Chains of Steele
Main Exhibit Hall
Opens June 10, 2026
This exhibit will examine two ancestors of Gainesville’s Matheson family, Augustus and Augusta Steele, and the ways that they interacted with and benefitted 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 slave owner. The exhibit will look at how that happened and its implication for our society.
His only child, Augusta, was part of the last generation that grew up supported by the institution of slavery. Through her close relationships with elite plantation-owning families, we can peer into the aristocratic lives of Florida’s slave-owning class.
Photos courtesy of the Matheson Family Collection
In the Pines: The Shadow of the Turpentine Industry
Main Exhibit Hall
Opens Spring 2027
In partnership with the UF Museum Studies Program and the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project, this exhibit will examine the history of peonage labor during the Jim Crow Era as it pertains to the local turpentine industry.
Postcard courtesy of the Matheson collection