The Colbourn Oral History collection contains interviews conducted between Dr. Colbourn and people who were vital to the foundation of the University such as founders, previous presidents, donators, faculty/staff, and other contributors. This collection offers insight into the founding of Florida Technological University (now, the University of Central Florida) Series I: Final Transcripts, 1987-2006 contains the final released transcripts of the interviews along with duplicates of those transcripts. Series II: Edited Transcripts, 1993-2006 contains the edited transcripts of the final transcripts that have not been released to the public by the interviewee. Series III: Audio Tapes, 1995-2006 contains the audio tapes of the original interviews. These audio tapes have also not been released to the public by the interviewee. H. Trevor Colbourn was born in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia on 24 February 1927. Known by his second name, Trevor Colbourn became President of Florida Technological University, now UCF, in 1978. After retiring as president, Dr. Colbourn returned to teaching history full-time at the University. In 1990, he earned the title President Emeritus and assumed the role of University Historian in 1991. As part of the latter appointment, he compiled an oral history of the University. Dr. Colbourn interviewed many people that were vital to the foundation of the University, such as founders, other presidents, donors, faculty, and staff.
This collection contains the files that Louis Rotundo used for the research of his book, Into the Unknown: The X-1 Story. The book "describes the complete history of the world's first supersonic aircraft, the Bell X-1." Materials consist of manuscripts, reports, interview transcripts, news clippings, photographs, and multimedia. This collection provides insight into the history of the X-1 plane and the work of Louis Rotundo. Louis C. Rotundo was born on October 28, 1949. He graduated from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 1975 and then worked for United States Senator Lawton Childes as an aide. Rotundo served as a lobbyist for the State of Florida and was employed by UCF from 1980 to 1988 as Special Assistant to the Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and Special Assistant to the President of UCF from 1984 to 1987. After departing from UCF in 1988, Rotundo worked as the Principal of Louis Rotundo and Associates, a Central Florida based company that specializes in lobbying and consulting.
