The Captain Charles Henry Coe Collection was donated by Andrew M. Foster, a descendant of Captain Charles Henry Coe (1856-1954). Capt. Coe was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on February 3, 1856, to William Henry Coe (1824-1879), who founded the town of Glencoe, and Deborah Little Archer Coe (1824-1912). In 1874, his family migrated to Jacksonville, Florida, due to his father’s poor health. At age 18, Coe began working for the Jacksonville Tri-Weekly Union. In 1875, Coe moved to New Smyrna Beach and started his first newspaper, The Florida Star. Coe was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs for the port at New Smyrna in 1879, after his father died. In 1880, Coe moved to Glencoe and began producing photographs. Seven years later, he moved to back to Torrington, where he met and married Emma Sopia Johnson (1846-1931). The following year, Coe moved to Asheville, North Carolina, and then later to Highlands, where he established The Highlands Star. In 1889, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Government Printing Office (GPO).

Coe published Red Patriots: The Story of the Seminoles, a book about the plight of the Seminole tribe. A copy of Red Patriots was given to every member of Congress, which later passed legislation allowing Seminole land rights in Florida. In 1912, Coe returned to Florida and spent the next 20 years traveling the coast in his cabin cruiser called The Buccaneer. After retiring from the GPO in 1921, Coe spent much of his time exploring Florida’s coast as an amateur archaelogist and publishing books, including Juggling a Rope (1927), The Art of Knife Throwing (1931), and Debunking the So-Called Spanish Mission (1941). He died of pneumonia on March 23, 1954.