The Florida Ephemera Collection is a collection of brochures, advertisements and news clippings documenting the history of Florida. Although the collection includes information about Florida as a whole, it focuses on the Central Florida area, and Orlando in particular. The collection contains information about most aspects of life in Florida including business and industry, real estate and development, tourism and wildlife.
The Florida Folklore Society advances the appreciation and study of Florida's folk cultures. Its activities are documented in minutes, newsletters, treasurer's reports, correspondence and photographs.
The Florida Free Highway Association Papers contains organizational information that documents the mission and goals of this anti-toll road association. The collection includes a mission statement, association goals, correspondence, press releases and a member's directory.
This collection is comprised of 75 photographs taken by Edwin A. Brush of homesteaders in what is presumed to be Florida in the early 20th century. Photographs show a variety of people, farm life, and nature.
The images document all aspects of Central Florida history including people, such as prominent people and families, places around Florida, Florida wildlife and plantlife, as well as, images from the Kennedy Space Center and Disney. The majority of the collection dates from about 1900-1960.
This collection consists of thirteen cassette tapes of the radio program, "Florida Lifestyle Radio", which discussed matters interesting to seniors. Most tapes include a featured guest who focussed a particular topic.
The Florida Maps Collection contains various types of maps from throughout the state of Florida. Included are tourist, informational, historical, agricural, and commercial maps.
The collection of the Florida State Music Teachers Association is comprised of records from their meetings dating as far back as 1935. There are the minutes, agendas, newsletters and scores. It also has the bylaws and procedures, annual bulletin reports and a few other small folders comprised of annual correspondence.
The Francis Levett letter, 1771, documents the experience of a British colonial settler and plantation owner in Florida. It consists of one letter which details Levett's financial plights as he asks for his brother-in-law Rev. Charles William Tonyn's payment of an overdue debt, dated May 6, 1771, from St. Augustine. He also expresses his hopes for his other brother-in-law, Colonel Patrick Tonyn the last British royal governor of East Florida, to visit him. The letter provides insight into life in British colonial Florida and the difficulties that Levett faced. Francis Levett (?-c.1775) was a merchant from London, England who moved to the East Florida colony in 1768, which was under British rule at the time. With assistance from another merchant, Richard Oswald, Levett acquired a large 10,000-acre estate near St. John's River that he named Julianton Plantation after his wife Juliana. Upon his arrival, Levett was the plantation agent for John Perceval, the 2nd Earl of Egmont. He later was appointed onto the East Florida colony's Royal Council and named an assistant judge. Levett's plantation had many problems despite its successful appearance, as the costs of maintaining the land exceeded his income. Levett was later accused of mismanagement and embezzlement from absent land grantees and spent the remainder of his life in East Florida living in scandal. After the American Revolution, Levett's surviving family abandoned their plantation and moved to the Bahamas due to the Spanish succession of the colony.
