The Online Catalog allows searching and browsing of information about the Florida State Archives’ holdings of over 48,000 cubic feet of state and local government records and historical manuscripts. The catalog provides descriptions of over 3,400 collections and lists the contents of containers and folders in many of those collections. For assistance with accessing and using State Archives collections, call our Reference Staff at 850.245.6719 or email us at archives@dos.myflorida.com.
The post of Comptroller was created in the 1838 Constitution and implemented with statehood in 1845. The Comptroller succeeded the Territorial Auditor of Public Accounts and assumed the duties as the state's chief fiscal officer. The Comptroller's Office examined, audited, and settled all accounts, claims, and demands against the state. It supervised banking institutions, sale of securities, and collection of revenue and taxes. The Comptroller wrote warrants for payment against the state treasury and compiled annual reports for the Governor and Legislature on state expenditures and trust funds.
The duties of the Comptroller's Office were transferred to the Dept. of Banking and Finance in 1969 (Ch. 69-106, Laws), with the Comptroller serving as the head of the department. On January 7, 2003, the Office of Comptroller was combined with the Office of Treasurer to form a Chief Financial Officer position heading the newly formed Department of Financial Services. This consolidated the two offices and the departments of Banking and Finance and Insurance.
Summary:
The series contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of the Comptroller's Office. The outgoing correspondence is contained in letterbooks, dated 1855 to 1906. It contains the correspondence of Comptrollers Theodore W. Brevard, 1855-1860; Robert C. Williams, 1861-1863; Walter Gwynn, 1863-1865; John Beard, 1866-1868; Robert H. Gamble, 1868-1872, Clayton A. Cowgill, 1873; Columbus Drew, 1877-1880; William D. Barnes, 1881-1890; William H. Reynolds, 1897-1901; and A. C. Croom, 1901-1906. The outgoing correspondence is primarily with tax collectors and assessors, county clerks, auctioneers, sheriffs, and justices of the peace. It relates to taxes, judicial expenses, and state fiscal matters.
The series is incomplete. The letterbooks covering 1857-1858, 1874-1876, 1889-1896, 1900, and 1904 are missing. The personal correspondence of the William M. McIntosh, the Comptroller's clerk, is included in Volumes 15 and 22.
The incoming correspondence, dated 1845 to 1906, is mostly in the form of letters, postcards, and attached financial bills. It contains inquiries into land sold for taxes, reports of fiscal expenditures for the issue of warrants, and requests for advice from county tax assessors and sheriffs.
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