Collections

Typescript copies of Waties family letters that include those written by Anna Waties, oldest daughter of Chancellor Thomas Waites and the three children of Dr. Thomas Waties and his wife Maria Huger Rutledge Waties. Family genealogy notes, holograph letters and notes. Includes photocopy of "the Waties Family of South Carolina" compiled by H. D. Bull, pages 12-22.

Photographs, ca. 1870-1892, partly identified, of the Watson, Allen, and Didmus Families of Bagdad, Milton, and Pensacola, Florida. Photographs range from tintypes to cabinet photos to carte-de-visites, from photographers in Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama, and Milton and Pensacola, Florida. Persons identified include W.L. Brackin, D.D. Duglass, A.E. Dupey, J.C. Forbes, Dasie Green, E.L. Green, V.J. Snedicor, Lula J. Stillmas, Capt. J.R. Storks, W. W. Watson.

Collection includes a manuscript by Watson Kinney entitled ""Memoirs of Operations Crossroads"" about time spent with the Navy in the Pacific Theater. It is an in-depth account of the Atom Bomb Testing, ""Operation Crossroads"". Accounts for both of the Bikini Atoll tests. Includes pictures and first-hand account of what happened on those days. Newspaper articles of the time are also included.

The major portion of the papers were from the files of William H. Watson, senior member of the Pensacola law firm of Watson & Pasco, and its successors. Mr. Watson was born in Walton County, Florida, February 22, 1876. He read for the law and was admitted to the bar in 1897. Samuel Pasco (1878- ), Clarence J. Brown (1890- ), Samuel Pasco, Jr.(1909- ), and James Baker Watson (1909-1976) also served at various time with the firm.

The Waverly records include Office Files about day-to-day business mostly between 1930 and 1950's. Of special note are the files from the WWII years discussing rationed items. James C. Morton (JCM) was an operations director, and his files date mostly in the 1950's and are about fruit. Operations and Supply files include documents about running and supplying the Waverly complex. The Membership newsletters are dated 1937 and 1938, then jump to 1957 and run until 1977. Files from Audio-Visual materials include scrapbooks, photographs, and negatives. The first scrapbook includes images for a retirement party for W.C. "Bill" Pedersen. Bill Pedersen created the Waverly Welcome House (photographs), a rest area and spot for tourists to learn about citrus growing, while purchasing fruit. The Welcome House was located between Cypress Gardens and Bok Singing Tower, along Route No. 540 in central Florida. The second scrapbook, includes, clippings, documents and photographs of people and places around the compound

The collection of Wayne Mixson contains an oral history transcript of an interview provided by the Reichelt Program for Oral History. Mixson, who would later serve as the 39th Governor of Florida, served in the United States Navy from 1942-1946 and participated in the Lighter-Than-Air Project; he worked with a crew in EP Squadron 14, a blimp squadron.