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.
1.25 cubic ft. 1 folders (oversize: 16"x20" portrait)
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Arranged by record type and/or subject.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Evelyn Kimsey was born in Georgia in 1907, the third of six children to Hattie Sego Kimsey and Oscar William Kimsey, both of Georgia. Around 1926, the Kimsey family moved to Tallahassee, Florida. In 1927, Evelyn married Willie Lee Messer. During the 1929 Florida Legislative session, Evelyn Kimsey Messer worked as a stenographer for the House of Representatives. In 1931, she joined the staff of the Messer School for Stenography and Typing. That same year, the Messer School absorbed into the newly established Lively Vocational School and Evelyn worked part-time as one of two instructors. She worked her way up through the school's administration, becoming teacher-principal in 1935, principal in 1940, and director in 1943. By the time of her retirement in 1973, Evelyn was the Vocational Director of Leon County School District.
Hattie Kimsey, Evelyn's mother, worked with her at the Messer School. After it merged with Lively, Hattie ran her own typing and mimeographing business. In the mid-1940s, Evelyn purchased a house in Tallahassee for herself and her parents, which Hattie ran as a rooming house, renting the added rooms primarily to travelers or bus drivers passing through town. Evelyn and Willie Messer divorced in 1939, and in 1948, Evelyn met Emery Csikos at Lively Technical School. Emery came to Tallahassee to work at the Federal Correctional Institution as a culinary instructor. They married in 1951 and remained together until Evelyn's death in 1977.
Summary:
This collection contains the correspondence, personal papers, and professional papers of Evelyn Kimsey Messer Csikos. The records primarily document Evelyn's involvement in technical education, from her part-time work at Messer Commercial School for Stenography and Typing to her role as Director of Lively Technical School. About half of the collection is correspondence between Evelyn Kimsey Messer and her mother Hattie Kimsey, but it also includes letters, cards, and postcards from other family members, friends, and colleagues. The other half of the collection consists of personal papers, professional papers, news clippings, and photographs documenting Evelyn's various interests and responsibilities.
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