Friends of the Show

Jacksonville State University, retired from the Department of English

Dr. Gates wrote a comprehensive biography, Elizabeth Robins, 1862-1952: Actress, Novelist, Feminist, and created the Elizabeth Robins Web. She has spent over 30 years learning about Elizabeth and is the perfect person to introduce us to her!

University of Central Florida, Department of History

Dr. Clark is a prolific writer on a variety of Florida history. He first learned about Elizabeth’s brother, Raymond, while studying the Claude Pepper Papers at Florida State University. Raymond had written stacks of letters to Pepper over the years, providing political and policy advice.

San Jose State University

Dr. Knepper is Chair of the Department of Justice Studies and specializes in the history of human trafficking and transnational law. His study of Willam Stead and his efforts to bring awareness to trafficking. When Stead died on the Titanic, as his friend, Elizabeth picked up the mantle and wrote her novel on the subject, My Little Sister.

David Schmidt is the curator of the State of Florida Civilian Conservation Corps Museum in Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring. In his curatorial work, David became familiar with the CCC work at Chinsegut when a camp was there in 1937.

Former President of the Brooksville Citrus Growers’ Association

James Henry Kimbrough “Jim” is a 6th generation Hernando Countian - born and raised at God’s Country - Spring Lake, Brooksville, Florida. A University of Florida graduate, for years he was a director and officer of the Brooksville Citrus Growers Association and a Florida Transportation Commissioner,. Jim retired Chairman after 50 years of service at SunTrust, now Truist (formerly known as Hernando State Bank founded in 1905 by his father-in-law Alfred McKethan’s family).

St. Louis University

Dr. Stiles is a professor in the Department of English and has focused on how 19th-century science and religion are conveyed in literature. While researching rest cures, she read Elizabeth Robins’ book, The Dark Lantern.

Florida State University doctoral candidate

Emily Eubanks completed a master’s degree in musicology in 2019 at FSU. Her research focuses on various intersections of gender and music, including music patronage, music management, domestic music-making, and nineteenth-century salon culture. She has presented her research at numerous conferences throughout the United States and Europe and has received grants from Fulbright Austria, the American Musicological Society, and the Central European History Society. Emily has also served as the Student Representative for the American Musicological Society Southern Chapter and is currently the Graduate Student Representative for the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association.

Mayor of the City of Brooksville

Blake Bell is a seventh-generation Brooksvillian. An attorney by trade, Bell currently serves as the Mayor of the City of Brooksville. Bell is an active member of society by serving on a number of non-profit boards, teaching Sunday school classes, and driving economic development for the community. In his spare time, Bell is focused on local historic preservation efforts through his family’s Ederington Foundation.

Robert Bruce Snow is a sixth-generation Brooksvillian and the maternal uncle of Mayor Bell. A private practice attorney, he became Hernando County Attorney at age 24 and has continued his practice, sometimes public, always private, for over 50 years. Bruce is well known in the Brooksville community for his smiling, calm demeanor and his ability to win cases. He is deeply proud of his family’s connection to Chinsegut and is a wealth of knowledge on Brooksville's history.