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James Velma Keen Papers, 1922-1967, bulk 1955-1967

 

Summary

Creator:
Keen, James Velma, 1899-1963
Abstract:
Correspondence, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, photographs, and speeches documenting the career of attorney, Florida legislator, educator, and businessman James Velma Keen, from 1926 when he began practicing law in Sarasota, Florida, until his death in Tallahassee, Florida, in March 1963.
Extent:
7.73 Linear Feet
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

James Velma Keen Papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/MSS-1970-150

Background

Scope and content:

The papers of James Velma Keen document his campaigns for Sarasota Mayor and for Florida Representative from Sarasota County in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and his later activities in banking, law, and business. Materials include personal and professional correspondence related to his political activities and legal practice, speeches delivered at commencement programs, convocations and other occasions, photographs of his Florida campaign and nuclear development activities in Florida, scrapbooks documenting his personal and political career, and several memorabilia items. The additional materials, received and processed in 1971, pertain to the Florida Historical Society during the period that Keen was its First and Second Vice President (1954-1957 and include correspondence, minutes of board and annual meetings, financial materials and reports, and other administrative documents.

Biographical / historical:

James Velma Keen was born in Dublin, Georgia on August 23, 1899 and moved to River Junction, Gadsden County, FL with his parents in 1902, then to Marianna, FL in 1913. His father, James Henry Keen, began the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in North Florida in River Junction in 1907, and the plant operated continuously until 1954, when it merged with the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Marianna, begun in 1913. For the Marianna operation, Keen's father organized a corporation known as Purity Bottling Works. In 1924, the Purity Bottling Works name was changed to the Marianna Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Upon James Henry Keen's death in 1942, his son, Charlton Keen, became president, secretary, and manager of this plant, and operated it until he died in 1957, when James Velma Keen became its president and director.

Acquisition information:

Mary Weedon Keen

The Florida State University Libraries acquired the James Velma Keen Papers through gifts in December 1970, August 1971, and October 1977 from his wife, Mary Weedon Keen. The major body of materials (MSS 1970-150) was given in December 1970, papers related to the activities of the Florida Historical Society (MSS 1971-151) were received in August 1971, and a 1922 University of Florida "Seminole" yearbook signed by James Velma Keen (MSS 1977-038) was received in October 1977.

Processing information:

MSS 1970-150 was originally processed in March 1971. The second accession, MSS 1971-151, was processed in August 1971. The last accession, MSS 1977-038, was processed in March 1978. A finding aid incorporating these accessions was revised in June 2006.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers.

This collection is in an offsite storage location. Please contact lib-specialcollections@fsu.edu with requests for access or for more information.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been transferred to the Florida State University Libraries.

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

James Velma Keen Papers, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. https://purl.lib.fsu.edu/fa/MSS-1970-150

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA