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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.

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.

The primary source materials in this collection provide historical documentation and evidence of selective elections and political campaigns held in Duval County and Jacksonville, Florida. The earliest items are Duval County election records dated 1904; the majority of the materials date from the late twentieth century to the present decade. Printed materials include sample election ballots and guides, voting brochures and pamphlets, and a voting registration receipt card. Artifacts and memorabilia include political campaign buttons and stickers from Jacksonville mayoral, U.S. Senate, and Presidential campaigns.