Lost Voices from America's Oldest Parish Archive, 1594-1821

The Friends of the Main Library is pleased to welcome eminent scholar Dr. J. Michael Francis for an event honoring St. Johns County’s Bicentennial anniversary. He will discuss the early history of St. Augustine, with particular attention to the settlement’s diverse population, which included Spaniards, Native Americans, Portuguese, Germans, Flemish, Irish, French, as well as Africans, both free and enslaved.

The talk will highlight Dr. Francis’s recent research project, titled Lost Voices from America’s Oldest Parish Archive, 1594-1821. This event is FREE and open to the public and will take place at the Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center, located at 102 M.L. King Avenue in St. Augustine. Parking is available for museum guests along either side of the museum building, behind the building (via Pomar Street), and across from the building (grass lot). ​If you have any questions, please call the Main Library at 904-827-6940.

Dr. J. Michael Francis is the Hough Family Chair of Florida Studies at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and he serves as the Executive Director of La Florida: The Digital Archive of the Americas. Dr. Francis received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and was appointed in 2011 by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to serve on the St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission. In 2021, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Dr. Francis to serve on the board of the Florida Historical Commission, and that same year, Spain’s King Philip VI conferred upon Dr. Francis the Official’s Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. He has written numerous articles and books, including  St. Augustine America’s First City: A Story of Unbroken History & Enduring Spirit  and Murder and Martyrdom in Spanish Florida : Don Juan and the Guale Uprising of 1597.

This program is a partnership between the Florida Humanities and the Friends of the Main Library St. Augustine. Funding for this program was provided by Florida Humanities and sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.