University Press of Florida books win Florida Historical Society award

April 17, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Two University Press of Florida books are winners of the Florida Historical Society’s 2006 Rembert Patrick Best Academic Book Award. Phyllis E. Kolianos and Brent R. Weisman are co-editors of “The Lost Florida Manuscript of Frank Hamilton Cushing,” and “The Florida Journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing.”

The legendary Cushing (1854-1900) is considered one of the most complex and enigmatic American anthropologists. His “forgotten” manuscript, considered by some to be his masterwork, conveys the untamed and undeveloped nature of south Florida in the 1890s and offers new insights into Cushing’s significant contributions to Florida archaeology. It describes his initial reconnaissance in 1895 to southwest Florida and his comparative evaluations of artifacts excavated in the Tarpon Springs area the following year.

His previously unpublished Florida journals offer a dramatically new perspective on his Florida explorations. Recorded during 1895-96 as he traveled the Gulf Coast, these daily personal observations add credibility to his contributions to science and anthropology and demonstrate his independent and intuitive intellect.

Kolianos is environmental education manager for the Weedon Island Preserve Cultural and Natural History Center in St. Petersburg, Fla. Weisman, associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, is the author of “Pioneer in Space and Time: John Mann Goggin and the Development of Florida Archaeology” (UPF) and “Unconquered People: Florida’s Seminole and Miccosukee Indians” (UPF).

The authors will receive the award at the Florida Historical Society’s annual meeting May 26 in Naples.