The BDC and Beaufort County Historical Society's joint "Historically Speaking" series returns for a sixth season. It kicks off with a discussion on Thursday, September 5, 2024 about an important artist who depicted Native Americans in the 16th century.
Jacques Le Moyne (de Morgues) was the first European artist to journey to what is now the continental United States. He was tasked, by French King Charles IX, with the purpose of recording its wonders in pencil and paint. Le Moyne’s images, which survive today through a spectacular series of 42 engravings, provide a rare glimpse of Native American life at the pivotal time of first contact with Europeans.
In 1564, Le Moyne and 300 other Protestants landed off the coast of La Florida near today’s Jacksonville. They hoped to establish the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States. A year later the attempt, known as Fort Caroline, was ended violently by the Spanish from St. Augustine, led by Pedro Menendez. Luckily Le Moyne was one of the few colonists to escape alive, returning back across the Atlantic to create dozens of illustrations of the local flora and fauna that he saw firsthand. Although the originals have not survived, their engravings by Flemish master engraver Theodor de Bry have.
Le Moyne is still recognized today (under the name James Morgan) as an early and influential London botanical painter.
“I’m definitely a glass-half-full kind of person” says Larry Koolkin…
Larry and his late wife Lainie had lived in the New England for decades. But in 2012 they found Beaufort by chance, and decided to retire here from Vermont.
His first career, of 35 years, focused on applied information technology, finance, and international business - including senior positions at Norwich University, MIT’s Project Athena, Bermuda’s Ernst & Young International and Ross Capital Markets, and Prague based Springboard Technology Ventures. As a technology entrepreneur, he helped to successfully launch and manage half dozen high tech and museum services businesses.
In 2005, after a successful entrepreneurial technology career, volunteering led to a staff position at Boston's Museum of Science. Being invited to join their Exhibits Department was all it took to start a new career, which would include a Special Projects role at Vermont’s Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
Moving to Beaufort renewed Larry’s latent interest in history, especially that of the 16th century and the early period of European discovery and colonization in the New World. And what better place than Beaufort for such an interest!
Since arriving, Larry has been a member of the Beaufort County Historic Preservation Review Board, Chair of the Santa Elena History Center’s Exhibits Committee, a member of the Beaufort History Museum’s Board and Chair of both BHM’s Exhibits and Collections Committees, a member of Fort Freemont’s Advisory Board, and a Board member of the Archaeology Research Trust – who supports the activities of USC’s South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA).
Larry has earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Applied Computer Science, and a graduate degree in Museum Studies.
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