RESEARCH COLLECTIONS AND REPOSITORIES
PINELLAS COUNTY
Christine Wigfall Morris African-American Collection
North Greenwood Branch Library
Clearwater Public Library System
905 N. Martin Luther King Ave.
Clearwater, FL 33755
Phone: 727-462-6895 ext. 3.
Website: http://libpolaris.clearwater-fl.com
In the late 1940's, African-American residents of the North Greenwood community in Clearwater brought the need for a local branch library to the attention of the library director, Miss Sarah Byers. She boldly took the issue to the City Commission, and the commission agreed that if a building and a librarian could be found, the city would fund it. With Miss Byers' support, librarian Christine Morris opened the doors on March 15, 1950.
The Edward Allen Henry, Jr. Special Collection on Negro Culture and History was authorized in 1970 to be housed at North Greenwood, and this collection has been expanded over the past three decades to be a comprehensive source of African-American materials. At the grand opening of the new library building in January 2003, this collection was renamed in honor of North Greenwood’s first librarian, who served for 33 years: the Christine Wigfall Morris African-American Collection.
This celebrated collection for the public includes written works of fiction & non-fiction for children, teens, and adults; biographies; music on cd and audio cassette; a photograph file; magazines; films on dvd and vhs; works of art including a bronze sculpture called "Follow the Dream" and an original painting by Florida Highwayman Sylvester Wells. The Collection is open to the general public during regular business hours.
James Weldon Johnson Branch
St. Petersburg Public Library System
1059 18th Ave. South
St. Petersburg FL 33705
Phone: 727-893-7213
Website: www.splibraries.org
The branch has an enhanced Black History and Literature collection. Materials from the collection may be requested through any Pinellas County library. The Biography Resource Center and LitFinder on our website are very useful in locating biographical and literary references for black authors. The Biography Resource Center can be searched by Ethnicity, Gender and occupation.
PASCO COUNTY
PIONEER FLORIDA VILLAGE MUSEUM
15602 Pioneer Museum Road
Dade City, East Pasco County 33525
Phone: 352-567-0262 (Christine Smith, Director)
Website:www.floridapioneermuseum.org
The Museum features an archives and history center for East Pasco County, with information on the area's Citrus Industry. While the museum currently has limited African American history, they welcome persons interested in recovering or supplying local black history to contact the Museum Director.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
CENTRAL AVENUE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System
Website: www.hcplc.org/hcplc/liblocales/jfg/H&G/ohbb.html
Supported by the Ada T. Payne Friends of the Urban Libraries group, this project focuses on the life experience of elder African American residents of historic Central Avenue. Public Librarian, Carrie Hurst, conducted all of the interviews. This project is hosted by an initiative of the Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, entitled "Hillsborough Remembers." The Central Avenue Oral History Project is accessible to all by visiting their website. Transcripts, web interviews, and audio of the interviews are now posted online. An excellent tool for educators!
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT
Tampa Library, 4th Floor
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Avenue,
Tampa, Florida 33620
Website: www.lib.usf.edu/public/index.cfmPg=SpecialCollectionsTampa
Open Monday to Friday, usually 9-6pm, Tuesday and Thursdays 9-8pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Contact Reading Room for seasonal hours. Visiting the Reading Room is free of charge and open to the public. A photo I.D. is required to access materials. Below is a listing of some of the collections relevant to African American history. Visit their website to access a number of additional digital collections that pertain to black history.
Armwood Family Papers
This collection includes newspaper clippings, photographs and miscellaneous articles of historical significance regarding this prominent Tampa family. The papers of Blanche Armwood are of particular importance. Armwood was responsible for establishing domestic science schools for black women and girls, serving as the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Negro Schools, co-founding the Tampa Urban League, and organizing numerous clubs and organizations dedicated to the betterment of the community. Blanche Armwood was the first African American woman in Tampa to become an assistant principal of Harlem Elementary school. The Armwoods’ also founded the first African American drugstore in the area, the Gem Drugstore.
B.P. Brown Enterprises, Inc. Records
Printed materials document the social history of Tampa’s African American communities. Funeral notices, souvenir program booklets and other records from Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Matther Missionary Baptist Church, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and the National Council of Negro Women are a few of the organizations represented in this impressive collection. Betty Wiggins, an entrepreneurial African American woman and exemplary community leader, began this printing company that served clubs, churches, government agencies, businesses and organizations of Tampa, Florida.
Citrus Park Colored School Collection
Oral history interviews conducted in 1996 by members of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Preservation Board are contained in the collection. The interviews cover the 1920s through 1996 and highlight the historical and cultural role that this school played within Citrus Park’s African American community. The Citrus Park Colored school was built in 1924 and taught African American children until 1948, when it closed.
The Cody Fowler Papers
Documents in this collection provide insight into Cody Fowler’s role in Tampa’s integration. As chairman of the city’s Bi-racial Committee from 1959-1964 and further work with the City of Tampa’s Commission on Community Relations, Fowler helped to devise plans with the Tampa NAACP to desegregate area lunch counters and remove segregation barriers in public facilities. Cody Fowler was a prominent white attorney, and a founding member of the Tampa Law Firm Fowler, White, Boggs and Banker. He played a key role in non-violent racial integration in Tampa during and preceding the Civil Rights Movement.
The DuPree Press Collection
Donated in 1990 by Mr. Linnell DuPree, this collection contains printed brochures, announcements and catalogues of local organizations, such as the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, The Tampa Alumni of Florida A&M University, and various sororities and fraternities. Mr. DuPree printed a variety of materials, including brochures, announcements, catalogs, etc. for many black organizations in the area.
The Florida Negro Papers
Offering a glimpse into the lives of former slaves and non-Florida slaves during the Civil War era, this collection consists of numerous oral history interviews conducted between 1935 and 1939. Some of the interviews offer first hand accounts by former slaves of daily life during the Civil War era.
The Florida Sentinel Bulletin Microfilm Collection
(*housed in remote storage)
This collection consists of Florida Sentinel microfilm from 1946 to the present. The newspaper chronicles the transformation of the black community during the civil rights era as well as the roles of black women, and documents the social, political, cultural and religious activities within Tampa’s African American communities since 1940.
The Florida Slave Narratives
Consists of interviews with formerly enslaved African Americans between 1926 and 1936. This collection is also fully digitized on the Special Collections website under the Floridiana on the Web collection. These materials are made available through the Florida Historical Society. African Americans interviewed talk about life under slavery during their childhood or adolescent years.
Ellen Haynes Green Collection
This collection contains Green’s personal papers and documents from 1957-1992. The collection documents the life and accomplishments of Green, a local civil rights leader, and includes correspondence, papers relating to the NAACO and Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church, newspaper clippings, photographs, and plaques. The collection was acquired by USF in 1993. Ellen Haynes Green was active during the civil rights movement through the Tampa NAACP. She participated in local demonstrations in theatres and lunch counters. She also held various offices before being elected as the president of the Tampa NAACP in 1959.
Bank of America Black American Music Collection
With sheet music dating from 1818 to the 1980s, this large collection includes music books, manuscript music, photographs, posters and handbills. The images on the covers and lyrics depict racial and cultural attitudes of previous generations.
Ruth Perry Papers
Papers from the Miami branch NAACP pertaining to the John’s Committee are included in this collection. Ruth Perry’s letters to the Miami Times, her speeches, NAACP correspondence, and newspaper articles from Miami-based publications from 1951 to 1968. An important historical resource, this collection documents the John’s Committee’s attempts to obtain membership lists from Florida’s NAACP branches.
Progress Village Records Collection
The records of this collection include the planning, construction and correspondence papers of Progress Village.
The Harold Reddick Collection
Reddick worked as a porter for the Pullman Sleeping Car Company, eventually becoming involved in the BSCP (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters). This collection was donated by USF professor Dr. Jack Moore in 1995. The collection includes correspondence, interviews, awards and documents pertaining to Reddick’s involvement in the Tampa chapter of the NAACP and the civil rights movement. In 1939, Reddick moved to Tampa where he served as vice-president of the Tampa chapter of the NAACP’s Tampa branch on an activist path in the late 1940s, which serves as a model for civil rights in the following decades.
The Robert and Helen Saunders Collection
This collection contains documents that pertain to both Mr. and Mrs. Saunders involvement with the Florida NAACP and the Tampa branch of the NAACP. There are also materials relating to the Federal Government’s efforts to deal with poverty through the Economic Opportunities Act.
African Americans in Florida Project (USF Department of Anthropology)
This collection focuses on the history of the Central Avenue community in Tampa, Florida.
Robertson and Fresh Photographic Collection
This lesser known collection includes a number of photographs taken in across Tampa from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Historic Central Avenue is also represented by their pictures. *Must have capacity to install a browser, and collection will appear with small thumbnails through Special Collections website.
Sunland Tribune (Online access through Special Collections)African American history in Hillsborough County is often written about in this periodical. The Sunland Tribune is the journal of the Tampa Bay Historical Society.
TAMPA BAY HISTORY CENTER
225 South Franklin Street
Tampa, Florida 33602
Phone: 813-228-0097
Website: www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/
The Tampa Bay History Center offers the community a wealth of resources- from museum exhibits, to a resource library where the public have access to local historical records, to a comprehensive website that lists up to date cultural events taking place in Hillsborough County. You can even take a virtual museum tour online! Open Monday to Friday, 10-5pm. The resource library is open to all and is free of charge.
THE USF AFRICANA HERITAGE PROJECT
University of South Florida
Website: www.africanaheritage.com/
Africana heritage is a website dedicated to recovering stories of African American families. “Our mission is to rediscover precious records that document the names and lives of former slaves, freed persons and their descendants, and share those records on this free Internet site.” The website offers an array of resources, including links to the documentary, “Looking for Angola.” www.lookingforangola.com
CITY OF TAMPA HISTORIC PRESERVATION RESOURCES
Website: www.tampagov.net/dept_historic_preservation/related_sources/
This page has numerous links dedicated to historic preservation in the City of Tampa. The site also includes a direct link to USF’s Special Collections Department, which houses an extensive Burgert Brothers photographic collection.
SARASOTA COUNTY
Sarasota County History Center
6062 Porter Way
Sarasota, FL 34232
Phone: 941-861-1180 (David Baber, General Manager)
www.scgov.net/CommunityServices/HistoryCenter/HistoryCenter.asp
Research Hours: Monday-Thursday 10am-4pm; Saturday 9am-1pm
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm
History Center Museum
701 North Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34236
Hours: Monday- Saturday 10am-4pm; Sunday Noon-3pm
The Sarasota County History Center houses archival photos, newspaper articles, audio and video tapes, books, obituaries and oral histories of families in the black community in a climate-controlled environment. In the collection are two documentaries by Producer Vickie Oldham that chronicle black history in Sarasota- "Triumphant Struggle" and "Looking for Angola." The latter film follows the search for an early 1800s Black Seminole settlement that stretched from Tampa Bay to parts of North Sarasota.
Also, at the center is a collection of "Common Ground" television programs. The half hour show aired on ABC affiliate, WWSB TV from 1992 to 2002 and was hosted and produced by Oldham. Program highlights include interviews with community leaders as well as national newsmakers about issues that impacted African Americans locally and globally.
The History Center Museum is located in the Sarasota County Visitors Center and showcases rotating exhibitions on diverse aspects of Sarasota's history. For more information, please visit the History Center's website.
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