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New Additions to Weeki Wachee Collection

January 4, 2024
Photograph of three Weeki Wachee Mermaids in staged underwater dining scene at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park around 1950. The mermaids are eating watermelon and breathing using air hoses while sitting at a table placed on the bottom of a body of water. Along with a group of investors, Newton Perry opened Weeki Wachee Springs…

New Additions to First Unitarian Church Collection

September 23, 2019
New Additions: First Unitarian Church of Orlando Collection Orlando Unitarian Universalists can follow their roots back to 1912, when Reverend Eleanor Gordon was first minister to a church formed with 21 members. Building Unity Chapel in 1913, the group shared literary and spirited discussions, fostered by transplanted Unitarians from the North. Property in an orange…

New Oral History Interview: Jeannie Economos

August 21, 2019
An oral history interview of Jeannie Economos, the Pesticide Safety and Environmental Health Project Coordinator at the Farmworker Association of Florida (FAF), who also worked as Lake Apopka Project Coordinator for the FAF, as well as for non-profit organizations such as the Audubon Society and Save the Manatee Club. The interview was conducted by Jared…

New Release of RMI

September 29, 2015
Browse the Featured Items or Collections.  Also select the Collection Overview to see an explanation of many of our collections.  See all of the Featured Items by clicking the title of that section.   Learn more by watching a Tour of RICHES MI, or reading about our project.  Follow us on social media with the social…

Central Florida Music History Collection

June 11, 2015
To view the collection on the interactive map, click here. Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of music in Central Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. Central Florida’s musical heritage is as rich as it is diverse, dating…

Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection

June 10, 2015
Collection of images, documents, and other archival items donated by Dr. Calvin “Cal” D. Fowler, who was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final three launches of Project Mercury. To view the collection on the interactive map, click here.

Milane Theatre Collection

February 9, 2015
The Milane Theatre was built at 203 South Magnolia Avenue, the former location of the Star Theatre, an abandoned movie house. Scroggs and Ewing, architects from Georgia, prepared the plans for the Milane. The name of the new theater was derived from the combination of the Milane Amusement Company president and vice president: Frank L.…

See Connections changes Immediately

November 21, 2014
We have also moved the connections settings button to the connections window.  This allows the connections to be changed immediately when you choose a different setting.  Connection Settings are basically the weights that the connections algorithm uses to for the different criteria used to calculate the realtedness of items in the repository.  Try it! 1.…

Winter Springs Collection

October 9, 2014
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Winter Springs, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. The first Euro-American individual own land in present-day Winter Springs was Moses Levy of New York, who acquired a land grant from the…

Geneva Historical & Genealogical Society Collection

June 9, 2014
The Geneva Historical & Genealogical Society is located in Geneva, an unincorporated area of Seminole County. The first regular meeting was held at the Geneva Community Center on November 30, 1952. Alice Coffee Guyton served as the society’s first president. The Geneva Historical & Genealogical Society established the Museum of Geneva History, located at 165…

Oviedo Collection

June 9, 2014
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Oviedo, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. The Timucuan Native Americans originally inhabited the area of present-day Oviedo, although the remains of their settlements have disappeared. Homesteaders arrived along the shores…

Sanford State Farmers’ Market Collection

June 9, 2014
The Sanford State Farmers’ Market Collection contains images of the market’s history and its significance to local and state agriculture. The Sanford State Farmers’ Market was founded in 1934 in order to provide a central location in which farmers would sell their produce directly to consumers. The idea for the Sanford State Farmers’ Market was…

Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation Collection

June 9, 2014
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records from the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation located on the Bethune-Cookman University campus at 640 Doctor Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard in Daytona Beach, Florida. The foundation was established on March 17, 1953, as “a place to awaken people and to have them realize that there is something in…

Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection

May 9, 2014
Collection of digital images and oral histories related to the former Recruit Training Center Orlando (RTC Orlando) for the United States Navy. The training center transformed raw recruits into highly effective sailors. This process took place over an intensive eight-week training period, commonly referred to as “boot camp.” RTC Orlando occupied roughly one half of…

Sanford Riverfront Collection

April 9, 2014
The Sanford Riverfront Collection consists of images depicting the history and significance of Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River to the City of Sanford, Florida. The waterways that surround Sanford have provided transportation, commerce, defense, and leisure activities for the city’s citizens and visitors since its creation in 1877. To view the collection on…

Ice Houses of Sanford Collection

February 9, 2014
This collection features the various ice houses and ice plants that have existed in Sanford, Florida. Ice manufacturing became a prominent industry in the United States by the beginning of the twentieth century. Most ice houses consisted of two stories with the first floor used as food storage and the second floor used to store…

Sanford Avenue Collection

February 9, 2014
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Sanford Avenue, the main street in Georgetown, an African-American community in Sanford, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. Georgetown was established by the city’s founder, Henry Shelton Sanford, in the 1870s.…

Seminole County Public Schools Collection

January 9, 2014
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the educational history of Seminole County, Florida. Items from this collection are donated by the Student Museum and UCF Public History Center. The Student Museum has collaborated with the University of Central Florida and established the UCF Public History Center (PHC). All of the Student Museum’s…

Hotel Forrest Lake Collection

December 9, 2013
Originally named after the Sanford Mayor and president of Seminole County Bank, the Forrest Lake Hotel has also been known as the Mayfair Inn and was briefly occupied by the Sanford Naval Academy. In 1916, construction of the building began. Local architect Elton J. Moughton designed the hotel. In 1925, Hotel Forrest Lake opened and…

Georgetown Collection

December 9, 2013
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Georgetown, an African-American community in Sanford, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. Georgetown was established by the city’s founder, Henry Shelton Sanford, in the 1870s. The neighborhood spans along Sanford Avenue,…

Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection

September 9, 2013
The Student Museum and UCF Public History Center Collection encompasses a broad range of materials and items ranging from the late 19th Century into the present. The collection includes artifacts, photographs, documents, videocassettes, and other historical records pertaining to the history of the Sanford Grammar School, the Sanford community through the years, and the history…

Daytona Beach Collection

September 9, 2013
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Daytona Beach, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. Daytona Beach was originally inhabited by the Timucua before the arrival of Spaniards in 1513. After the Timucua were virtually exterminated following contact…

Ormond Beach Collection

September 9, 2013
  Ormond Beach is a city located in Volusia County, just north of Daytona Beach. Timucuan Indians frequented the area, but it was not settled until 1643, when a group of Quakers arrived after being blown off course. Although relations were originally friendly, Timucuan chief Oseanoha led a raid of the Quaker encampment in 1704,…

Henry L. DeForest Collection

August 9, 2013
Henry L. DeForest was born February 7, 1857 in Derby, Connecticut, and knew Henry Shelton Sanford from childhood. In 1870, DeForest came to Florida seeking better health in the warmer climate. He became Sanford’s agent and helped carry out the work of establishing Sanford, Florida. He managed the contracted workers for Sanford’s groves, especially the…

Goldenrod Historical Society & Museum Collection

July 9, 2013
The Goldenrod Historical Society, located at 4755 Palmetto Avenue in Goldenrod, Florida, was established on October 17, 1984. On Friday, August 11, 2000, the society received permission to begin development of the Goldenrod Station and Museum using the Goldenrod Fire Station. The Grand Opening was held on October 6, 2001. The fire station is also…

Sanford Baseball Collection

July 9, 2013
Sanford entered the world of professional baseball in 1919 with the formation of the Class D Florida State League. In its inaugural season, the Celeryfeds won the first half pennant, finishing in a tie with Orlando for the best overall record. Although the league folded in 1928, it was revived in 1936, and once again…

Sanford Collection

July 9, 2013
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Sanford, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. The present-day Sanford area was originally inhabited by the Mayaca/Joroco natives by the time Europeans arrived. The tribe was decimated by war and disease…

Sanford Cigar Collection

June 9, 2013
The cigar industry was first brought to Florida by Cuban immigrants in the 1830s and became one of the nation’s most important industries in the Southeast. By the last quarter of the 19th century, with Tampa serving as the cigar manufacturing center in the state. In the late 1800s, cigar factories began to appear in…

Naval Air Station Sanford Collection

June 9, 2013
This collection contains images of Naval Air Station (NAS) Sanford from its inception in 1942 to present day. The Naval Air Station (NAS) Sanford was commissioned on November 3, 1942, as a naval aviation training facility during World War II. The Navy continued to train pilots at NAS Sanford throughout the Korean and Vietnam Wars.…

Churches of Sanford Collection

June 9, 2013
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the religious history of Sanford, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. The present-day Sanford area was originally inhabited by the Mayaca/Joroco natives by the time Europeans arrived. The tribe was decimated by war and…

General Photographic Collection

June 9, 2013
The photographs in the General Collection range in date from the late 1870s to the early 2000s. Many of the photographs within this collection contain photographs taken in and around the Sanford community and city proper. Additional photographs from outside of Sanford, taken in DeLeon Springs and the Tallahassee Children’s Museum, as well as a…

Thomas Cook Collection

May 9, 2013
Collection of digital images, postcards, documents, and other records from the private collection of Thomas Cook. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around. To view the collection on the interactive map, click here.

Marie Jones Francis Collection

September 9, 2012
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the life and work of Marie Jones Francis. Francis, the “midwife of Sanford,” lived at 621 East Sixth Street in Sanford, Florida. Francis converted the house to also serve as a maternity ward, where she delivered over 40,000 babies during her 32 year career. She became…

Heathrow Collection

August 9, 2012
Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of Heathrow, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around Heathrow is an unincorporated community just west of Lake Mary, Florida. Heathrow was founded by Jeno F, Paulucci in 1985. As a food business…