Florida Memory: State Archives of Florida
I have a new discovery to share, thanks to a classmate in today’s LIS 5661 class: Florida Memory – State Archives of Florida. I just love stuff like this! From their website:
Florida Memory presents a selection of historical records that illustrate significant moments in Florida history, educational resources for students of all ages and archival collections for historical research. The Project utilizes selected original records, photographs and other materials from the collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida.
My favorite part of the state archives is the photographs, of course. In doing a test search, I typed in “football.” (I lived and worked in Gainesville for 6 years and I can attest how much folks love them some football in the south — especially them Gators). I found some wonderful old-school football pictures, but also ran across photographs of student protests on behalf of the Quincy Five. (One of the young men arrested was a high school football star, which is how I figure these photographs showed up in my “football” search). Interested in learning more, I diverged into reading up on who the Quincy Five were and their story of wrongful conviction. (They were later exonerated – see this report from the Commission on Capital Cases, prepared for the Florida Legislature – pages 56-65). It is amazing how a picture can lead to further exploration. I recommend checking out this resource – it is absolutely fascinating.
