Collections : [FSU Special Collections & Archives]

The 17th-20th Century Correspondence and Documents consists of letters, documents, and various forms of correspondence relating to notable names and celebrities from between 1618 and 1981.

This collection consists of the papers of United States Navy Admiral Richard H. Leigh. They include a 17-volume holograph diary, dating 1917-1944, containing official orders, holograph and typed letters, newspaper clippings, printed programs, maps, pictures, and other related items. Also included is a four volume set of personal papers, and a book which Leigh entitled, Whereas, which consists of newspaper clippings, family pictures, programs, doctor bills, and other materials. Many of these documents relate to the history and development of the United States Navy, World War I, and events leading to the conflict with Japan and World War II.

The Gilchrist Papers are comprised of the official papers of Albert Waller Gilchrist, 20th Governor of Florida, as well as newspaper articles, military and state official documents, items pertaining to the naming of Gilchrist County, materials regarding educational institutions including Carolina Military Institute and West Point, personal correspondence, genealogical research, and papers pertaining to Gilchrist's estate and will.

The Allen Morris Papers consist of personal and professional records and research materials accumulated by Mr. Morris over a period of about forty-one years. The papers consist of correspondence; biographical sketches of Florida officials and other famous Floridians; photographs, programs, and other materials related to the Allen Morris Legislative Awards; historical data concerning place names, historical houses, rivers and river boats.

The Arthur and Mayce Seymour Collection, in addition to containing correspondence between them, other family members, and friends, has articles written by the Seymours and many poems by Mayce. A major portion of the collection consists of photographs taken by the Seymours during their trips to India and China in the 1920s. Numerous paintings and sketches made by Mayce during these travels are also included.

Collection contains color postcards depicting Japanese in the late 19th/early 20th century and a Japanese sword from 1866.

The Bird and Ulmer papers consist of photocopies of correspondence, land deeds, tax papers, political and other speeches, resolutions, and papers pertaining to church, lodges, last will, accounts of executors of estates, reports of estate, division of land, and the division of enslaved people with values assigned. These papers pertain chiefly to the plantations of Bunker Hill, Nacossa, and Freelawn, which flourished before the Civil War. The majority of the papers are dated from the 1850s through the late 1800s, although a handful are from the 1920s.