Collections

This collection contains issues of Polk Progress, and notes, clippings, and other materials used to develop the quarterly publication. Dr. Carl C. Brown authored Polk Progress, a detailed examination of the economy of Polk County, Florida and environs from 1983 through 2013. Polk Progress was initially published in print and eventually electronically. This collection includes printed issues and printed copies made from electronic files.

The papers of Dr. Charles S. Mahan primarily consist of correspondence (memoranda, letters, and emails), grey literature, data sets, administrative documents, publications, and newspaper clippings. The bulk of the collection reflects Mahan's various professional roles in reducing Florida's infant mortality rate, increasing access to proper nutrition for mothers and infants, and educating public health professionals and midwives. Other documents emphasize his tenure at the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (now, Florida Department of Health), the University of Florida, and the University of South Florida.

This collection contains awards, correspondence, memorabilia, printed materials, photographs, personal papers, and writings. Many printed materials and photographs relate to politics and political activism. There are numerous photographs and newspaper clippings, as well as Dr. Saffy's dissertation. The collection contains many memorabilia items, particularly from various political events, and there are two large portraits of Dr. Edna Louise Saffy.

Heather T. Frazer (1940 – 2016) was a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. After graduating from Connecticut College for her undergraduate studies, she attained a M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University in South Asian History. In 1971, she became the first female faculty member in the FAU history department where she taught for 35 years before retiring in 2006. During her tenure she served as Department Chair and Director of Graduate Studies. She also pioneered the study of women's history at FAU, helping establish the Women's Studies program, which is now the Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Frazer taught courses in women's history, modern Britain and British Empire, Indian history, and oral history. She researched and published in the fields of India and women's history, and co-authored with her colleague, Dr. John O'Sullivan, We Have Just Begun to Not Fight: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in Civilian Public Service during World War II (1996). In 1988, she received a Fulbright Fellowship and spent part of the year in India. In 1990, she was selected FAU's Distinguished Teacher of the Year, the highest teaching award conferred by the university, and one selected exclusively by the students. Upon her retirement she was named Professor Emerita of History.

John D. Early is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Early joined the faculty of the Anthropology Department in 1969. He was chair of the department for several years and retired in 1993. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Master of Arts in Social Philosophy from St. Louis University, a Master of Arts in Theology from Woodstock College (a Jesuit Seminary), a Master of Arts in Sociology from Fordham University, and a PhD in Anthropology-Sociology from Harvard University (1965). Dr. Early began his career as a Jesuit priest, although he resigned from the priesthood in 1969. As a member of the Harvard-Chiapas Research Project, he went to Zinacantán to study Maya worldview and its Catholic elements. Later, his interest turned to demographic research as a planning basis for the literacy, cooperative and health programs in which he was involved among the Maya in Guatemala. It was also intended to bring to national and international attention to the severe malnutrition and high mortality among the Maya primarily as a result of social injustice. This interest then turned into fulltime research on the evolution of human population dynamics: for hunter-gathering groups as exemplified by the Agta in the Philippines, for tribal groups as exemplified by the Yanomami in Brazil, for peasants by the Maya in Mexico and Guatemala.