University of Tampa Students Curate Exhibit at Plant Museum; Based on UT Professor’s Research

A temporary exhibit about American Red Cross nurses and the Spanish-American War, based on a University of Tampa professor’s research and curated by UT students, has opened at the Henry B. Plant Museum.

The exhibit, Red Cross Nursing and the War of 1898: The Tampa Connection, follows the women who traveled from New York to Tampa and then to Cuba to become the first nurses of the American Red Cross to serve in wartime.

The exhibit is based on the research of Charles McGraw Groh, associate professor of history, and was curated by students in his class Museums, Historic Sites, and Archives.

To prepare for this project, the students studied different aspects of public history curation at the Plant Museum, the Florida Holocaust Museum and Perry Harvey Park, working with local museum professionals. Plant Museum curators Susan Carter and Heather Trubee Brown offered guidance at each stage of the exhibit project.

The exhibit was developed as a companion to the Plant Museum’s permanent exhibit on the Spanish-American War. The Tampa Bay Hotel, now known as Plant Hall, received National Historic Landmark status for the hotel’s role in the 1898 military conflict, when it was used to house Col. Theodore Roosevelt, other military officers and Red Cross nurses.

The exhibit will remain on display for the month of May. It will be back on view in July during Archives Awareness Week, an annual event organized by the City of Tampa Archives Advisory Committee. UT student Selena Martinez will conduct a guided tour at this event.

For more information on the exhibit and Archives Awareness Week, contact Groh at cmcgraw@ut.edu.