St. Petersburg’s Maritime Service Training Station Book Released

Arcadia Publishing has just released a new book authored by local historian, Michelle L. Hoffman, about the history of the Maritime Service Training Station in St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is now occupied by the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.

(PRWEB) May 15, 2006 -- Arcadia Publishing has just released a new book authored by local historian, Michelle L. Hoffman, about the history of the Maritime Service Training Station in St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is now occupied by the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science.

The book looks back at the inception of the Maritime Service Training Station in 1939 and how its financial impact helped shape downtown St. Petersburg as it is today. Hoffman, 36, is a high school teacher at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg and is a 2003 James Madison Memorial Senior Fellow currently pursuing a graduate degree in Florida Studies at USF.

Hoffman’s research began as part of a seminar paper on “War and Society” in the St. Petersburg last spring.

“As I learned more about the Maritime Service and the realities of the merchant seamen during World War II, I realized that for the 25,000 men who trained on the base from 1938 until 1950 St. Petersburg represented a significant moment in their lives,” Hoffman said. “After I met with these veterans, the inspiration morphed from intellectual curiosity to a patriotic commitment to ensure their stories and that of the base were documented.”

Hoffman is available for author visits to military organizations, museums, schools, civic associations and historical societies. As a high school teacher, she is a member of the National Council for the Social Studies, Phi Delta Kappa, and has been included in the last four editions of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She is a member of the Pinellas County Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

###