Skip to Search

 
diagonal spacer

General Information

About Area Studies Collections

About Special Collections

Department News

Finding Aids

Department Staff

Exhibits

Digital Resources

Publications

Contact Us

Search


Special & Area Studies Collections Home

 

Special and Area Studies Collections - Exhibitions

 

Lincoln a photobiographyCivil War Legacies: A Companion Exhibit to Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War

Civil War Legacies is a companion exhibition to the special travelling exhibition, Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War. Civil War Legacies includes student work on topics related to Abraham Lincoln and provides examples of some of the many Civil War items housed in Special Collections at the University of Florida. Among the items featured are children?s books about Lincoln from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children?s Literature; a diary account of Lincoln?s assassination and a post-war naval sketchbook of U.S. ironclads from the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History; and a curiosity from the siege of Vicksburg. Many of the letter and diary collections at UF can be viewed online in the Florida and the Civil War Digital Collection. Civil War Legacies is on display February 1, 2012 - April 9, 2012 in the Smathers Library second floor gallery.

An online exhibition for Civil War Legacies is available. Several lectures and public events are scheduled in conjunction with the two companion exhibitions. More information is available online.

 

Books from the Egolf CollectionCatalogers Give Access: The Dr. Robert L. Egolf Collection

Highlighting the Dr. Robert L. Egolf collection in the Baldwin Library, Catalogers Give Access focuses on Caldecott Award winners, autographed books, the art of Maurice Sendak, game books, death in children's literature, foreign language books, and Snow White books from the collection. The exhibition is curated by members of the Cataloging and Metadata Department in the UF Smathers Libraries. Between March and June 2011, the team had processed and fully cataloged over 2,900 books in the collection.

The exhibition is on display in the Smathers Library second floor gallery from November 11, 2011 - January 13, 2012. An exhibition brochure, is available online.

 

 

Afflicted Baldwin BookAnomalies and Curiosities of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children?s Literature: An Exhibition Making the Case for (Very) Used Books

The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature contains more than 100,000 volumes, many of which were used by children. The interaction of the child and the book is evident in the mark of the hand in the Baldwin; there are many examples of marginalia, doodles and inscriptions, bookplates, prize books, crayon scrawl, hand-colored plates, love notes and book anathema. In addition, many of these books have been used so heavily that they expose somnotexts, or sleeping texts, of scrap paper that were bound into the spines of nineteenth century children?s books as padding. These fragments, traditionally referred to as binder?s waste, revel in their eccentricity; handwritten sheet music, surgical texts, advertisements for moth killer, Shakespeare and artifacts of the bindery have all survived in this manner. These unusual para- and peritextual phenomenon will be on display as part of the exhibition, Anomalies and Curiosities of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children?s Literature, from August 1 to September 15, 2011 in the Smathers Library second floor gallery. Curated by Krissy Wilson, an undergraduate at UF majoring in English with a concentration in Children's Literature, the exhibition contains a number of books from her personal collection. The books also will be on display at the Alachua County Public Library Headquarters in January 2012. More information about the exhibition is available in a brochure (PDF format).

 

James HaskinsJames Haskins: Author, Teacher and Social Activist

The Smathers Libraries and UF Center for African American Studies celebrate Black History Month and the works of author Jim Haskins with an exhibition in Smathers Library, second floor gallery, from February 4-25, 2011. Jim Haskins (1941-2005) was a University of Florida English professor and prolific author. Included in the exhibition are many of his books along with photographs, notes, awards and personal items. A reception will be held Saturday, February 19 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. in Smathers Library, Room 1A. Honored guests include Kathy Benson Haskins; Dr. Irma McClaurin, President of Shaw University and colleague of Jim Haskins; and Stephanie Evans, Director of African American Studies at UF. Light refreshments will be served and there will be a book signing by Kathy Benson Haskins.

 

ARTBOUND LogoARTBOUND Exhibition

The ARTBOUND Exhibition features contemporary works by students making books in book arts and/or fine arts programs across the United States. The exhibited works have been selected by jurors from UF Smathers Libraries and the UF School of Art and Art History for the First Annual Student Book Arts Competition. These artists? books will become part of the permanent collection in the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections. The jurors selected 32 handmade artists? books created using a variety of media such as letterpress printing, intaglio, inkjet, screen printing, and handmade paper. The books are all high quality, original works made by up-and-coming book artists. To view the ARTBOUND books online, please visit: https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/artbound/. Selected items from the exhibition have been digitized, and are available online in the Book Arts Digital Collection, part of the the UF Digital Collections (UFDC).

The ARTBOUND Exhibition, curated by Book Arts Specialist Ellen Knudson, will run Sept. 1 through October 1, 2010, in the Special Collections exhibition gallery on the second floor of Smathers Library (Library East). An opening reception for the exhibition will be held Wednesday, September 8 2010, 10:00?11:30 a.m. During the opening reception, a small ?LinoScribe? sign press will be set up for making a letterpress print. You can ink the block, print it, and take the print home with you!

 

George M. Cohan - Broadway Meloday Exhibition ImageThe Broadway Meloday: Musical Theatre Highlights from the Great White Way 1900-1950

The creators, performers and productions of Broadway in the first half of the 20th Century are showcased in a series of exhibit cases representing Florenz Ziegfeld (who epitomized the flamboyant Broadway impresario) and a handful of the legendary composers: George, M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Eubie Blake and Thomas ?Fats? Waller. The exhibit presents a rare selection of playbills, programs, posters, sheet music, photographs, video images and miscellaneous ephemera from the vast theatre holdings of the Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts and the general Popular Culture Collection. The exhibit gallery spotlight will fall on many of the giants of theatre history including, Ethel Merman, Al Jolson, Ray Bolger, Alfred Drake, Paul Robeson, Mary Martin, Helen Morgan, Josephine Baker, Fred and Adele Astaire, Ethel Waters, Eddie Cantor, William Gaxton and Victor Moore, Bert Williams, Bob Hope, The Nicholas Brothers, Marilyn Miller, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye and Gene Kelly. The annual ?Follies? (1907-31) of the master showman, Ziegfeld, is represented by a rich potpourri of comedy, music, beauty and enduring star performances. The milestones of the era beginning with Cohan?s ?Little Johnny Jones? (1904) through the theatrical masterpieces of ?Showboat? (1927) and ?Porgy and Bess? (1935), the smash hit all-black musicals such as ?Shuffle Along? (1921) and ?Hot Chocolates? (1929), the audience?s shocked reaction to the antihero of ?Pal Joey?(1940) and culminating in the impact of ?Oklahoma? (1943), which redefined the Broadway musical and set the stage for the ?Golden Age of Musical Comedy? (1943 ? 64), are all displayed in a collection of vibrant and vintage souvenirs from the history of the ?street of dreams.? This iridescent, melodic and entertaining exhibition opened on Monday March 8th and will run through April 30th.

 

As Negro - Barradas Collection Poster Exhibition ImageEfrain Barradas Collection of Mexican and Cuban Film Posters

This exhibition features selections from the Efrain Barradas Collection of Mexican and Cuban Film Posters collected and donated by Dr. Ramon A. Figueroa. The collection, which is preserved and housed in the Popular Culture Collections of the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections, consists of 378 film posters, lobby cards and window cards. The exhibition featuring the selected posters from the collection will be on display January 15 - February 28, 2010 in the Special Collections exhibit gallery on the second floor of the Smathers Library. A special dedication ceremony for the collection and opening reception for the exhibition will be held Friday, January 22, 3:00-6:00 p.m. in Smathers Library, Room 1A. The entire collection has been digitized, and is available online via the UFDC.

 

Sarasota Modern: The Sarasota School of Architecture, 1941-1966

This exhibition features architectural models, drawings, and photographs from John Howey's Sarasota School of Architecture Collection in the UF Architecture Archives. Architects Ralph Twitchell, Paul Rudolph, Victor Lundy, Tim Seibert, Jack West, and Gene Leedy, among others, are represented. The exhibition is on display November 11 - December 24, 2009 in the Special Collections exhibit gallery on the second floor of the Smathers Library. An opening reception will be held November 18, 2009 2-4 pm with special guest speaker, John Howey. A complementary online exhibition features additional images and a rotating 360 degree view of an architectural model (courtesy of the UF Digital Library Center).

 

Banned and Challenged Children's Books exhibitBanned and Challenged Children's Books, 1990-2008

Presented by Rita Smith, curator of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, the display features copies of children's books that have been challenged or banned from 1990 to 2008. The exhibition is on display September 16 - November 4, 2009 in Special Collections gallery on the second floor of the Smathers Library.

 

Orchids: Worldwide Wonders through the Ages

The exhibition Orchids: Worldwide Wonders through the Ages will be on display in the Smathers Library second floor gallery from August 3rd through September 11th. The exhibition features a selection of works from the collections of the Smathers Libraries and Dr. Thomas Sheehan focusing on the wide distribution of orchids, the artistic rendering of orchids, and their ever increasing popularity throughout the world. A reception will be held Thursday, Sept. 3, 4-6 pm in the gallery, where orchids will be for sale.

 

Smathers Libraries Chinese Artifacts - Literary and Otherwise

The exhibition Smathers Libraries Chinese Artifacts - Literary and Otherwise will be on display in the Smathers Library second floor gallery June 4 through July 30, 2009. Over the last decade the Smathers Libraries has been actively building the Chinese Studies Collection in print as well as electronic, film and other non-book formats, to meet the curricular, research and informal reading/viewing needs of the UF community. This exhibit of artifacts, many coming to the library courtesy of a recent generous donation, features art that may or may not contain literary components, but that illustrates the refined aesthetic and literate sensibilities that underlie traditional Chinese cultural production, as it played out in such works as scroll paintings that include calligraphic word puzzles and ancestral portraits that honor the family names through history. The magnificent 13th-century Head of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Protector of Children, who was highly revered and often portrayed in Chinese literature influenced by Buddhism and Taoism, forms the centerpiece of this exhibit.

 

Alternative UF: Counterculture Through the Decades exhibitAlternative UF: Counterculture Through the Decades

We are pleased to present a new exhibition entitled Alternative UF: Counterculture Through the Decades. The exhibition was created by Anastasia Bower, Candice Ellis, Ian Gaffney, and Bronwyn McCarthy, who are enrolled in HIS 4944 Preserving History and working as undergraduate student interns in Special Collections during the Spring 2009 semester. Covering three decades of UF history and culture, the exhibits feature photographs, UF yearbooks, letters, newspaper articles, graphic materials, artifacts and other items from the holdings of the University Archives, the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, and the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections. The exhibition covers political activism, sit-ins and other Civil Rights demonstrations, protests against the Viet Nam War, the alternative press at UF, women on campus, student life, and the hunt for homosexuals and other "subversives" on campus by the Johns Committee in the 1950s and 60s. The exhibition will be on display April 20 - May 31, 2009 in the 2nd Floor Gallery of Smathers Library, and the opening reception will be Monday, April 20, 12:00-1:30 p.m. in Smathers Library. An online exhibition is available, which features selections from this exhibition.

 

Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsFor This Is An Enchanted Land: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Florida

The exhibition For This Is An Enchanted Land is open in the Smathers Library second floor exhibit gallery through April 3, 2009. The exhibition features books, manuscripts, photos, letters and artifacts from the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Papers, held in the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections. The exhibition is on display in conjunction with the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society in Gainesville on March 20-21.

 

Reflecting on African Americans: History and Culture

The exhibition Reflecting on African Americans: History and Culture is open in the Smathers Library second floor exhibit gallery through March 2, 2009. The exhibition features materials from the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections and community members. An exhibit reception and lecture will be held Friday, February 13 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on the second floor of Smathers Library. Featured speaker is Dr. Debra Walker King, associate professor in the UF Department of English. Her topic is: Sitting at the Table of Change: Dr. Debra Walker King speaks about her book "African Americans and the Culture of Pain." The reception/lecture is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

 

Cuba: Past, Present and Future Exhibition ImageCuba: Past, Present and Future

In the first exhibition of 2009, Cuba: Past, Present and Future, we will exhibit rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs and other items from the holdings of the Smathers Libraries covering over 200 years of Cuban history and culture. These include early imprints on Cuba's colonial past, efforts for self-governance, slavery, nationalism, foreign investment, crime, women's rights, spirituality, popular culture and human rights. Special attention is given to twentieth century political movements and upheavals. January 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of Fidel Castro's revolution, and the far reaching impacts of those events and their lasting changes on Cuba, Florida and the world will be examined. The exhibition will be on display January 9-23, 2009 in the 2nd Floor Gallery of Smathers Library, and the opening reception will be Sunday, January 11, 4:00-7:00 p.m. in Smathers Library. The opening reception will feature a panel discussion, "Lessons of 1959," with three guest panelists: José Alvarez, Professor of Food and Resource Economics at UF; Lisandro Pérez, Professor of Sociology at Florida International University; and moderator Carmen Diana Deere, Director of the UF Center for Latin American Studies. For more information about the exhibition and reception, please view the flyer and invitation. For more information about our Cuban holdings, please view the brochure: Cuban Collections at the University of Florida.

 

Buttons, Badges, and Bumper Stickers: 160 Years of Presidential Campaigns

On November 3, 2008, just in time for the 2008 presidential election, we will open an exciting new exhibition entitled Buttons, Badges, and Bumper Stickers: 160 Years of Presidential Campaigns. The exhibition will feature campaign objects from the extensive collection of John Owen Clark, as well as materials from various collections held in the Department. The exhibition is sponsored by the Stewards of Florida History and the UF Department of Political Science. Historian David Colburn will kick off the event with a discussion of his recently published book, From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and Its Politics Since 1940, on November 3, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in Room 1A of Smathers Library (East). The exhibition officially opens at 3:00 p.m. with a reception in the 2nd Floor lobby of Smathers Library and a commentary by collector and exhibition curator, John Owen Clark.

 

Pop-up, Spin, Pull, Fold: Toy Books from the Baldwin Library

Pop-up, Spin, Pull, Fold: Toy Books from the Baldwin Library is an exhibition featuring pop-up and movable books from the Baldwin Library that will is on display from September 2 to October 31, 2008, in the second floor exhibit gallery in Smathers Library East. The exhibition is a chronological display of children's books which foster an interactive experience between the reader and the book, including the complex pop-up books of current paper engineers such as Robert Sabuda. A reception will take place on October 2 in Smathers Library East, which will include a talk at 1:30 pm in Room 1A by paper engineer, Kyle Olmon, entitled, "How to Build a Castle: Contemporary Pop-up Book Production with a Look at the Past." This presentation will be followed by a reception in the exhibit area, providing an opportunity to view the exhibition. At 3:30 pm, following the reception, Olmon will lead a hands-on workshop for registered participants, featuring construction of pop-ups.

 

The Passing Parade: A Baby Boomer Collects: The Jim Liversidge Collection

The Passing Parade exhibit touches upon highlights from politics, television, theatre, film, music, sports and day-to-day current events of the past 50 years. The collection - compiled, processed and donated to the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections by Jim Liversidge, curator of Popular Culture Collections at the University of Florida, is made up of close to seven thousand individual pieces (autographs, scrapbooks, photos, programs, posters, campaign buttons, sheet music, newspaper clippings, audio recordings, VHS and DVD films, artifacts and over 400 book titles). The material is housed in 95 archival boxes (101 linear feet) representing 45 years of collecting from JFK and Vietnam to 9-11 and the current election year. The exhibit is open on the second floor gallery of Smathers Library (East) Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm. The exhibit will run until August 28, 2008.

 

Lebanon ~ Israel ~ Egypt: A Magic Lantern Ride from the 1920s to the Modern Era
(Link above opens collection guide in Adobe PDF format)

Presented by The Isser and Rae Price Library of Judaica and the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, this exhibition features selections from the Elizabeth Pagel and Jacob H. Kaplan gift to Smathers Libraries. The photographs in this engaging exhibition document Jerusalem, Cairo, Tel Aviv, and the Middle East through the eyes of Jacob H. Kaplan, a rabbi at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and Temple Israel in Miami who traveled to the Middle East in the early 20th Century. The exhibit is on display in the 3rd Floor Lobby of Library West, May 27 - June 13, 2008.

 

National Obsessions: Twentieth Century Pop Culture, Comics and Cross-promotional Merchandizing

From "a galaxy far, far away" and "high on a mountain top in Tennessee" to neighborhood comic book racks and toy stores comes National Obsessions: Twentieth Century Pop Culture, Comics and Cross-promotional Merchandizing - the latest exhibit showcasing materials from The Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection and other related treasures from the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections. The Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection was recently named in memory of Covey, university librarian emerita, and a respected George A. Smathers Libraries colleague who contributed much to the creation and upkeep of this new area of academic study. The exhibit was open from March through June 2008 on the second floor gallery of Smathers Library (East).

 

Jim Haskins: The Professor, the Writer, and the Activist

Jim Haskins (1941-2005) was a University of Florida English professor and prolific author, who wrote a book that inspired creators of the 1984 movie The Cotton Club. Included in the exhibit are all of his 150 books along with notes, awards and personal items from the collections of the George A. Smathers Libraries. The exhibit was open in the University of Florida Special Collections gallery on the second floor of Smathers Library from January through March 2008.

 

The Afterlife of Alice in Wonderland Exhibition ImageThe Afterlife of Alice in Wonderland

This colorful exhibition traces the continued presence of the text and images of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in American culture, by presenting a variety of editions, illustrators, media and artifacts, and showcasing the 1969 portfolio edition illustrated by Salvador Dali. The exhibition opens October 15th in Smathers Library (East) in the second floor exhibit gallery. The exhibit was open October 15 through December 15, 2007. Photographs of the opening reception are available online.

 

Views of Padre Cícero and Brazil's Northeast Region in the Ralph Della Cava Gift
(Link above opens collection guide in Adobe PDF format)

The life and times of Brazil's Padre Cícero spanned 90 years (1844-1934); those decades were bracketed by massive droughts in the 1870s-1880s and again in 1905. The rugged Northeast interior became the scene of human misery and suffering as its society and infrastructure collapsed in chaos. Government and private relief efforts fell pitifully short as thousands died. Others fled for coastal cities and were swept into the hands of corrupt schemers and uncaring bureaucrats. From all this emerged Padre Cícero - who stayed on in the interior to minister to the suffering. From that good work grew a deep love and respect for him amongst the region's masses. As the years went by, reports of miracles transferred that public devotion to political influence and power. This exhibit traced these dramatic happenings using materials given generously by Ralph Della Cava to the UF Libraries. Curated by Richard Phillips and Paul Losch. This exhibit was on display from August 15 through October 7; a reception, with Brazilian food and music by the UF campus group Jacaré, was held on September 17. Photographs of the opening reception are available online.

 

(Re)Collecting British Women Writers: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers in Special Collections
(Link above opens exhibit catalog in Adobe PDF format)

(Re)Collecting British Women Writers focuses on the following themes: children's books, illustrated texts, science and nature, poems and letters, novels, women and girls, biography and Mary, Queen of Scots. The exhibit, prepared by Cathlena Martin, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English, opened in conjunction with the fourteenth annual British Women Writers Conference, March 23-26, at the University of Florida. The exhibit is on display through May 21, 2006.

 

John Ormsbee Simonds Remembered: Visionary Landscape Architect, Planner, Educator, and Environmentalist (1913-2005)
(Link above opens exhibit catalog in Adobe PDF format - 2.7MB)

This exhibition is a retrospective of the life and career of one of the most influential American landscape architects of the twentieth century. Featuring drawings, plans, writings, photographs, and memorabilia from the John O. Simonds Papers, the exhibition focuses on his contributions to the profession as a practitioneer, author, and educator. Faculty and students of the UF Department of Landscape Architecture collaborated both in the creation of this exhibition and in arranging and describing the Simonds Papers. The exhibition will be on display in the Exhibit Gallery from November 15, 2005 until February 3, 2006.

 

75 Years of Blondie: 1930-2005
(Link above opens exhibit catalog in Adobe PDF format)

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of "Chic" Young's Blondie newspaper strip, this exhibition explores the early history and formative years of the strip. On display are strips that feature Blondie and Dagwood's tumultuous wedding, the successive birth and development of Cookie and Alexander, and the forgotten characters such as spirited Hiho and Dagwood's wealthy parents. The strips included in the exhibition are from the Don Ault collection, which has a run of the series from 1931 to 1953 and is housed in Special and Area Studies Collections. Contemporary strips are courtesy of The Gainesville Sun and the Little Big Books donated by Penny and Sol Davidson, which are part of the Baldwin Collection of Historical Children's Literature. The exhibition, which was curated by English Department graduate students Stephanie Boluk and "Tof" Eklund with assistance from Mil Willis, was on display during the month of October 2005.

 

Caribbean Collections in Special Collections
(Link above opens exhibit catalog in Adobe PDF format)

This exhibition draws from the exceptional Caribbean rare books and manuscripts held in the Special and Area Studies Collections Department. It attempts to highlight the range of cultures and themes that make up the Caribbean Basin and its life over the past 500 years. Featuring photographs, engravings and etchings, maps, and manuscripts, the exhibition covers such topics as the war for Cuban independence, the Cuban sugar industry, slavery in the West Indies, and the Haitian revolution. The opening of the exhibition coincided with the 50th annual meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), and the exhibits were on display until June 30, 2005.

 

Help is on the Way! Comic Books and Superheroes in Special Collections
Online exhibit hosted by ImageText, Department of English, University of Florida

Featuring comics selected from the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, this exhibition primarily focuses on popular superheroes appearing in DC Comics from 1960 through present day, covering most of the "Silver Age." Displays are organized around heroes including Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Aquaman, The Atom, The Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. Along with each hero's history and context, information is provided about the individual comic book issues included in the exhibit.

 

Early Botany Illustrated

This exhibition focuses on the botanical illustrations found in works from the Rare Book Collection and the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature. The exhibit is divided into six sections: Herbals, Gardening, Botany of Places: The Americas, Individual Plants, Periodicals, and Children's Literature. The various techniques employed to create the illustrations are explained to give some sense of the means used to create the different effects. The Exhibition Catalog is available in PDF format.

 

African American History in Special Collections

This exhibition features a sampling of materials from our Special Collections holdings that document and illuminate the experience of African Americans. The items, selected with care by our curators, suggest a broad coverage of that experience in terms of both chronology and endeavors. We hope that this exhibit will broadcast the department's goal of enhancing our holdings in African American history and that we are interested in obtaining materials from the local to national level.

 

Cover Story: 19th Century Cloth Book Covers

The 19th Century saw the introduction of cloth covered boards as bindings for books. This exhibit, highlighting of the holdings of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, is a chronologically arranged visual trip through the cloth covers of 19th-century American children's books.

 

The Talkies 1927-2002

Based upon holdings of the Belknap Collection, this exhibit features photographs, posters, memorabilia, publications, and other items highlighting 75 years of Academy Award-winning movie magic.

 

Tracks to the Promised Land

This exhibit displays selected maps of the Holy Land from 1493 through 1887, including woodcuts, copperplates, lithographs, and steel engravings. They trace mapmaking technologies and collaborations evident from the cradle of printing to the dawn of contemporary society and the digital age. Each map represents a concentrated production (among cartographer, engraver, publisher, patron, etc.) that, until the late nineteenth-century, stressed aesthetic and religious imagery over geographical accuracy.


 

Exhibits from the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History

St. Augustine & Magnolia, Florida, in March 1888

This portfolio of 72 photographs depicts the hotels and sights of St. Augustine and a trip to Magnolia on the St. Johns in 1888 at the time of the opening of the Ponce de Leon Hotel. Included are images of St. Augustine's churches, the Castillo de San Marcos, the Ponce de Leon, Alcazar, and Casa Monica, views of the beach, and many other interesting shots taken by a private photographer and not published in other sources. From the William and Sue Goza Collection.

Jacksonville in Flames! The 1901 Fire in Photographs.

May 3, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of the great fire of Jacksonville. To commemorate the event, we present a digitized version of a little-known pamphlet depicting the fire and its aftermath. Joseph A. Ingram captured images of the conflagration shortly after it broke out. In a series of before and after shots, his photographs depict the city, the people who fought to save it, and the ruins left by the flames.

A Tour of Central Florida and the Lower West Coast

In December, 1865, George F. Thompson commenced a tour through Florida as Inspector, District 5, for the Freedmen's Bureau. His notes and final report, filled with information about the early months of Reconstruction, present lively observations on Gainesville, Ocala, Silver Springs, Tampa, Ft. Myers, Charlotte Harbor, Key West, and South Florida.

Images of Alachua in the Age of Sinks and Citrus

Explore the marvelous sink holes, prairies, and citrus groves of Alachua County in the 1890s. An online presentation of historic photographs, prints, sketches, and watercolors, including the work of James Calvert Smith. This exhibit was made possible by the E. Ashby Hammond Memorial Fund.

Behind Closed Doors: A Television Documentary

This web exhibit documents one of the most heinous episodes in modern Florida history, the witch hunt for communists and homosexuals conducted by the Johns Commission during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Produced by Allyson A. Beutke and Scott Litvak at the University of Florida School of Journalism. A videotape of their television program on this subject is also available.

Up the St. Marys, an extract from Army Life in a Black Regiment

The 1st South Carolina Volunteers, commanded by abolitionist Thomas Wentworth Higginson, was one of the first black regiments to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. This exhibit reproduces Higginson's stirring account of the regiment's operations on the St. Marys River, Florida.

 

University of Florida Home Page