FLHC Welcomes Historian Seth Bramson

The Fort Lauderdale History Center’s 2012 Speaker Series proudly welcomes Florida historian and author Seth Bramson on Monday, January 30 at 6:00pm in the Lucy Bryan Room at the New River Inn. Prof. Bramson will be speaking about his two newest books The Greatest Railroad Story Ever Told: Henry Flagler & the Florida East Coast Railway’s Key West Extension and Burdine’s: Sunshine Fashions & The Florida Store. Both books will be available for purchase and Prof. Bramson will be available for a book signing immediately following the lecture. The Speaker Series is free and open to the public but seating is limited, so please be sure to RSVP.

Seth Bramson is Florida’s foremost and premier historian. He is America’s single most-published Florida history book author, with sixteen of his twenty-one books dealing directly with the villages, towns, cities, counties, people and businesses of the South Florida Gold Coast. He is the company historian of the Florida East Coast Railway—one of only two people in the country who bears that title with an American railroad—and his book Speedway to Sunshine is the official history of that famous line. His collection of FEC Railway and Florida transportation memorabilia is the largest in the world; it is larger than the state museum’s collection and larger than the Flagler Museum’s collection. A graduate of Cornell University’s famed School of Hotel Administration, he holds master’s degrees from St. Thomas University and Florida International University, both located in Miami. He is adjunct professor of history and historian in residence at Barry University and adjunct professor of history at Florida International University, where he teaches all of the university’s South Florida and Florida history courses. In addition he is historian in residence at FIU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The founder of the Miami Memorabilia Collectors Club, his collection of Miami memorabilia and Floridiana is the largest in private hands in the country. He is now working on his twenty-second and twenty-third books, the tentative titles of which are Jewels in the Sunshine: The Flagler System Hotels and Beach is Dynamite!: The History of Miami Beach High. Additionally, he is the author of more than 110 articles on South Florida local and Florida transportation history, including four in juried or refereed publications. He has appeared as a featured guest or commentator on Florida history programs on A&E, Discovery Channel, Florida Public Broadcasting, FX’s The Collectibles Show, History Channel, Learning Channel and Turner South Network, as well as all five local Miami television stations. Nationally recognized as Florida’s leading transportation historian and the Miami area’s preeminent local historian, he has been quoted frequently in newspapers and magazines throughout Florida, as well as in the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg Business Week, History, the History Channel Magazine and USA Today.

For more information or to RSVP for the 2012 FLHC Speaker Series, please call (954) 463-4431 ext.12 or email education@fortlauderdalehistorycenter.org. The New River Inn is located at 231 SW 2nd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale 33301. www.fortlauderdalehistorycenter.org

ABOUT THE FORT LAUDERDALE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Formed in 1962, the Society is responsible for the restoration, preservation and interpretation of the Fort Lauderdale History Center (FLHC). FLHC is home to six different buildings (four of which are historic): the New River Inn, built in 1905; the Philemon Bryan House, built in 1905; the Acetylene Building, built in 1905; the King-Cromartie House, built in 1907; the Hoch Heritage Center, built in the 1940s as a post office warehouse; and the 1899 Replica School House. The buildings are open to the public over 300 days a year. Through a wide range of educational programs, exhibits, publications, research, tours, outreach and the historic preservation of our buildings, the Historical Society shares the story of the history of our community and the individuals who shaped it.
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