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Governors Inaugural programs and photographs, 1936-1985.
Amount:
70 photographs 14 items
Medium Included:
photographs
Organization/Arrangement:
Arranged by type of record (i.e. booklets and photographs).
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Ralph Clarence Davis, leader of state government and civil affairs, was born in Lakeland, Florida, in 1909. He graduated from Lakeland High School and received his Bachelors of Arts in Journalism from the University of Florida in 1931. He began his career in the early 1930s as a journalist for the Polk County Record, the Lakeland Ledger, and the Tampa Tribune. He served in Europe during World War II, and in 1947 he reorganized the National Guard of Tallahassee. In 1968, as Brigadier General, he took command of the Florida National Guard Fifty-third Infantry Brigade.
Davis served as Executive Director of three Florida state agencies: The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, The Road Department, and The Florida Industrial Commission. In 1946, Governor Caldwell appointed him Executive Director of the Florida Industrial Commission, at which time the agency began a transition from wartime to peacetime and absorbed many of the duties of the U.S. Employment Service. Davis also served as Commissioner of the Department of Insurance for five years, and three years as Executive Secretary to U.S. Senator Spessard Holland.
Davis retired in 1978 and received an honorable recognition from Governor Askew and the Florida Cabinet. He was a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Tallahassee and became known as "Mr. Kiwanis." He was also the director of Springtime Tallahassee. The Southern Scholarship Foundation Scholarship House at Florida State University is dedicated to him. Davis died at his home in Tallahassee on February 15, 1992.
Summary:
This collection contains programs of Florida Governor Inaugurations and various other State Ceremonies. It also contains black-and-white photographs of Ralph C. Davis with several different Florida dignitaries. Many of the photographs contain signatures of Florida state officials including Robert Graham, Spessard Holland, Broward Williams, and George Firestone. The collection contains several photographs and programs of ceremonies honoring Spessard Holland.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form:
Select images have been digitized and are available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
for detailed listing.