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 University of Florida was first established by law in 1851 when the Florida Legislature passed a bill authorizing the establishment of two seminaries (east and west Florida) to instruct men and women in "teaching...mechanic arts, in husbandry and agricultural chemistry" and other "arts which ennoble man and make him truly independent." The East Florida Seminary opened in 1853 in Ocala and moved to Gainesville in 1866 following the Civil War. With the passage in the State Legislature of the Buckman Act in 1905, the existing state supported schools were abolished and four schools created in their place, including the University of the State of Florida. After a bitter fight between the two cities, Lake City's Agricultural College and Agricultural Experiment Station relocated to Gainesville and merged with the East Florida Seminary to form the new University of Florida. The Florida Museum of Natural History began in 1891 when Florida Agricultural College professor of Natural Science Frank Pickel purchased research collections of minerals, fossils, and human anatomy models as aids in teaching biology and agricultural sciences. When the Florida Agricultural College was abolished in 1905, the museum became a part of the newly created University of Florida, and it was moved to Gainesville the following year. The collections expanded in size and scope and were displayed for some time in a dormitory, Thomas Hall. Recognizing the significance of the growing research collections and teaching exhibits, the university found a new home for the museum in the basement of the sciences building, Flint Hall.
In 1917, the State Legislature formally established the Florida State Museum at the University of Florida (Chapter 240.515, Laws of Florida). In 1937, the museum's exhibits were moved to the Seagle Building in downtown Gainesville, where they remained for more than 30 years. Beginning in 1968 with a $2.2 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, Dickinson Hall was built to house the museum. It was completed in 1970. By the 1970s, the Florida State History Museum was established in Tallahassee, and the University of Florida's museum focused more on natural and Precolumbian topics. In 1988, the Florida State Museum changed its name to the Florida Museum of Natural History to more accurately reflect its mission. It houses the largest natural collection in the Southeastern United States.
From the 1950s through the early 1970s, the Florida State Museum designed, constructed, and installed exhibits for the Florida Park Service. By the 1960s, Elizabeth Erhbar was the museum chief of exhibits. She researched and designed exhibits for Kingsley Plantation, Tomoka, San Marcos de Apalache, and other state parks. In the mid-1970s, the parks exhibits division was transferred to the Division of Recreation and Parks under Chief Naturalist Jim Stevenson's supervision.
Summary:
This series contains the Florida State Museum's exhibits files for the Florida Park Service from 1955 through 1972. The majority of the records concern Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island in NE Florida, and include correspondence, tour scripts, exhibit layouts and text, research files, and news clippings. Much of the correspondence deals with historical interpretive issues between the museum, the park service, and various Florida historians such as Dena Snodgrass and Samuel Proctor. Also included are plans for Tomoka and San Marcos de Apalache state parks. In addition, there are copies of research files for state park museum exhibits from the 1950s, including John Gorrie, Dade Battlefield, and the State Constitution historic memorials. The files document the status of public history and museum exhibits in the 1950s and 1960s. They also reflect the popular expectations and then-current trends in historical interpretation. There is also primary source-based historical data for Kingsley Plantation and other state-owned historical sites.
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Record Group 510, Division of Recreation and Parks, includes series containing additional information on the Florida Park Service. Series S1945, Chief of Education and Information Charles H. Schaeffer's Administrative and Reference Files, 1936-1959 and series S1953, Exhibit Files, contain additional information on exhibits in state parks.
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Subject Access Fields:
Kingsley, Z. 1765-1843 (Zephaniah),
Florida Park Service. Florida State Museum. Florida Museum of Natural History. Florida. Division of Recreation and Parks. Florida. Board of Parks and Historic Memorials.
Parks Florida Museums Florida Fortification Florida Plantation life Florida African American women. African Americans History To 1863. Florida Architecture Florida
Photographs. aat Clippings. aat Transcripts. aat
Kingsley Plantation (Fort George Island, Fla.) St. Marks (Fla.) San Marcos de Apalachee (Fla.) Fort George Island (Fla.)
for detailed listing.