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 back to the Spanish settlers of the sixteenth century. Over the next 500 years, the region became a melting pot of Anglo-American folk and country music, African-American blues and jazz, Cuban and Latin music, traditional Native American music, gospel, rock, classical, pop, reggae, punk, metal, hip hop, and dance music. The cultural diversity of the people is reflected in the broad range of the music. Today, Central Florida is a hot spot for homegrown music and a popular stop for internationally touring artists.

Some of the most popular artists of the twentieth century called Florida home, including Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Sam Rivers, the Allman Brothers Band, Jimmy Buffett, Zora Neale Hurston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Vassar Clements, Gloria Estefan, Tom Petty, Johnny Tillotson, Shel Silverstein, Arturo Sandoval, and Mel Tillis. The musical landscape of Florida has played an integral role in defining Floridian culture.