The collection provides historical evidence and documentation of daily activities, events and life in Northeast Florida from the mid-nineteenth century to date. The core of the collection are print ephemera, including calendars, cards, certificates, correspondence, folders, journals, pamphlets, posters, stationery, stickers, tax receipts, and tickets. Items span the years 1857-2012, with the bulk of the materials concentrated in the late twentieth century. Unique early printed items include an envelope postmarked 1861 addressed to a prominent Jacksonville resident, and an 1890 St. Johns River steamboat trip pass. Important biographical information about local African American leaders is provided in annual Black History Month calendars. Artifacts and memorabilia include commemorative coins and plates, holiday ornaments, souvenir pins and license plates, and tokens from the Jacksonville trolley in the late nineteenth century.
The collection provides historical documentation of tourism and lodging accommodations in Northeast Florida in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries. The core of the collection relates to hotel accommodations, particularly text and visual materials representing once notable and no longer extant urban Jacksonville hotels. (Chiefly Hotels Andrew Jackson, Aragon, Carling, George Washington, Mason, Mayflower, Roosevelt, Seminole, Windle, and Windsor.)
Printed materials include event and performance programs, cards and invitations, posters, and schedules. Musical performance programs date from 1923; theater programs and posters date from 1930 and document the performances of theatrical groups no longer extant. Unique items include source materials from the dedication in 1997 of the St. James Building as the new Jacksonville City Hall, the 100th Centennial commemorating the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901, and the reopening of the Jacksonville Terminal in 1986 as the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. Memorabilia includes souvenir items from major annual events held in Northeast Florida, such as the Florida First Coast Writers' Festival, Florida Forum Lecture Series, Jacksonville Film Festival, and the Much Ado about Books Festival.
The collection provides historical documentation of tourism activities in northeast Florida in the early to mid-twentieth century. The core of the collection relates to the promotion of tourism and tourist attractions. Representative attractions include the Florida Ostrich Farm, Marineland, and Oriental Gardens. Unique early printed items include a circa 1920s advertisement for the St. Johns River Day Line sightseeing steamer, and a souvenir folder featuring colored illustrations of tropical flora in Florida.
