Matheson History Museum announces 2026 Spring Program Series
Press release from the Matheson History Museum
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Matheson History Museum is excited to announce our 2026 Spring Program Series! The full slate of programs includes author talks, local history, and The Other Book Part 2 series with the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project. We will also be opening two brand new exhibitions!
The Second Saturdays at Sweetwater series is currently paused while the Matheson House Rehabilitation Project is ongoing.
All programs are FREE, unless otherwise stated. Free registration and complete details at www.mathesonmuseum.org/events.
- Wednesday, January 21, 7 pm – Going Back to Find Them: Remembering Victims of Racial Terror Lynching Exhibition Grand Opening with the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project
- Wednesday, January 28, 7 pm – Baseball in Paradise: A History of Spring Training in Florida with Liz Coursen
- Saturday, February 14, 10 am-noon – The Other Book Part 2: Science and Engineering with Dr. Kevin Winstead
- Wednesday, February 18, 7 pm – The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®: Gainesville Roots-Worldwide Influence with Mark Enting
- Saturday, March 14, 10 am-noon – The Other Book Part 2: Politics with Dr. Sharon Austin
- Wednesday, March 25, 7 pm – Interrogating the “Johns Committee”: A reckoning for Florida’s Red Scare war on Blacks and Queers led by State Senator Charley Johns with Robert W. Fieseler
- Saturday, April 11, 10 am-noon – The Other Book Part 2: Faith Communities and Resistance with Dr. Rik Stevenson
- Saturday, May 9 – 2026 Floridiana Festival
- Wednesday, May 13, 7 pm – Treasure Island: A Radio Play with the UF Driveway Theatre Project
- Wednesday, May 27, 7 pm – Voices of Life: The Legacy of the Alachua County Crisis Center documentary premiere with Joe Thigpen, Ariel Drescher, and Collin Whitlock
- Saturday, May 30, 2 pm – A Legacy of Excellence: African American Education in Rural Alachua County with Veloria Kelly and E. Stanley Richardson
2026 Exhibitions
Going Back to Find Them: Remembering Victims of Racial Terror Lynching
Mary Ann Cofrin Exhibit Hall
Opens January 21, 2026
The Matheson will host the Alachua County Community Remembrance Project’s eight Remembrance Quilts in an exhibit that examines the role that injustice and violence had in our county’s history and the ways that our community moved towards reconciliation in the recent past. The quilts were made by Alachua County residents from various walks of life to commemorate those lives lost to racial violence in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Chains of Steele
Main Exhibit Hall
Opens April 2026
This exhibit will examine the American institution of slavery through the writings, histories, and collections of Augustus and Augusta Steele, two ancestors of Gainesville’s Matheson family.
Augustus, a Massachusetts native turned Florida land developer, was the founder of the town of Cedar Key, Hillsborough County, and Levy County. He grew up in a state where slavery was outlawed but by his death was a devoted Confederate official, advocate for slavery, and slave owner.
His only child, Augusta, was part of one of the last generations that grew up supported by the institution of slavery. The Steeles were not a major slave owning family but were friends with many families who were. Their perspectives provide a window to peer into the cultural consciousness that upheld and perpetuated one of the most influential and controversial facets of Florida’s history.
All programs, events, and exhibitions are sponsored in part by Visit Gainesville/Alachua County, Florida and the City of Gainesville.