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Jacksonville
Historical Society Staff

Emily
Retherford Lisska
Executive
Director
As the Executive Director of the Jacksonville Historical Society since
the fall of 1996, Emily has run one of city’s most successful and
visible non-profit organizations. She oversees the organization’s
projects, including the society’s restored headquarters (a million
dollar restoration project); the society’s archival repository
containing tens of thousands of documents and photographs; and all book
publications of the society. Emily is also the curator of the
Merrill Museum House—a walk through Jacksonville “life at home one
hundred years ago.”
A Jacksonville native, Emily is a
graduate of the University of Florida and attended Florida State
University for graduate studies in
Speech Communications. She formerly worked as a Jacksonville Consumer
Specialist and th Director of Florida's Consumer Council.
Emily is a sought-after local speaker offering the stories of
Jacksonville to the city’s citizens. She received the Girl Scouts
Women of Distinction in the world of arts. She is on the Board of
Directors of the Jacksonville Women's Network, as well as a board
member of the Mandarin Community Club. She created and established the
first teen pregnancy prevention program used in the Duval County Public
School System (through the Junior League of Jacksonville). She
spearheaded the restoration (chairman) of the 1872 Mandarin School, and
served as a three-term president of the Mandarin Community Club. She
led acquisition of the historic Mandarin General Store and Post Office;
was a founding board member of the Mandarin Museum and Historical
Society; served a three-year gubernatorial appointment on the Florida
Elections Commission; is a past board chairman of the N.E. Florida Lung
Association.
Her past awards include the Historic Preservation Commission Award for
History Publications; Historic Preservation Commission Award for
Special Projects; Historic Preservation Award for Overall Organization
Achievement and Service; Outstanding Alumnus Award from Florida
Community College at Jacksonville; Florida Public Relations
Practitioner of the Year; selected as a member of both Mortar Board and
Savant at the University of Florida.
She is the co-producer and host of the monthly The Jacksonville History Show on
local television. She was editor and a principal contributor to the
430-page Jacksonville Family with noted author Wayne Wood. She
also edited the award-winning book, The
Great Fire of 1901; she is editor of the Jacksonville Historical
Society’s Historical Quarterly;
and she is currently spearheading a facsimile publication of the 1925
book, The History of Jacksonville
and Vicinity.
She’s married to Lawrence Lisska, M.D. and they have two sons—William,
a Vanderbilt University sophomore and Joe, a University of Florida law
graduate.
Jerry Higginbotham
Associate
Director/Collections Manager
Sharon R. Laird
Jacksonville
Historical Society Archivist
Sharon Rosenburg Laird is the archivist of the Jacksonville
Historical Society and has held this position since June, 2005.
With a long standing background in research, she is a principal and
founder of the Florida Political Research Center, the Social Science
Research Center at Jacksonville University and Florida Opinion
Research. The SSRC continues to conduct extensive research in
multiple areas for non-profit organizations, corporate clients,
governmental agencies, and many individuals clients.
A Jacksonville native, Sharon graduated from Andrew Jackson High
School. She then continued at Jacksonville University earning a B. A.
in History and Education. followed by a M.A. in Education and Religion
at Southeastern at Wake Forest , N.C. She has served as an
adjunct assistant professor of History at Jacksonville University and
Florida Community College at Jacksonville. As Coordinator of the Duval
County Legislative Delegation, she provided the delegation members and
citizens with necessary information on issues and legislation.
Additionally, Sharon was the Director of the College of Lifelong
Learning and the College of Weekend Studies at Jacksonville University
and advised hundreds of students in the course of more than
a decade of academic advising. She was appointed by the late Gov.
Lawton Chiles and approved by the Florida Senate to serve as a member
of the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities. Both
the community and culture of the city combined as Sharon
served the Honorable Congresswoman Corrine Brown as Director of
Community Outreach for the District 3 local office.
As a fourth generation Floridian , Sharon Laird brings the
knowledge and a genuine appreciation of the major role the Society and
the Archives play in the character of our city. The Archives
brings the past clearly forward to those who seek it and Sharon
is pleased to serve as a guide.
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Jacksonville Historical
Society
317 A.
Philip Randolph Blvd.
Jacksonville,
FL 32202-2217
[ MAP]
[ Driving
Directions ]
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Emily
Lisska, Executive Director
Phone:
904-665-0064
FAX:
904-665-0069
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Jacksonville
Historical Society
Archives at
Jacksonville University
Sharon Laird, Archivist
Phone: 904-256-7271
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All
Rights Reserved, Jacksonville Historical Society.
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