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.
Arranged by type of record (i.e. subject files, correspondence, clippings, awards, photographs). Boxes 6 and 7, which include both correspondence and clippings, are chronological.
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Biographical/Historical:
Allen Covington Morris (1909-2002) was born in Chicago, Illinois. Along with his widowed father, he came to Florida and settled in Miami in 1922. His father worked as a caretaker for an estate on Biscayne Bay. During this time, Allen began visiting the library on the nearby estate of William Jennings Bryan and worked for tips as a volunteer tour guide at Vizcaya, the estate of James Deering. On his sixteenth birthday, Morris got a job as a copy boy in the Miami Daily News' city room and left school to begin his career in journalism, holding such jobs as copy editor and photographer before becoming a reporter.
Morris left the Daily News for the Miami Herald, which sent him to Tallahassee to cover the 1940 gubernatorial campaign and again in 1941 for the legislative session. When the Herald turned down his idea to create a bureau in the capital city, Morris moved from Miami to Tallahassee and began writing for the Associated Press. In July 1943 he started writing his popular column, "Cracker Politics," which covered statewide politics and politicians and appeared in most Florida newspapers until 1966. As an outgrowth of the column, Morris created the "Allen Morris Awards" to acknowledge outstanding performances in committee work and debate by Senators and Representatives.
Morris changed careers from journalist to legislative officer upon the urging of his first wife, Dorothy, who was dying of cancer and thought that the change would be helpful to her husband during a difficult time. He became the Clerk of the House of Representatives for the State of Florida in 1966. He continued until his retirement in 1986 but remained as Clerk emeritus until 1996. Morris's legacy is that he modernized the Clerk's Office's rules and procedures, which made Florida a model state.
A distinguished historian, Morris was author and compiler of books about Florida history and state government. The Florida House has published his most popular book, The Florida Handbook, biennially since 1947. His other works include Florida Place Names, Our Florida Government, and many booklets about the Florida Legislature and legislators.
A significant and lasting contribution of Morris to the preservation of Florida history is the Florida Photographic Collection. Morris originated the idea for the collection while compiling The Florida Handbook when he realized that there was no central repository for historical images. He used his newspaper and Florida industries connections to request donations of historical images. The collection grew and in 1952 found a home at the Florida State University Library. His second wife, Joan Morris became the photographic archivist and curator of the collection in 1970, when the demands of the Clerk's Office prohibited Morris from continuing in that position. In 1982 the collection moved to the Florida State Archives.
Summary:
This collection contains subject files, news clippings, photographs, and correspondence documenting Allen Morris' distinguished career as a legislative journalist, Clerk of the Florida House of Representatives, and historian. The collection includes materials compiled by Allen Morris about Florida history and government, which he used as both reading files during his service as Clerk and in the creation of several books related to Florida History and the legislature. The collection also contains news clippings, awards, and memorabilia documenting Morris' life and career.
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Bryant, Farris, 1914- Chiles, Lawton, 1930-1998 Chiles, Rhea. Collins, LeRoy, 1909- Graham, Adele, 1938- Graham, Bob, 1936- Hawkins, Paula, 1927- Morris, Allen Covington, 1909-2002 Morris, Joan Perry, 1935-
Capital Tiger Bay Club (Tallahassee, Fla.) Florida. Legislature. --House of Representatives. --Office of the Clerk. Florida. Legislature. --House of Representatives. Kiwanis Club (Tallahassee, Fla.) Miami Herald (Miami, Fla.: Newspaper) Silver Slipper (Restaurant : Tallahassee, Fla.) Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, Fla. : Newspaper)
Historic preservation Florida History Societies, etc. Journalism Florida.
Clippings. aat Compact disks. aat Letters. aat Photographs. aat
Miami (Fla.) Tallahassee (Fla.)
for detailed listing.