Food for thought

Peter Bergerson

On Thursday, Oct. 9, Peter Bergerson PhD. will be speaking at the Southwest Florida Museum of History on the history of the race for Florida state governor from 1964 to 2014. Bergerson has been a professor of political science and public affairs at Florida Gulf Coast University since 2002.

Bersgerson is presented on behalf of the Southwest Florida Historical Society as a guest speaker for their monthly meetings. Each month the historical society presents a special guest speaker to host a lecture at the Southwest Florida Museum of History. Meetings take place every second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.

Museum Renovations

The Southwest Florida Museum of History is reopened this week. The museum was closed from Sept. 21 until the 26. It resumed normal operations as of last Saturday, Sept. 27.

According to a museum representative the museum was closed in order to perform routine maintenance, manage inventory and document and catalog items.

The museum is open every Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. It offers private tours, special exhibits and live lectures.

Currently on temporary exhibit at the museum is “Sons of the Sun: The Highwaymen," which features the paintings of African-American artists of the mid-1950s. This exhibit will be on display until Jan. 3, 2015.

Know your Historians: Glenn Miller 

I recently sat down for an interview with the local journalist and historian Glenn Miller. Miller is the current second vice president and long-time member of the Southwest Florida Historical Society. Before donning the role of vice president, Miller was a staff writer for the News-Press for 25 years. A lot has changed in Southwest Florida over the last three decades and he was there to see it all happen.

While writing for the News-Press, Miller interviewed the likes of Stan Musial, hall of fame baseball player; Al Oerter, four-time Olympic gold medalist in discus; Mickey Mantle; Bobby Orr; Roger Clemens.

In addition to his vital role at the historical society, he continues to write for the News-Press as well as Naples Daily News, Florida Weekly, Associated Press and his own blog Glen Miller Writes.

You can find Miller rifling through old documents of once prominent Florida figures and the faded ink of old newspaper articles every Saturday and Wednesday down at the little yellow house next to the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers.