(Boca Raton, FL – February 7, 2022) The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum (SBRHM) has four upcoming special events—three Town Hall Talks and this season’s first Town Hall Teatime—plus an exciting exhibition in in its newly remodeled space in historic Town Hall at 71 N. Federal Highway (33432). For more information, please visit www.BocaHistory.org, or call 561.395.6766, ext. 100.
Wednesday, March 2, at 6 pm
Town Hall Talk
Resilient Florida:
Archaeology & Adaptation at the Beach
Presented by Sara Ayers-Rigsby, Director
Florida Public Archeology Network, Southeast/Southwest Region
Ms. Ayers-Rigsby specializes in cultural resources management and historic preservation. Prior to assuming her current position, she spent 10 years working as an archaeologist throughout the United States, with a regional focus on the archaeology of the southeast and MidAtlantic. She will be sharing information on the lifestyles of the pre-Columbian people who once inhabited South Florida.
Note: Generously sponsored by Alina Schwartz, Estate Agent at One Sotheby’s International Realty in Boca Raton, this Town Hall Talk starts at 6 pm with check-in and refreshments, with the lecture beginning at 6:30 pm.
Wednesday, March 23, at 6 pm
Town Hall Talk
A Tale of Two Cities:
Boca Raton and Delray Beach
A Conversation Between Boca Magazine’s
Marie Speed & Randy Schultz
+ Marie Speed is group editor of all JES publications, including Boca, Delray Beach, Worth Avenue, Mizner’s Dream, and the annual publication for the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce.
+ Randy Schultz is the City Watch columnist for Boca Magazine and BocaMag.com. An award-winning South Florida journalist since 1974, he has worked at both the Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post, where he served as managing editor and editorial page editor.
Note: Generously sponsored by Alina Schwartz, Estate Agent at One Sotheby’s International Realty in Boca Raton, this Town Hall Talk starts at 6 pm with check-in and refreshments, with the lecture beginning at 6:30 pm.
(Postponed from January 20)
Wednesday, April 13, at 2 pm
Town Hall Teatime
Sally Ling, Florida’s History Detective
Dubbed “Florida’s history detective,” Ms. Ling has written and published 15 books, both fiction and nonfiction. She specializes in obscure, unusual, or little-known stories of Florida history and mysteries with a Florida connection. Ling has appeared in three feature-length TV documentaries Gangsters on the National Geographic Channel, and for WLRN Miami both The Secret Weapon that Won World War II and Prohibition and the South Florida Connection, for which she also served as associate producer. Ling will be speaking about her books including her latest foray into “cozy mysteries” and bring along some of beautiful handmade quilts for sale. (FYI: the heroine of one of her mysteries series owns a fabric store in Boca Raton.)
Wednesday, April 20, at 6 pm
Town Hall Talk
Boca Raton Anthrax Attack, October 2001
Presented by (retired) Fire Chief Thomas R. Wood
Boca Raton Fire Rescue Services
Chief Wood served with the City of Boca Raton Fire Rescue Services Department for 47 years, starting as a Firefighter in 1974 and working his way up through the ranks, serving as City Fire Marshal 1988-1996, and eventually named as the city’s sixth career Fire Chief in 2006. Chief Wood will be discussing the terrifying events when the America Media Inc. building in Boca Raton, home of The National Enquirer, was one of several sites to receive anthrax-laden letters through the mail in 2001.
Note: Generously sponsored by Alina Schwartz, Estate Agent at One Sotheby’s International Realty in Boca Raton, this Town Hall Talk starts at 6 pm with check-in and refreshments, with the lecture beginning at 6:30 pm.
(Postponed from January 5)
Admission to all four of these events at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum is FREE for members of the Boca Raton Historical Society, and $10 for nonmembers. (Annual membership is only $60 per person, or $85 per family.) To RSVP or to become a BRHS member, please email office@BocaHistory.org or call 561.395.6766, ext. 100.
Ongoing Exhibition
FIRST RESPONDERS
The current exhibit at SBRHM celebrates a century of local heroes from Town Marshall Charlie Raulerson in 1926; to Betty Taylor, the first woman to work for the Boca Raton Police Department and its first dispatcher back in the 1950s; to those brave officers who confronted the vicious anthrax attack in 2001. It walks visitors through the history of the local Fire Department, Police Department, EMS, and Dispatchers, revealing how each department has grown and shrunk in relation to the surrounding community.
The FIRST RESPONDERS exhibition is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
About The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum:
The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum is the home of the Boca Raton Historical Society, whose mission is to collect, preserve, and present information and artifacts relevant to the past and evolving history of Boca Raton and to maintain a visible role in education and advocacy of historic preservation in the community. Now open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, the
museum is located in historic Town Hall at 71 N. Federal Highway (33432). For more information, please call 561.395.6766 or visit www.BocaHistory.org.
Available for Interview:
Mary Csar, Executive Director
Schmidt Boca Raton Historical Museum
561.395.6766 / director@bocahistory.org
Media Contact:
Gary Schweikhart, PR-BS
561.756.4298 / gary@pr-bs.net