Luncheon Lecture

May 14, 2026 - Jodi Artman holds a degree in American History and Theater from Southern Connecticut State University and has spent her career sharing her passion for history through teaching and curriculum development. Having taught Art History at Cape Fear Community College and worked with students locally, she brings both knowledge and enthusiasm to her presentation, “Art and Architecture During the Revolutionary War,” exploring how visual culture helped shape early American identity.

April 9, 2026 - The Historical Society of Topsail Island is proud to present the 2026 Scholarships recipients during the luncheon lecture series.

March 12, 2026 - A History of Women In The Whaling Industry. Christine Brin is an experienced museum educator, maritime historian, and public speaker with more than 20 years of experience in the museum education field. She is an associate education curator with the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort where she primarily oversees the museum’s public programming.

February 12, 2026 - Arleen Fields is the Assistant Director of Library Services and Archives and Special Collections Librarian at Davis Memorial Library, Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A graduate of the School of Information and Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill, she has worked at Methodist University since 1999, which is home to the largest collection of materials related to the Marquis de Lafayette south of Philadelphia. She has long been active with the Lafayette Society of Fayetteville and the American Friends of Lafayette, and outside of her professional work, she participates in backyard bird counts, helps organize Sandhills Beer & Hymns, keeps a watchful eye on the Fayetteville City Council, and shares a home with her mother, her 21-year-old son, and Angel, a chihuahua–terrier with a big personality.

January 8, 2026 - John Moseley is the Curator of Education for the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, he graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, SC with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1989. In 2001, he returned to school to work on his master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While there, he was awarded the 2003 North Carolina James Madison Fellow and graduated in 2005, with a master’s degree in American history focusing on the Colonial and Early Republic period.

December 11, 2025 - David M. Bennett is the Curator of Maritime History for the North Carolina Maritime Museum System, and he oversees the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center. He is originally from Morehead City, North Carolina. David has a B.A. in History from UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.A. in Maritime History from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. His research interests focus on North Carolina's commercial fishing industry as well as traditional workboats.

November 13, 2025 - Nancy Strickland Chavis, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, is director and curator of The Museum of the Southeast American Indian at UNC Pembroke. With over 20 years of experience in museum education and curation, she has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the First Americans Museum. Her work centers on sharing authentic Indigenous stories through art and history, including guest-curating To Take Shape and Meaning at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

October 9, 2025 – Together, Tyndall and Sawyer bring deep expertise in the history of southeastern North Carolina. Tyndall, author of five books on Civil War and World War II history, and Sawyer, Collections Manager and Programs Coordinator at Fort Fisher State Historic Site, share a strong commitment to preservation and research. Their combined experience includes academic study, extensive archival work at the National Archives, and leadership in public history through educational programming, staff development, and historic interpretation.

September 11, 2025 – Historian Wayne Peale shares his presentation, “The Sand Spit Has History,” highlighting Topsail Island’s unique story. This talk promises to share both well-known and surprising chapters in the story of the island we call home.

May 8th, 2025 – Ms. Shannon Walker talks about her conservation efforts, including the rescue and relocation of the iconic Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), a rare carnivorous plant found only in the wild in parts of southeastern North and South Carolina.