Key West Art & Historical Society Distinguished Speaker Series Welcomes Calusa Indian Expert Theresa Schober

Calusa Indian expert Theresa Schober will appear as KWAHS Distinguished Speaker Series guest at the Custom House Museum on Thursday, February 9. (Photo by Laura Gates)

On Thursday, February 9, 2017 from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Key West Art & Historical Society welcomes Distinguished Speaker Series guest Theresa Schober, an archaeologist, educator and much noted expert on Calusa Indian life, to the Helmerich Research & Learning Center on the third floor of the Custom House Museum.

Also a museum consultant, Theresa is co-curator of the traveling art exhibition ‘ArtCalusa: Reflections on Representation.’ She provides workshops on Florida history and is Executive Producer of a forthcoming documentary film about the Calusa capital of Mound Key, located in Estero, Florida.

In this painting by Florida artist Dean Quigley, two indigenous fishermen paddle past mangrove islands with their catch. An expansive, tributary chiefdom, the Calusa are known to have governed more than 50 towns – including those of the Keys Indians – from their seat of power at Mound Key.

An expansive, tributary chiefdom, the Calusa are known to have governed more than 50 towns – including those of the Keys Indians – from their seat of power. Schober’s presentation will focus on the Calusa of the 16th-18th centuries, including explorer Ponce de León’s first encounter with them in 1513 through their eventual evacuation to Havana, Cuba in the 1700’s.

The Distinguished Speaker Series project is sponsored in part by the Helmerich Trust and the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of the Arts and Culture and the State of Florida. Additional support provided by the Marriott Key West Beachside Resort.

Tickets are available at through kwahs.org/education/distinguished_speaker_series; $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, x115. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.