Collections

The Elston Roady Collection documents Dr. Roady's studies of elections on the local (Leon County, Florida), state (Florida), and national levels and his research in political campaign finance. The materials include typescripts and reference materials used in creating his revised edition of Florida Votes (1972), background information and letters to Florida Secretary of State Firestone from Roady and Annie Mary Hartsfield about their proposal to update the 2nd edition through the 1980 elections (an updated version was not published); a speech Roady delivered when he was given the "Distinguished Alumni Award" by the Illinois State University Alumni Association; a Florida Supreme Court Petition for Rehearing involving Florida Governor Claude Kirk; election materials; a scrapbook compiled for the 1956 Florida gubernatorial campaign of Fuller Warren; reference materials pertaining to the Watergate issue, and memorabilia.

The collection consists of printed materials, artifacts, and memorabilia relating to the Drew Family and their businesses in the Jacksonville area. Many of the items in this collection belonged to Horace Rainsford Drew, Jr. The collection is divided into two series: personal papers and business records.

Personal, family, and business correspondence, land deeds, letter of testamentary, papers of the administrator of the estate of Dr. F.A. Byrd. Business and personal papers, certificates of membership, licenses to practice as Physician and Surgeon, 13 early envelopes (some with stamps attached); business correspondence, statements, invoices, and one bound account book.

Following Garald Parker's long career in Florida hydrology, his materials focus almost exclusively on groundwater resources in southern Florida. The series labeled "Professional Papers" contains "Biographical Materials" which houses items about Parker's life, a box of "Correspondence" sent to or by Parker, "Educational Materials" which contains Syllabi and handouts used by Parker during his teaching career, two boxes of "Legal Papers" which deal with extensive materials Parker collected relating to two court cases, "Organization and Association Records" for environmental and science societies Parker followed, and the two "Projects" boxes which are organized around certain cases and may contain correspondence, reports, or court documents. "Professional Papers" also contains three boxes labeled "Writings" boxes cover articles and other writings by Parker.

Harry A. Kersey, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of History at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.  A native Floridian, he received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees from the University of Florida, and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  In 1966, Dr. Kersey began teaching at Florida Atlantic University and currently is an emeritus professor of history at FAU. Professor Kersey has a rich background in international research and teaching.  He has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at two African universities—the University of Zimbabwe (1984) and the National University of Lesotho (1988)—where he lectured and initiated research on comparative frontier history.  In 1996, the United States Information Agency sponsored his appearance as a Visiting Lecturer on American Indian history at the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.  During 2000, he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the National Library of New Zealand conducting research for a comparative study of Maori and American Indian sovereignty issues. The Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit at Victoria University of Wellington published his initial research findings.  As a follow-up to the New Zealand work, Kersey was awarded a Visiting Research Fellowship at the East-West Center in Honolulu during the summer of 2001.  He returned to New Zealand in 2002 and 2005 as a Fulbright Senior Specialist examining the impact of Maori issues in New Zealand politics. Dr. Kersey's recent publication, Seminole Voices received a silver medal in the non-fiction category of the 2010 Florida Book Awards.  It also won the Harry and Harriet Moore Book Award and The Samuel Proctor Oral History Prize given by the Florida Historical Society. Dr. Kersey is currently involved in comparative research on indigenous rights, political sovereignty, and the impact of minority issues on national governments.  In addition, he occasionally teaches courses at both Florida Atlantic University and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

The Frazer-O'Sullivan Collection contains the research for the co- authored book, We Have Just Begun to Not Fight: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in the Civilian Public Service During World War II, by Heather Frazer and John O'Sullivan. More than 40,000 American men refused to fight during World War II. Citing principled opposition, they declared themselves conscientious objectors. Rejecting combat duty, nearly 12,000 men entered Civilian Public Service (CPS) with the intent to perform "work of national importance" as an alternative to combat duty. The CPS program was set up by members of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers) and participated in by pacifists from other churches, of no specific religious persuasion, and, in the case of a few, no persuasion except not to fight in that particular war. CPS men worked as aides in mental hospitals, volunteered as smoke jumpers in forest fires, and participated in grueling medical and scientific experiments. Frazer and O'Sullivan use the oral histories of 15 CPS men and two of their wives to illuminate their experience during World War II.

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.

This collection relates to Lieutenant Commander Ivan E. Johnson, Jr. who served with U.S. Naval Intelligence in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  The collection includes Johnson's U.S. Navy officer's winter jacket and three Special Service Division Army Service Army Service Forces Newsmap large format maps.