In May our evening talk at the South Manatee Library was Rough and Tumble Women of Manatee County, which was a discussion of the local women who shaped agriculture, cattle ranching, and rodeo. The talk was led by Manatee County Historical Society board member and librarian Katie Fleck and we had about 25 attendees.

We also awarded our annual Roger Williams Memorial Scholarship to a promising young student. Jack Love is a senior at Manatee High School who will be pursuing his Bachelors in History at the University of Central Florida in the Fall. Jack is a volunteer at the De Soto National Memorial, and hopes to pursue a career as a National Park Ranger providing the same hands-on historical interpretation that he has learned from De Soto Memorial. In addition to his passion for history, Jack is also a talented musician, participating in Manatee High School’s Marching Band. We are excited to see Jack’s positive impact on the public history field in the future!

Don’t forget we will still be hosting Evening History Talks all summer! This month Matt Woodside, curator of the Manatee Village Historical Park, will host a discussion of the archives and artifacts at the Park. This event will be at 5:30pm, Tuesday June 11th at the South Manatee Library. More details can be found here: https://manateelibrary.libcal.com/event/12210418. See you there!