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State Archives of Florida Online Catalog

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	Record Group Number:	900000
	Series/Collection Number:	N2013- 3
	Creator:	John Gilmore Riley Foundation, Inc.
	Title, Dates:	John G. Riley House & Museum papers, 1979-1987.
	Amount:	0.4 cubic ft.
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	Organization/Arrangement:	Unarranged.
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	Biographical/Historical:	The original builder and owner of the Riley House, John Gilmore Riley (1857-1954), was a prominent educator and civic leader in Tallahassee, one of the few African Americans in the city to own property at the turn of the 20th century. Barred from most educational institutions due to his race, Riley was educated by his Aunt Henrietta and became a teacher in Wakulla County in 1877. From 1893 until his retirement in 1926, Riley served as principal of the Lincoln Academy (later Lincoln High School), the first high school in Tallahassee for Black students. Riley also served as Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons of Florida, an African American fraternal organization, and he worked with the NAACP advocating equality and justice for African Americans and protesting lynching throughout the south. Riley's Jefferson Street home, built in 1890, was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1978. The Riley House is one of few remaining structures from Smokey Hollow, a historic Black neighborhood which once existed just east of downtown Tallahassee. Smokey Hollow was home to many members of Tallahassee's Black middle class, which emerged in the late 19th century. In the 1970s, a group of concerned Tallahassee-area citizens formed the John Gilmore Riley Foundation to prevent the proposed demolition of Riley's downtown home for an electrical substation. The Foundation successfully saved the home and purchased the property from the City of Tallahassee in 1983 with the help of a donation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The John G. Riley House & Museum was established in 1996 and exists "to discover, archive and illuminate the blended interrelationship of African American, Native American and European history and preserve African American landmarks and legacies throughout the State of Florida as an enduring public resource through tourism and education." The Museum's programs encourage an awareness of and appreciation for the educational and social contributions of African Americans to Florida's history.
	Summary:	This collection documents the establishment and activities of the John Gilmore Riley Foundation, particularly the foundation's efforts to preserve the John G. Riley House and establish and develop it as a museum and research center. The collection includes foundation bylaws and articles of incorporation, Riley House property transfer and ownership records, insurance and financial records, applications for historical status of the house, and early publicity materials for the John G. Riley House & Museum.
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	Subject Access Fields:	Riley, John G. 1857-1954. (John Gilmore), John G. Riley House & Museum (Tallahassee, Fla.) African American civic leaders Florida. African Americans Florida --Tallahassee. Historic preservation Florida --Tallahassee Historic sites Florida Deeds. aat Tallahassee (Fla.)
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