ABOUT OUR BROWN BAG PROGRAM
The Amelia Island Museum of History’s Brown Bag Lunch lecture series presents lunchtime conversations with fascinating members of the Nassau County community. Join us at 12pm on the first Wednesday of every month to learn from the people who make our community so vibrant! Audience members may bring lunch to eat during the lectures. Attendance is free and open to the public.
UPCOMING PROGRAM
The Mother Who Never Stopped Looking: an Orphan Train Story
with Marcia Pertuz
Wednesday, April 5th, at 12 pm
From 1853 to 1929, over 200 thousand people, overwhelmingly children, were “placed out,” taken from overcrowded US cities and sent to new homes in the country. Could one of your relatives have been an Orphan Train child?
In 1897, speaker Marcia Pertuz’s grandfather and his brother were put on the Orphan Train by the New England Home for Little Wanderers in Boston and sent to Indiana to live with new families. Their mother, who had been abandoned by her husband, had left them in the Home temporarily. She never gave permission for them to be placed out; but when she returned for her sons, they were gone.
Come learn some of the history of the Orphan Train movement in the US, the appalling living conditions of many children and families during that time period and hear the steps Marcia took to solve the mystery of why her grandfather was in an orphanage in 1900.
Attendance is free and open to the public and attendants may bring their lunch. Seating is limited on a first come, first served basis. This program is wheelchair accessible.
For more information contact Summer Bias at 904-261-7378 x102 or Summer@AmeliaMuseum.org.
Watch this program remotely on our Twitch Channel.
For Future Programs check out our Event Calendar.
PAST PROGRAMS
“Learned it Back in Days and Kept It”
with Peggy Bulger
March 2023
“Learned it in Back Days and Kept It” is a documentary film produced by Peggy Bulger in 1981. The film follows Lucreaty Clark (1903-1986) in rural Jefferson County, Florida as she creates a traditional white oak basket, a skill passed down from her grandparents who had been enslaved on Rindell Plantation outside of Monticello. In the documentary, Clark shares her wide repertoire of traditional African American songs, games, and folk knowledge essential to rural life. She was a remarkable representative of an era that seems very far away today. Bulger held a brief discussion after the 30-minute film.
Visit our YouTube Channel for more of our Brown Bag Program videos.
For questions or for more information please contact Curator Summer Bias via phone at
904.261.7378 x102 or via email at summer@ameliamuseum.org.