Pictured above: Spanish Ambassador the U.S. Santiago Cabanas (left) presents J. Michael Francis with a medallion during his induction into the Spanish royal order.
Courtesy of Clifford McBride | USF
By Annalise Anderson
Years dedicated to studying, curating and honoring Florida’s early Spanish history has earned USF St. Petersburg professor J. Michael Francis a proverbial seat at the royal table.
Named by King Felipe VI of Spain, Francis was inducted into the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic during a ceremony at the official residence of Spain’s ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28.
Founded in 1815 by King Ferdinand VII, the order rewards “extraordinary civil behaviors” that promote friendship and cooperation between Spain and the rest of the international community, according to the ambassador’s office.
Santiago Cabanas, the Spanish ambassador to the U.S., presented Francis with a red and gold medallion that reads “A La Lealtad Acrisolada” and “Por Isabel la Catolica,” which means “To Proven Loyalty” and “By Isabella the Catholic.”
A history professor at St. Petersburg since 2012, Francis is the Hough Family Endowed Chair of Florida Studies at the campus. He credits his recognition to his colleagues and the generosity of late donors Bill and Hazel Hough, who created the endowed chair Francis holds.
“This is certainly the most prestigious honor I’ve received in my career,” Francis said. “It is an individual honor but one that would not have happened had I not had a lot of other shoulders to stand on.”
“Without the Hough Family Foundation, I don’t think this would have happened,” Francis said. “I would not have had the kinds of opportunities in terms of working with students and also getting to work so consistently in Spain. The entire Hough family and their commitment to the promotion of Florida history is at the core of all of this.”
Francis was joined by St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Magali Michael and other USF Department of History members.
“This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to participate in a recognition designated to a faculty member on our campus from the King of Spain . . . delivered here at the ambassador’s home in Washington, D.C., in a special ceremony,” Tadlock said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest.
Francis has fueled several initiatives that shed light on the state’s Spanish roots.
Francis helped to create and is the executive director of “La Florida: The Interactive Digital Archive of the Americas,” an innovative project that reveals the diversity of early Spanish Florida through short videos, interactive maps and digital reconstructions.
The project recently received a $250,000 grant from the National Archives to fund its latest initiative, “Europeans, Indians, and Africans: Lost Voices from America’s Oldest Parish Archive, 1594-1821.” It will provide insight into the daily lives of early St. Augustine’s multi-ethnic populations by making more than 9,000 handwritten documents internationally accessible.
In 2015, Francis authored a book, “St. Augustine: America’s First City, A Story of Unbroken History & Enduring Spirit,” upon his appointment by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as one of only two historians to serve on the Federal St. Augustine 450th Commemoration Commission, a U.S. government organization created to recognize the historic city’s Spanish Florida past.
In a 2013 collaboration with the Spanish Embassy and Spanish Consulate, Francis also helped curate “Imagining La Florida: Ponce de Leon and the Quest for the Fountain of Youth,” an interactive museum exhibit featured at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee.
“This recognition is important to everyone on this campus as well as in the state of Florida,” Tadlock said. “It demonstrates our commitment to supporting our faculty and their world-class research, and it also reflects the value of that research to the citizens of this state.”
