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Oral histories, photographs, and historical records of Barnett Bank, 1892-2000.
Amount:
17.0 cubic ft. 136.00 items
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Organized into multiple subseries:
1. Oral Transcripts, 1988, 1998-2000, 3 cubic feet
2. Audiotapes, 1980s-1996, 136 items
3. Diskettes (Restricted), 1998-2000, .5 cubic foot
4. Foundation Reference Files and Reports, 1970s-2000, 2.5 cubic feet
5. Photographs, 1880s-1990s, 3 cubic feet
By record type.
Restrictions:
The computer diskettes of the interviews are restricted to staff only.
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
After the sale of Barnett Banks to NationsBank in 1998, a group of former Barnett senior officers formed the Barnett Historic Preservation Foundation, Inc. The Board of Directors, led by Barnett president Allen Lastinger, focused the efforts of the Foundation on publicizing the historical legacy of Barnett Bank and collecting and preserving many of the Bank's historical records.
Dr. David J. Ginzl, former director of business risk management and credit policy, was president of the Foundation. He was instrumental in organizing the historical records that Barnett Bank had maintained over the years such as annual reports, correspondence, photographs, news clippings, press releases, employee newsletters, marketing materials, videos, financial ledgers and journals. In addition, the Foundation also gathered material from many former Barnett employees throughout the state and sponsored an oral history project to interview former Barnett bank officers, directors, presidents, and other significant employees to document the significant role that Barnett Banks played in the history of Florida banking.
The Foundation also sponsored the publication of two books on the history of Barnett Banks. The first is "Images of America: Barnett Banks" by David Ginzl, which is primarily a collection of photographs with a short narrative at the beginning of each chapter covering a specific topic or time. The second book, "Barnett: The Story of 'Florida's Bank,'" also by David Ginzl, is an in-depth history of Barnett Banks from its beginning in 1877 through the 1998 acquisition by NationsBank.
Summary:
This collection consists of materials collected by the Barnett Historic Preservation Foundation, Inc. following the sale of Barnett Banks to NationsBank. It contains audiotapes and transcripts from the oral history project, reference files, and photographs that document the institutional history of Barnett Banks and the history of the banking industry in Florida.
Subseries 1 consists of transcripts of oral interviews with former Barnett Bank employees whose careers spanned the 1950s-1990s. Many of the bank's senior officers, including CEOs, COOs, directors, presidents, and management participated in this project, as well as did employees from marketing, human resources, computer programming/technology, bank security, legal, and corporate communications. In addition, several Barnett family members provided interviews. A typical interview includes standard biographical questions about the individual's family, parents, place of birth, childhood experiences, and educational background. Also discussed are the individual's career, both before Barnett and with Barnett, and in some cases after Barnett. The transcripts include a cover sheet with a short summary of the career of the person interviewed.
Subseries 2 contains the audiotape recordings of the oral history interviews. Since the collection includes typed transcriptions of the interviews, researchers are encouraged to use the transcript.
Subseries 3 (** Restricted **) consists of computer diskettes with digital copies of the interview transcripts, created using WordPerfect software. These diskettes serve as an additional back-up to the printed transcripts, and to prevent accidental erasure or modification, access to this subseries is restricted to staff only.
Subseries 4 contains historical reference files including news clippings on the Foundation; two branch banking reports, one by David Ginzl and another by June Berkmeyer; materials donated by Senator Warren Henderson on the history of banking in Florida; and magazine articles on Barnett Bank. There is also correspondence regarding the acquisition of Barnett, newspaper clippings, magazine articles and annual reports of both NationsBank and Bank of America.
Series 5 contains photographs collected by the Foundation of Barnett employees, bank buildings, lobby exhibits, bank advertisements, promotional events, and historical images of Jacksonville, Florida. Of interest are photographs of all five generations of the Barnett family, from founder William B. Barnett to William "Billy" Barnett, the last Barnett to work for the bank. Notable photographs are those of the various bank buildings that Barnett Banks used throughout its history, especially the 1897, 1926, and 1962 buildings.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
State Archives of Florida All cassettes have been digitized and are available on the Seagate drive at the Archives Reference Desk as of Summer 2019.
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
This collection was arranged and described from materials obtained from Barnett Banks, Inc. when the Barnett Bank records were transferred to the Florida State Archives between 1999 and 2002.
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Barnett Banks Barnett Banks of Florida
Bank directors Florida. Bank holding companies Florida. Bank management Florida. Bank mergers Florida Banks and banking History Florida. Oral biography.
Oral histories. aat Audio cassettes. aat Transcripts. aat
Added Entries
Botts, Guy Warren, 1914-1993
Bank of America
NationsBank
for detailed listing.