Tag Archives: matheson museum

Paynes Prairie/ Marjorie Harris Carr bus tour on Oct. 24

The Matheson is excited to host a history bus tour of Paynes Prairie, featuring a tour of the prairie and a catered lunch by Pearl Country Store & Barbecue, on October 24, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Lars Andersen, a full-time river guide and author of Paynes Prairie, The Great Savanna: A History and Guide, will lead an immersive tour of the prairie. Dr. Peggy Macdonald, executive director of the Matheson and author of Marjorie Harris Carr: Defender of Florida’s Environment, will provide an overview of Carr’s quest to save Paynes Prairie, Lake Alice, and Micanopy. Carr is one of the six women featured in the Matheson’s current exhibit, Saving the Sunshine State: Women Leaders in the Twentieth Century.

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Saving the Sunshine State

By Joanna Grey

Six women who left their mark on Florida’s history will be featured in the Matheson History Museum’s new exhibition, Saving the Sunshine State: Women Leaders in the Twentieth Century. The exhibit runs from September 1 to October 31. These six women all worked to improve Florida and the lives of its citizens in areas such as conservation, civil rights, writing, education and suffrage.

May Mann Jennings (1872-1963) – A Florida first lady and wife of the 18th governor of Florida, May Mann Jennings championed such causes as women’s suffrage, education funding, historic preservation and highway beautification.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) – Hurston was born in Alabama but was raised in Eatonville, Florida. She was a part of the Harlem Renaissance and was one of the most widely published African American woman writers and anthropologists of the twentieth century.

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