhibition at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida went up on February 19th. I have to admit, I think we here at the museum misjudged its popularity while we were planning. I don’t have any attendance figures, but there’s no question that our temporary gallery is much busier than it usually is, even after the incredibly successful run of Black Crossroads. I’m well aware of the fact that this is a good problem to have. If you have come to see the exhibition, I thank you.

The picture above shows one problem that “high attendance” has wrought. At the end of the exhibition, guests are invited to leave their fingerprint. Unfortunately, the wall designated for this purpose is basically full, so we’re trying to figure out how to add space for new visitors to leave their print, while also preserving the prints that have already been left. If you have any suggestions, or other comments about Crime in Miami, please leave them below.

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator

Education’s Busiest Spring

2010-04-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

What does it mean to educate? There are many answers to this question, and new ones are thought of every day. To the education staff at the museum, it is always on our minds as we brace for our busy season, and look into revaluating our programs.

One thing is for sure; we are not at a loss for our student population! The Historical Museum might have its busiest spring ever. In addition to our normal school bookings, we are now a part of the Cultural Passports Program that will bring thousands of 4th graders to visit us. The 4th grade curriculum requires the local history must be taught, so what better place than the Historical Museum!

We are also still booking our Historic Visits Program, a unique opportunity offered to public school students. This program allows for students to explore certain historic sites like the Barnacle, Matheson Hammock, Virginia Key Beach and various other sites. They learn about the importance of Historic Preservation, and how South Florida fits in the bigger picture with our historic sites. They document the sites with cameras that we provide, and together with pictures, video, sketches and information that they took from our educators, the students create a book about their experiences.

As always, we are aspire to gain more docents who are looking for a unique volunteer opportunity. Our summer camp, Family Fun days and internships bring in many volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. I am proud to say that we are slowly but steadily growing out volunteer base and are looking forward to continue expanding our docent program.

As we push toward the end of the school year, we are looking forward to providing top notch programming to our public, private and home school visitors, and being involved with as many programs like Cultural Passports as we can. Our students are our largest population of visitors, and we strive to make sure that they leave our museum with a wonderful experience!

-- Gina Neureuther, Education and Docent Programs Coordinator

Why would anyone care about teenagers?

2010-04-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

“Maybe I’m something special, and maybe I’m not. Maybe I’m here for a reason and I might be going somewhere after this, but then again I might not. I wonder where I fit in?”

--Thomas Hine, The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager

These words inspired Thomas Hine’s personal reflection on his teenage years and those of his generation. Like most baby-boomers, they spent most of their adolescence trying to define themselves and their generation, and to understand the commonality shared by this lack of identity encompassed in the quote above. When do teens feel they belong? Why do they feel they don’t belong? How are these ideas different today than they were 40 years ago? How has time and location affected this idea?

These are some of the questions that will be explored during our newest teen internship project, Teen Miami. Although Hine’s wrote the quote above for his high school assignment in the 1960s, these words still ring true today. This chasm was evident during my teenage experience growing up in Miami during the 1990s and is still echoed today with some of the teenagers I speak to about Teen Miami.

Once such example happened a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to speak to a group of teenagers about our project. I always prepare what I am going to say in order to deliver my message as effectively as possible … or so I thought. On this particular day, I was thrown back with a question by a young lady in the audience, after I planned my delivery, passed out materials, encouraged an open and constructive dialogue where others participated, she raised her hand and asked, “Not to be rude or go against your mission or anything, but why would anyone care about teenagers? Why are we so important?”

At this point, as you may imagine, I started thinking I didn’t plan my message as effectively as I thought, if she hasn’t gotten the point. Despite having felt this way in my own teenage years, 15 years later I was startled at her question, and it immediately made me realize the complexity and weight of her reasoning. So I started reevaluating my approach and realized maybe this is a common feeling among other teens in the room, school, neighborhood, city, state and world, independent of whatever I would’ve said in that library on that day.

So I took her question and gave it to the group to answer. Why would we, the Historical Museum of Southern Florida (HMSF), create a teen program where teenagers would come to the museum and document and research teen life across generations in South Florida? Some teens retributively answered her; others didn’t know what to say even though they were nodding their heads throughout my presentation; others supported her question. Why? Why? Why?

After seeing the response from her fellow classmates, I tried answering her with some fodder about the teenage years being your “glory” years and that they shape your life in so many ways and stressed a common sentiment among all teens from different generations … yada yada yada. Ultimately, she looked at me with the same confused look and I said, “I would encourage you to try to answer this question in your creative piece. Ask yourself this question, ask others this question both your own age and adults, see where your search takes you and then present what you find.”

I can only imagine the look on her face could only compare to the look of relief on Columbus’ face when his sailors saw land for the first time on his maiden voyage. It was that incredible look of relief that said, I know where to go from here, which gets to the heart of the program. Although, her question was a pretty loaded one, with so many possible answers, it was understood she should take the journey to seek and find these answers out for herself.

Overall, this is what Teen Miami seeks to do; to provide the tools and develop the skills to guide the teens through this process of self-discovery. This project bridges that disconnect from a sense of alienation, common to all teens, to a feeling of empowerment in an otherwise confusing period. Although, the program will encompass museology, study researching and archiving procedures, exhibition building/design, mediation and team building at its core is the idea of finding where you belong and where you are going by building content and researching teen history of South Florida.

If anything, I would hope my answer would engage the young lady that asked me that question, and encouraged her to become part of history by documenting others, and, by doing so, finding the importance of her identity as a teen, Miamian and South Floridian.

-- Mariela Rossel, Teen Miami Coordinator

Illustrating Justice

2010-03-19T15:14:00.001-04:00

I had the privilege of working with Shirley Henderson in curating Illustrating Justice, an exhibition of courtroom drawings that spans her thirty years of work in this field. You may recognize her work from nightly network news broadcasts and newspapers; that is because media outlets commission her to go into federal courtrooms and sketch scenes that cameras, by law, are not allowed to capture.

Henderson was incredibly interesting to work with because she knows so many of the individuals who make justice work in Miami, as well as a number of those who have passed through the justice system. While we were working to choose the 93 pieces that are on display in Illustrating Justice, she told me some of her stories about folks like Alcee Hastings, Ted Bundy, Yahweh Ben Yahweh, Raul Martinez, and Alex Daoud.

Illustrating Justice: The Courtroom Art of Shirley Henderson will be on display at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida until June 20, 2010. There you can see her work and learn more about the process of creating them. If you’d like to hear some of those stories straight from Ms. Henderson herself, you can do so on June 17. She will be talking about her experiences as part of HMSF’s Explore History & Culture Series from 6:30 to 8:30.

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator, Object Collections

The Educational Empire of Historia

2010-03-15T15:29:00.007-04:00

In the fall of 2008, my dear friend M worked at the Miami Art Museum. The education team across the plaza at MAM is smaller than ours is, and during an afternoon of comic conversation at MAM, they formed an empire.

Well, M suggested that we form an empire as well, and that we have "cultural exchanges," such as private tours of new exhibitions for each other and the sharing of programming details for our family events.

Our education department quickly rose to this comic challenge and came up with, not only an empire, but titles for ourselves, a coat of arms and a flag! I designed the flag and coat of arms at home one night, and “my subjects” approved them.

The Educational Empire of Historia is made up of:

• Empress of Historia – who is in charge of the department;
• Grand Duchess of George – who is in charge of Dr. George’s tours;
• Duke of Craftonia - who is in charge of all family programs and creative projects;
• Baroness of Academia - who is in charge of booking school programs;
• Duchessa de Curricula - who is in charge of all curriculum;
• Grand Duke of Eds - who is in charge of the museum educators;
• Lady Retailia – who is in charge of the gift shop.

At MAM they have flag and motto. They also have royal titles, but I am not free to release those.

I love museum folk and our culture!!

-- Cecilia Dubon Slesnick, VP Education a.k.a. Empress of Historia

The 1907 Jamaica Earthquake

2010-03-05T11:47:00.004-05:00

During 1906 and 1907 three catastrophic earthquakes and subsequent fires nearly destroyed three cities:

1906 April 18 -- San Francisco, California -- 7.8 magnitude
1906 August 16 -- Valparaiso, Chile -- 8.6 magnitude
1907 January 14 -- Kingston, Jamaica -- 6.5 magnitude

Just as the press of today compare the Haiti and Chile earthquakes, writers in 1907 compared Kingston with San Francisco and Valparaiso. Here are some examples. This illustration is from Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, January 31, 1907. The following eyewitness account is from Collier's Magazine, February 2, 1907:

"In the middle of the afternoon ... the city began to fall to pieces. ...

"The shock was not severe as compared to that at San Francisco or at Valparaiso. ... But the flimsy nature of Kingston's architecture led to a ruin from the quake more complete than on the Pacific Coast last April. Practically all the houses in the business district were shaken down. This district extended along the harbor front for more than twenty blocks, and back from the quays for two or three blocks. Kingston's two big tourist hotels, the Myrtle Bank and the Constant Springs, were wrecked; the Supreme Court, the Merchant's Exchange, the Customs House, and many churches went to ruin before the fire broke out. After the first quake a number of shocks less severe were felt. ...

"Refugees from the destroyed city described the terror of the inhabitants on the day of the earthquake as extreme. Women with children clasped in their arms prayed in the streets while the choking dust of the fallilng walls rose up and darkened the sky. Parties fleeing through the streets were pitched headlong by the quaking earth, and were separated in the darkness. When the ruins could be inspected, it was found that many persons had been buried under debris; at least one man was taken out practically unharmed after the fire had burnt over him and the ashes had cooled. Hospital camps were established on the docks and in the outskirts of the ruined city. Many of the injured were sent off to Spanish Town and Port Royal. ...

"After the shock of January 14, fire broke out and completed the destruction of the city. The camping scenes at San Francisco were reenacted; relief work was, in the beginning, prompt and effective; and ... the spirit of mutual help ... prevailed."

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Haitian and Jamaican Earthquakes

2010-03-02T15:56:00.012-05:00

Port-au-Prince has the misfortune of being near a fault zone that seldom causes earthquakes, but when thy occur, they are monsters. Most people along this fault zone live out their lives, never knowing that danger lies beneath their feet. The last major earthquake near Port-au-Prince occurred in 1770.

The fault zone that caused this disaster runs east-and-west, through Hispaniola and Jamaica (map). In 1692, an earthquake along this fault zone nearly destroyed Port Royal, Jamaica. Read more.

Most of the survivors moved across the bay, to Kingston. In 1906, the Kingston residents heard of an earthquake and fire in San Francisco that nearly destroyed that city, never suspecting that they were about to endure the same catastrophe. Then on January 14, 1907, the earth moved, and Kingston was nearly destroyed.

This postcard shows the damage at the corner of King and Harbour Streets, Kingston, Jamaica. It was printed in Great Britain shortly after the earthquake.

Port Royal, San Francisco and Kingston recovered and rebuilt after their disasters. Now it is Port-au-Prince's turn, an endeavor made all the more difficult by its population density and poverty.

One aspect of this catastrophe is that Haiti's heritage is threatened, not only by the damage and/or destruction of its historic buildings, but also by the damage to its libraries and archives. To learn more about their destruction and recovery, visit the Digital Library of the Caribbean's web site.

The people of Chile and Haiti have reason to fear earthquakes. Let us hope they do not have to endure catastrophes again for a long, long time.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Ten Super Bowls in Miami

2010-01-29T09:58:00.004-05:00

No event captivates the nation's attention like the Super Bowl. This year's big game is to be played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens on February 7th, and will pit the Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints.

The Super Bowl and South Florida have a long history together. Super Bowl XLIV will be the tenth Super Bowl played in South Florida; it is the fifth at the Miami Dolphins' current home, and five were played at the Orange Bowl in Miami. After February 7th, more Super Bowls will have been played in South Florida than anywhere else, though New Orleans is slated to catch up in 2013. The Orange Bowl hosted the championship game three of the first five years it was played, and is the only venue to have hosted it for two consecutive years, 1968-1969.

Miami is also no stranger to the Pro Bowl. The NFL's all-star game began to be played in Honolulu in 1980. Before that, it moved venues just as the Super Bowl does. The Orange Bowl was the Pro Bowl's home once, in 1975.

South Florida attracts the Super Bowl for much the same reason that it attracts many tourists. Come January or February, when the temperatures don't get above freezing in the northern part of the country, the sun and surf are welcome for a weekend. Or a week. Or two. The added incentive must be very motivating for the Colts. The franchise has been to four Super Bowls over the course of its existence, including 2010. All four of them have been played in South Florida.

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator

This photo: Super Bowl in the Orange Bowl, 1968. City of Miami Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, CM-11384

To Bequeth

2010-01-22T09:57:00.003-05:00

The dictionary meaning of "bequeath": 1) to leave (property, etc.) to another by one's will; 2) to hand down, to pass on.

Bequeath--now there's a word I definitely don't think about often. I can't imagine that I have even said it twice in my whole life. I had to look it up to be sure I had it in the right context.

What made me look it up? Let me tell you.

Recently, this unusual word came to light due to two generous bequests that came to the Historical Museum from unexpected sources.

Often in the world of cultural organizations, museums and not-for-profit organizations, emphasis is placed on reaching out for support to the usual suspects: the big players, the heavy hitters, the proverbial movers and shakers in the "right" socioeconomic limelight.

Well, I learned that this limelight is not always the right place to look.

Two of our long-time individual members, Martha Lou Bradley and Mary G. Beazel, remembered the Historical Museum in their wills.

These ladies were members for decades. They renewed their $35 Individual memberships each year and quietly loved the museum. I was not fully aware of the extent of their dedication, except for the fact that they supported us as members, year after year. They were faithful friends to the end.

I had no idea that before their passing, Mary and Martha Lou took the time to provide for us, planning for the day when they would be gone; when the museum could no longer count on their yearly renewals. Their diligence and thoughtfulness in giving could not have come at a better time.

The Historical Museum and I wish to thank these two ladies who have clearly defined giving to me and for bringing into sharp focus where organizations like us need to look for our real support base, to those who love us, to our members.

-- Hilda Masip, Membership Officer

Christmas in Downtown Miami, 1953

2009-12-15T14:16:00.004-05:00

A half-century ago, shoppers flocked to Burdines in downtown Miami, the biggest and best department store in the region. Throughout the 1950s, to get everyone in the holiday mood, Burdines annually lit a huge neon Santa between its two buildings. It worked--old timers still fondly remember seeing the Burdines Santa. This December 15, 1953, view of the sign looks south on Miami Avenue.

Credit: Miami News Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 1989-011-23202.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Halloween in Pahokee

2009-10-28T11:05:00.003-04:00

This snapshot shows us children dressed for a 1943 Halloween party at Pahokee, Florida. From right: a monkey and his organ grinder, a girl who has raided her mother’s closet, a store-bought skeleton, and a mysterious costume—what is the boy on the left impersonating?

Interama

2009-09-10T16:30:00.002-04:00

As I write this, our exhibits designer and preparations staff are at the Kovens Center, located at the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University, to install the traveling version of Interama: Miami and the Pan-American Dream. The exhibition going up there is only natural, as BBC was part of the Graves Tract that the state of Florida purchased to house the permanent World’s Fair that never was. In a sense, the university’s campus is all that ever came of Interama. It was originally to be called “Interama University,” but was eventually combined with FIU when the creation of that institution was imminent. In fact, the only building that was ever built by the Inter-American Center Authority now houses the internationally-renowned hospitality management program.

In a sense, this coming together is very personal for me in a number of ways. I graduated from FIU twice, and both times I was at the Biscayne Bay Campus. I took a large portion of my undergraduate classes there, then worked at BBC as a teacher’s assistant while working on my master’s degree. Panther Square and the Wolfe University Center were the hub of my social life, and BBC became my second home.

In addition, when the Interama exhibition went up, I was still an educator, though I had started helping to digitize the archaeological collection thanks to an IMLS grant. I assisted with the final touches in my budding role as a curator, making it the first exhibit I ever worked on, and then gave the first tours to the general public in my role as a museum educator. Now, I am one of two persons working on launching a formal traveling exhibitions program, which could include this slightly scaled-down version of Interama.

If you want to see the exhibit, call 305-919-5700 for more information.

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator - Object Collections

Summer with the Teachers

2009-08-25T13:51:00.002-04:00

Time literally flies when you are having fun. It’s hard to believe that what felt like an endless 11 week summer … is nearly over! We have had our last week of camp, our last week of working on our teaching collection inventory, and our last week of curriculum re-writes for fall programs.

The summer is over … and we got the first taste of that when our new school program brochures were delivered last week. It was hard to believe when I saw the 2009-2010 written on the front cover!

So where did our summer go?

In Summer Camp we went around the world, from Mariachis to Junkanoo bands. Unlike any other museum in our community, we ran camp for the full 11 week Miami-Dade Public School summer season.

A small team of museum educators scoured over our teaching collection, took a critical inventory and started entering everything into a database.

We overhauled our school programs through the lenses of “Understanding by Design,” a planning and teaching method which allows the educator to think big and narrow down in layers. So yes, we’ve been buzzing on the mezzanine level, a.k.a. Education … and tweeting on Twitter about it all summer long.

-- Cecelia D. Slesnick, Vice President, Education

Burned Cross in Black Crossroads

2009-08-21T10:10:00.005-04:00

As a history museum, we’re charged with finding the visual images and objects that tell the story or piece of history presented in an exhibition. This can be a challenge since more history has been captured in text than in actual photographs, and objects are often junked before their historical importance is realized. This was not the case with burned cross above, one of the signature objects on display in the museum’s Black Crossroads: The African Diaspora in Miami exhibition.

The cross is part of the collection of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida. Its charred frame sits at the entrance to the Struggles section of the exhibition – the area that explores blacks’ century-long struggle for equality in Miami. It was burned on the lawn of Hazel Howard in 1982. Howard was an African American woman who had just moved into a new home in North Miami.

As telling as that story is about the prevalence of racial prejudice in Miami, how this piece of history got saved also deserves telling. The Community Relations Board (CRB), an inter-racial group created by county in 1963 “to solve hardcore social problems and economic distresses” collected the cross from Howard’s lawn after the incident and attempted to investigate the event. Members of the CRB at the time included community activist Bob Simms, who recalls that they then kept the cross in their offices as visual symbol of the past.

Eventually the board donated the cross to the Black Archives, saving it from historical extinction and enabling future generations to also experience its significance. And experience it they do – visitors to the exhibition are compelled towards it and have reported back to us the powerful connection they make to it. The charred 10-foot cross speaks volumes, makes the past real in a way no text can. All thanks to the CRB who saw that an object of history, no matter how painful, has something to teach all of us.

-- Joanne Hyppolite, Ph.D. Chief Curator.

Apollo 11

2009-07-17T09:40:00.004-04:00

On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission blasted off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Neil Armstrong, “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins ventured through space to the moon. On July 20, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step out onto the moon’s surface, followed shortly thereafter by “Buzz” Aldrin. The astronauts safely returned to earth on July 24, the mission a success.

This pass came into HMSF’s collection in 1989, a gift of Marie Oscar. Individuals invited to watch the launch of the mission were issued one of these official guest passes. Even though Kennedy Space Center is over two hundred miles from Miami, Dade County residents were still able to see the orange streak in the morning sky created by the Saturn V rocket as it pushed the spacecraft into orbit, though the view was certainly much better for those “official guests.”

As a space geek, I would like to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 by reminding everybody that it was “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator – Object Collections

1989.031.001

Pan Am Captains Martin & Martin

2009-07-13T17:13:00.004-04:00

When Frank Carroll Martin renewed his membership, he chose the new category of Senior. This level requires a birth date to prove that the member is 65 years of age or older, so I called Mr. Martin to record his date of birth, which did not appear on his application.

As I spoke to Mr. Martin, I noticed airplane pictured on the check he had enclosed with his renewal. Curious, I asked him if he had been a pilot. Frank said that he had been a Pan Am Clipper skipper and that his father, Frank Crawford Martin, had been an original China Clipper pilot.

I invited Frank to come to the museum to see some of the Pan Am Collection and to have lunch with the President/CEO Bob McCammon. During lunch, his father’s extensive flights during World War II brought forth many tales about Miami’s place in aeronautical history. Frank informed us that the majority of the soldiers captured from Rommel’s Africa Corps were housed as POWs in South Dade. He told us that the St. Sebastian Apartments in Coral Gables were used as barracks for Royal Air Force student pilots and navigators who were trained almost exclusively in Miami due to its advanced aeronautical facilities. One particularly interesting story relayed was that near the end of the war, his dad piloted the then Prince Feisal of Saudi Arabia to America for his first visit and, true to the “it’s small world” axiom, Bob’s father had flown the prince on the second leg of this same journey in California.

Frank Carroll Martin served as a Pan Am captain for more than fifteen years. He is currently the Area Coordinator for the Blue and Gold Program of the United States Naval Academy, in which he and his associates identify and mentor fine young men and women to become Midshipmen.

Frank is proud of Miami’s place in aeronautical history and the accomplishments of his father that changed the lives and history of the African American community in South Florida. The rewards of Frank Crawford’s labor are still being reaped today; the work of Frank Carroll will be seen tomorrow in the lives of young officers that will serve our nation with distinction.

Captains, the Historical Museum salutes you both!

-- Hilda Masip, Membership Officer

Top picture: Pan Am China Clipper, ca. 1935. HMSF, 1992-233-11.
Bottom photo: Frank Crawford Martin. Courtesy of Frank Carroll Martin.

Independence Day

2009-07-02T09:25:00.003-04:00

Sometime around 1905, someone sent this patriotic postcard to Ralph Munroe in Coconut Grove. Happy flag-waving Fourth!

Image no. 1994-624-6

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Haden Mangos

2009-06-26T14:47:00.003-04:00

In 1889 the USDA planted three mango trees from India in West Palm Beach. One of them survived the 1895 freeze and, three years later, bore tasty fruit. South Florida horticulturalists were delighted. One of them, Captain Haden of Coconut Grove, bought 30 seeds and planted them. In 1910 an accidental cross between one of those trees and a turpentine mango bore fruit. Florence Haden named the new, surprisingly improved variety after her husband, and, as they say, the rest is history. South Floridians are still growing and eating Haden mangos.

Here is Florence Hayden’s 1912 recipe for mango chutney:

“Ten large fine mangoes, one-half pint seeded raisins, one-half pint lime juice, one-half pint vinegar, two chili peppers, two garlic buttons grated, one medium-sized onion, one tablespoonful white mustard seed, one tablespoonful ground ginger, one heaping tablespoonful of salt, one and one-half pounds brown sugar. Pare and cut mangoes in small pieces. Put all ingredients in a crock or bowl. Let it stand covered over night, and cook it very slowly next morning for three hours. Put in glass jars or bottles, and seal at once.”

Postcard: “Haden Mangoes on Tropical Treasures Grove, Fort Myers, Florida.” ca. 1940. Image no. 1979-011-235.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

97-Year Old Mango Recipes

2009-06-19T14:28:00.002-04:00

In 1912 the women of the First Presbyterian Church compiled and published a book—Miami’s first locally produced cookbook. Browsing through The Florida Tropical Cookbook, one discovers that Miamians of a century ago grew and ate mangos, especially in desserts and preserves. Here are a few of their recipes:

“Mango Dumplings. In any recipe where peaches or apples are to be used, substitute ripe mangoes.

“Fried Mangoes. Select mangoes that are not ripe enough to be stringy, peel and slice thin; put tablespoonful butter in frying pan, heat and add mangoes; add sugar, and nutmeg and cinnamon; cover and cook slowly so as not to burn.

“Green Mango Pie. This is equal to rhubarb pie and is so similar to it that many persons mistake the mango pie for it. Peel and slice the green mangoes. Line the pan with good paste and put the fruit into it. Sprinkle with sugar and flour and add a tablespoonful of water.

“Ripe Mango Pie. Peel and slice ripe fruit and proceed as above, using less sugar.

“Mango Ice Cream. Prepare mangoes as for marmalade—about half a dozen for two-quart freezer. Use any good ice cream recipe, and freeze as fruit cream.

“Mango Marmalade. Peel well ripe mangoes and grate on a coarse grater; strain through a copper sieve to take out fiber; boil with a little less than equal part sugar until stiff.

“Canned Mangoes. Peel the fruit and cut into neat slices, cutting from stem end. Put in boiling syrup, boil ten minutes, and place in well sterilized jars and seal at once. Make a syrup by using one cupful of sugar and one cupful of water. Do not attempt to cook a large quantity at one time or the slices will break up.

“Mango Jelly. For jelly the green fruit is used. Peel and cook the green fruit. Strain and to each cupful of boiling juice, add one cupful of sugar. Boil until jelly forms when the juice is dropped from a spoon.

“Mango Sweet Pickle. Choose nice, firm mangoes; pare and slice them. To every quart of fruit, allow a cupful of white sugar and a large pint of good vinegar, adding just enough whole cloves to flavor as you like; too many will turn the fruit dark. Let it come to a boil and put in the mangoes and cook until they are thoroughly heated. Too much cooking will make them mushy. Put into jars and seal while hot.

“Mango Chutney. Five pounds of the fruit after it is peeled and cut off the seed, two pounds sugar, two quarts vinegar. Cook until smooth and thick, stirring to keep from burning. When it is thick enough to drop from spoon, take off the fire. Add two pounds seeded raisins, two ounces ground mustard, two ounces ground ginger, four ounces salt, one-quarter small teaspoonful of ground cayenne pepper. Mix, let stand till next day, stirring often. Then reheat and pack in small glass jars and seal. Fine with meat, or for sandwiches.

“East India Mango Chutney. Five pounds of ripe mangoes, or tart apples, two pounds brown sugar, two quarts cider vinegar. Cook this until smooth and thick. Take up and add one pound Sultana raisins (chopped), one clove of garlic (if liked), two ounces ground mustard seed, two ounces ginger root, four ounces salt, three pods red pepper (chopped). Mix, let stand eight hours. Stir thoroughly. Heat this through; pack in small jars, and seal. Use for cold meats or for sandwiches. Will keep years in a cool place.”

Whew! These recipes sure give a modern cook plenty of guess work!

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Illustration: from a 19th century lithograph.
Image no. 1995-293-1

Royal Poincianas

2009-06-11T11:08:00.005-04:00

It’s June in Miami. Roadside vendors offer tasty mangos and lychees, and that most glorious of trees, the Royal Poinciana, is in bloom. Someone introduced the Poinciana, a native of Madagascar, to South Florida more than a century ago.

In 1894, Palm Beach’s first grand hotel opened—the Royal Poinciana. Back then, tourist season only lasted from the beginning of January to the end of February, so guests never saw the hotel’s namesake in bloom. We who live here, however, admire them throughout South Florida’s cities and suburbs.

In 1916, Charles Torrey Simpson admitted that “I said when I first saw one of these trees in bloom that I was willing to endure the torment of mosquitoes, sand burs [sic], land crabs and all the pests and vermin of Florida in order that I might live in a land where the royal Poinciana flaunted its splendid blossoms to the sky.”

Many South Floridians agree.

Top postcard: “Poinciana Tree, Miami, Fla.” Miami: J. N. Chamberlain, ca. 1915. Image no. 1984-100-17.

Bottom postcard: “Royal Poinciana Hotel, Palm Beach, Fla.” Milwaukee: E. O. Kropp, ca. 1905. Image no. 1990-258-1.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Mosquito Season

2009-06-04T15:43:00.002-04:00

The rainy season has finally arrived, and with it have come the mosquitoes. While Gray Kingbirds feast, South Floridians try not to be bitten. In pioneer days that meant wrapping newspapers around one’s limbs and keeping close to a smoking smudge pot. Nowadays we use bug spray or retreat indoors (the museum’s indoors and air-conditioned, and it’s a good time to visit). Meanwhile, consider the mosquito’s place in history.

A previous blog entry, “An Epidemic Stampede,” described late 19th century Yellow Fever epidemics. The 1888 railroad car panic in that entry’s illustration resulted from ignorance—no one in Florida knew how Yellow Fever was transmitted, so it seemed best to stay well away from the sick. Seven years earlier, though, Cuban physician Carlos Finlay had identified the pesky mosquito as the culprit. His hypothesis languished for nearly two decades, until Dr. Walter Reed and other doctors were called to Panama to find out why so many canal workers were catching Yellow Fever. Dr. Reed confirmed and publicized Finlay’s hunch—to control Yellow Fever, control the mosquitoes.

So, South Floridians, empty the standing water from the flower pots in your gardens (where mosquitoes breed), and use bug repellant and mosquito nets when you venture into their territory. Just don’t expect Mosquito Control to kill them all—they were here first.

This picture: “The Male Musquito.” [sic] In Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. 1859. Image 2007-260-1

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research materials

Slow Boat to Stiltsville

2009-05-13T16:58:00.003-04:00

Saturday morning was a perfect day to take a boat ride. A group of people gathered on the dock at Bayside waiting to embark on Dr. George’s boat tour. On this tour they would see not only Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse, but also the community of houses set on stilts in the middle of the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay that came to be known as Stiltsville. With the breathtaking views and the beautiful weather, Dr. George did not disappoint.

Stiltsville’s first structure was built in the early 1930s. The current community is comprised of seven homes. In its heyday, there were up to 25 structures present in the bay’s waters. Begun as a hangout for local fishermen, it has transformed into a well-known part of Miami’s skyline.

This tour was a great opportunity to sit back, relax and learn about a hidden gem of South Florida’s history!

Views from the Stiltsville, Cape Florida Lighthouse and Key Biscayne Boat Tour

This view: Stiltsville, ca. 1980. Miami News Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 1989-011-15650.

-- Molli Songco, Assistant Curator of Exhibits

An Epidemic Stampede

2009-05-08T11:15:00.003-04:00

Recent news, filled with fears of a pandemic, brings to mind earlier epidemics. Settlements in hot and humid Florida, for example, endured a number of Yellow Fever outbreaks until about a century ago.

In this 1888 illustration, a woman on a train has fallen ill. Her terrified fellow passengers, believing her contagious, are stampeding out of the railway car. Yellow Fever had broken out in Jacksonville in July, and most of the city’s inhabitants fled, fearing for their lives. Of the nearly 14,000 who remained, confined by a quarantine, 4,700 sickened and 430 died before the epidemic ended with the arrival of cold weather in November.

A few years later, Miami also endured a Yellow Fever epidemic. For three months the tiny, new city was quarantined. Of the less than 2,000 residents, more than 200 people fell ill and 14 died. The crises passed with the arrival of cool weather in January 1900.

Returning to this picture, I wonder. Has the woman caught Yellow Fever or has she fainted from a too-tight corset?

“Scene on a Refugee Railway Train in Florida—a Case of Yellow Fever: the Stampede,” from a sketch by James Mott. In Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, September 28, 1888. Image 2005-271-1.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Tropees Tour Versace Mansion

2009-05-04T13:40:00.005-04:00

It was an afternoon of high fashion and high fun on Saturday, April 18th, as the Tropees, our young professional members, enjoyed an exclusive tour of the landmark Versace Mansion on Miami Beach’s famed Ocean Drive. Guests enjoyed champagne and mimosas while being swept away in the lavish oasis, formerly home to couture fashion designer Gianni Versace—now the swanky Casa Casuarina, a members-only private club and luxury boutique hotel.

In 1930 the mansion was financed by architect, philanthropist, author and political reformer Alden Freeman, designed by by Henry LaPointe and built by Hubbell & Hubbell, as homage to the oldest existing house in the western hemisphere, the "Alcazar de Colon" in Santo Domingo. In 1992, on a trip to Miami, world-renowned Gianni Versace encountered Casa Casuarina for the first time, and, although it had fallen into great disrepair, he purchased the mansion. Versace restored the property and made significant changes to propel Casa Casuarina to international fame.

It was an exciting opportunity to learn more about the history of such an incredible landmark!

Pictures of Tropees at Casa Casuarina

— Kara Sincich, External Relations Coordinator

The Hampton House

2009-04-29T14:04:00.007-04:00

The Hampton House was a popular motel and social hub for African-Americans during the 1950s and 1960s. Wedding receptions and beauty contests enlivened the motel's pool deck, and night after night locals and out-of-towners packed the club, enjoying great music and good company.

Did you know that Muhammad Ali, in town for his epic bout with Sonny Liston, stayed at the Hampton House? Dr. Martin Luther King, in Miami to meet with civil rights organizers, held press conferences at the hotel ... and found time for a dip in the pool. In addition, a slew of famous musicians including Sammy Davis, Cab Calloway and James Brown visited the Hampton House.

This 1967 photograph from the City of Miami Collection shows beauty contest contestants arriving for a stay at the Hampton House.

As society integrated, the Hampton House faded and by the mid-1970s the motel closed.

Now the Hampton House is coming back to life. The hotel is being restored as a museum and music archive. Find out more here: Hampton House video from Miami-Dade TV.

Historic photos of the Hampton House are currently on display at the Historical Museum’s Black Crossroads: The African Diaspora in Miami exhibition.

-- Kara Sincich, External Relations Coordinator

Which “One Way”?

2009-04-24T09:52:00.001-04:00

This picture ran in the Miami News on March 19, 1969. It is now a part of the Miami News Collection in the Research Center at the Historical Museum.

It depicts a confusing situation at NE 15th Street & 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami. Two “One Way” signs show 15th Street as being only one way, but in opposite directions. Apparently the newspaper’s efforts were rewarded, as one of the signs was replaced the day the story ran.

In answer to your unasked question, Miami drivers, “Yes, it was always this bad.”

-- Robert Harkins, Assistant Curator – Object Collections

The House of Shells

2009-04-15T16:58:00.006-04:00

I stumbled upon this gem while refiling postcards. Apparently inspired by the Bottle Cap Inn, someone covered the exterior of this shop with sea shells, dubbed it The House of Shells, and opened for business selling curios and, presumably, souvenir shells.

The building is encrusted with abalones; Queen, King and Horse Conchs; tritons and murexes—no wonder these once common snails have become so scarce!

The House of Shells is listed in Miami city directories from 1941 to 1947, after which we can assume it went out of business. This short life can probably be attributed to its location, 1299 SW 32nd Avenue, far from the tourists who should have been its best customers and across the street from a cemetery (Woodlawn Park).

The Bottle Cap Inn, covered inside and out with—you guessed it—bottle caps, lasted much longer. But that is another postcard and another story.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials

Jimmy's Hurricane

2009-04-03T10:08:00.005-04:00

It’s amazing what a lost membership card can start!

Long time HMSF member Sara Ellenburg called to request a new membership card to replace a lost one. While speaking with her, I learned a fascinating story. On a recent visit to the museum Sara had seen a diner replica in the permanent exhibit, Tropical Dreams. She informed me that the diner in the photomural had belonged to her and her husband, Jimmy, who appears in the photo's background. The diner was Jimmy’s Hurricane Restaurant.

Within a few days, Sara donated menus and promotional coupons from Jimmy’s to the museum’s Research Center. She returned to the museum once again at the invitation of President/CEO Bob McCammon. They shared a lovely lunch, and those present heard many recollections about Jimmy, old Miami and how things have changed. Following the lunch Mr. McCammon’s wife, Karen Corlett-McCammon, told him that her family traditionally ate at Jimmy’s Hurricane on the way home from visiting her grandparents in Miami Beach.

Jimmy’s Hurricane Restaurant operated on the corner of Bird and Douglas Roads. Their specialty was Snapper Fingers. The Shrimp Creole, with generous sides, was listed on their menu for $1.49. Sounds like quite a bargain today! Jimmy’s Hurricane had an extensive drive-in area and an indoor dining counter. Jimmy and Sara Ellenburg presided over this Miami establishment from November 1950 to June 6, 1966.

Sara Ellenburg is someone who not only loves and supports history, but she has made her own. Meeting Sara made us very glad that she lost her membership card!

-- Hilda Masip, Membership & Data Officer

I Introduce our Blog

2009-04-02T16:51:00.007-04:00

Look at a map of North America. South Florida stretches south, like the toe of the United States, into the Caribbean area.

This geographic proximity has made South Florida a part of the Caribbean, with Miami as the unofficial capital. From here, tourists fly or cruise east to the Bahamas and south to vacations on idyllic islands or the Caribbean slopes of Central and South America. The residents of these places come here, for their own vacations, shopping, visits to doctors and work. Visit the malls, ride MetroRail and walk the streets of Miami, Miami Beach or Key West and you will hear English, Spanish, Creole and French, in 50 different accents.

When I first visited St. Martin, many years ago, I was stunned by its main street’s similarity to Flagler Street. Downtown Miami’s little shops selling electronics, suitcases, jewelry, fabrics and clothing feel Caribbean—after all, their biggest customers are islanders. I can walk out of the museum at lunch and dine at a Cuban greasy-spoon, a Nicaraguan steak house or at an Asian lunch counter that caters to homesick cruise ship employees.

To work in a history museum in the midst of this panoply of cultures is to be constantly challenged. What shall we collect? What artifacts and photographs best capture the essence of this complex place and time? How shall we create exhibitions that catch the attention of our fragmented audiences, helping them to understand this region and their relationship to it and each other? Publications? Events? Tours? Lectures? Fund-raising? Everything we do reflects this Caribbean-American milieu.

In this blog, museum staff will share their stories about South Florida and the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Join us on this wild adventure.

-- Rebecca A. Smith, Curator of Research Materials