Every year we host a variety of exhibitions about Florida and Alachua County history.
Chains of Steele: Money, Power, and Influence
Main Exhibit Hall
Opens Wednesday, August 19
Chains of Steele: Money, Power, and Influence is the result of a year and a half of research, planning, and writing. Utilizing unique documents stored in the museum’s archive, the exhibit will examine two ancestors of Gainesville’s Matheson family, Augustus and Augusta Steele, and the ways that they interacted with and benefited from the institution of American slavery.
Augustus was born in 1792 in Massachusetts, and at the time of his birth slavery was outlawed in that state. At the time of his death, he was a devoted Confederate official, advocate for slavery, and enslaver. The exhibit will look at what choices brought him to that point and how he benefited from those choices.
His only child, Augusta, was part of the last generation that grew up supported by the institution of slavery. She turned 18 in 1865, the year that emancipation reached Florida and the rebellion collapsed. The ways that her life went on afterwards tell us something about the long-lasting impacts slavery had on our history.
This original exhibition will feature Matheson Family photos rarely on display, excerpts from the family’s papers, and a memorial to the people the Steeles enslaved with the first biographies ever written about these individuals.
Curator: Willett Hancock, Curator of Exhibitions, Matheson History Museum
Graphic Designer: Rick Kilby, RickKilby.com
When Johnny Came Marching Home: Some Gave All – All Gave Some
by Ken McGurn and Matthew Pollard
Outdoor Exhibition – located on the west side of the main Matheson building behind the set of flag poles along Sweetwater Branch
This sculpture was designed by Ken McGurn and fabricated by Matthew Pollard. In partnership with the Matheson, the City of Gainesville and Ken McGurn the artwork will remain here for a year or more. Next time you’re downtown spend a few minutes viewing the artwork and remembering those who came home from war with both physical and mental wounds.
McGurn: “We honor the dead, but often ignore the wounds, both physical and mental, carried by those who returned. I did this to remind people that war leaves wounds and to heal some of my own memories. The first represents the soldier in his shiny new uniform marching off to war, rifle over his shoulder. The second is unfinished, rusting brown representing the soldier as he patrols in the jungle, rifle across his chest in the ready position. The third is the soldier home from war. The ‘rifle’ is now a crutch where his missing a leg. The material is steel representing the soldier’s strength.”
Ken McGurn served in the Army and Army Reserves from 1963 to 1979. He was deployed to Vietnam in 1965 and Germany from 1968-1970. We honor all of those who served.