Press Release

Media Contact: Billy Somerville
(813) 675-8985 • [email protected]

Located on Tampa’s Riverwalk, the Tampa Bay History Center includes three floors of permanent and temporary exhibition space focusing on 12,000 years of Florida’s history and culture. A Smithsonian Affiliate museum accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the History Center includes the Touchton Map Library and Florida Center for Cartographic Education, and the Witt Research Center, and is home to the Columbia Cafe. One of Tampa’s premier cultural venues, the History Center’s hands-on, interactive exhibits and theaters provide an entertaining and educational experience for visitors of all ages.

Press Release

What is Blue Star Museums all about?

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and museums across America, offering free admission to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families.

Press Release

Tampa Bay’s newest Black history exhibit opens on Water Street

This expansive exhibit is a first for the Tampa Bay area and will anchor the History Center’s third-floor galleries on Water Street.

May 30, 2023

Press Release

Tampa Bay History Center will reopen Friday with free admission

The Category 4 hurricane did not significantly impact the museum, and it will reopen on Sept. 30, 2022, with free admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sep 29, 2022

Press Release

Top honors awarded to Tampa Bay History Center for Cuban Pathways

Tampa Bay History Center is pleased to announce they are a recipient of the 2022 Southeastern Museums Conference Gold Exhibition Award for Cuban Pathways.

Sep 06, 2022

Press Release

Kitschy Cartography: Illustrated and Pictorial Maps of Florida

In Kitschy Cartography, visitors will see views of Florida and its cities through the eyes of artists who populate their maps with colorful characters that symbolize the history, industries, and people of the state.

May 17, 2022

Press Release

Cuban Pathways: The Exhibition

Taíno Indians, enslaved Africans, Chinese laborers and pastel-wearing U.S. tourists all traveled to and from Cuba over the last 500 years. Their experiences and labors made the largest island in the Caribbean a hub of the modern Atlantic World. Cuban Pathways tells the stories of these individuals and more, whose toil, vacations and political crusades shaped the island’s modern history.

Jan 27, 2022

Press Release

Tampa Bay History Center toasts Bay area beer scene

(TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 14, 2019) — Almost as soon as the cigar smoke started rising from the factories of Tampa’s Ybor City, the beer started flowing. In 1897, the aroma of Cuban tobacco emanating from the city’s cigar factories mingled with the scent of imported hops fermenting at the Florida Brewery – the state’s first.

Feb 14, 2019