Collections

This collection relates to James M. Ryan who served as a 2nd Lieutenant Bombardier on a B-24 Bomber with the 866th Squadron, 494th Bombardment Group, stationed in Okinawa. Ryan's plane was shot down over Kyoto on July 28, 1945, and he was then imprisoned by the Japanese (declared missing in action by the United States). Ryan subsequently perished 500 feet from the epicenter of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. This collection contains photographs, letters, documents, and artifacts relating to the life, service, and death of James M. Ryan. His cased engraved purple heart medal is included in this collection.

Collection contains typescripts of a published poetry book and two unpublished plays created by James Noble Harrell.

The James T. Griffiths Papers reflect his lifelong work within the citrus field. The collection contains personal letters, notes, documents such as maps and graphs, and coursework from various citrus materials. These papers range from 1914-2006; however the bulk is from 1959-2002.

The Jan K. Platt Papers focus on environmental concerns, regional development, operating budgets, and public services, such as libraries and welfare, within Hillsborough County. This collection also includes correspondence, memorandum, and reports from the numerous boards, authorities, and commissions that Platt chaired and served on, in addition to miscellaneous campaign ephemera.

The collection includes research materials collected by Jean Allen Battle and William P. Danenburg for a proposed biography of Raymond Robins, an unofficial ambassador of the United States to the Soviet government between 1917 and 1918. Also included are bibliographies, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, and photocopies of articles by and about Robins and about American – Russian relations.

This collection relates to Jean Crosby Olsen who served as an American Red Cross worker during and after World War II. This collection consists mostly of photographs taken by Olsen, personal artifacts from her deployments in France, Japan, and Guam (mainly pamphlets and booklets), as well as two nurses' caps, various Red Cross pins, and official I.D. card. This collection, in particular, reveals much about immediate post-war life in France and Japan, as well as an insight into China in the last year of Nationalist rule.

The Jean Trebbi ABC Collection contains 345 alphabet books including first editions, signed and numbered copies, artists' books, and other rare and out of print titles published between 1852 and 2009. Books from this collection are searchable in the Broward County Library Catalog with the prefix "ABC TREBBI".

The collection includes materials from 1988-1996, when Jim Davis served in the Florida State House, and from 1997-2006, when he served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Materials include documents, correspondence, memoranda, constituent opinion forms, constituent mail, audio cassettes (including radio interviews), speeches, education and health care documents, legislative files, meeting files, strategic plans, bills, records, publications, personal papers, as well as photographs, press clippings, and videos. Areas of interest include the Clinton impeachment, the legal battle over Terri Schiavo, the invasion of Iraq, education, abortion, migration, economic embargoes, trade, welfare reform, appropriations, environmental law and policy, health care, land ownership and development, housing, the War on Terror, human rights, logging and timber, unemployment, off-shore drilling, drugs, and homeland security.