Curious about the history of your antique home? Doing some research about your family heritage? Want to know why Jacksonville has such unique neighborhoods?
Look no further than the Special Collections section of Jacksonville Public Library’s downtown Main Library for some answers.
The Special Collections section is home to the Florida Collection, which has resources found nowhere else in the city. For example, did you know that while the South Jacksonville community was formed after the Civil War ended in 1865, it was not incorporated as a city until 1904?
Maps and documents in the Florida Collection show that it took 14 more years for the two cities of Jacksonville and South Jacksonville to be physically connected with the opening of the Acosta Bridge and another 25 years for South Jacksonville to be annexed to Jacksonville in 1932.
One of the most frequently accessed resources is The Times-Union Editorial Archive, which contains more than 130,000 vertical files and more than a million original photos and negatives. These include periodical clippings and photocopies, brochures, pamphlets, photographs and news releases used as source material in developing news items that appeared in the paper.
“We have Florida Times-Union microfilm dating back to November 1881,” Special Collections Manager Laura Minor said. “People use the microfilm to locate obituaries and historic newspaper articles.”
Other popular resources include vertical files with newspaper clippings, pamphlets and materials saved over the years about a variety of topics. Old insurance maps called Sanborn Maps track changes in building structure and building materials. People can also peruse city directories that date back to 1870 to look up someone and see where they lived or find an address and determine who occupied the building.
Until the Great Fire of 1901, most Jaxsons lived in downtown Jacksonville, with some living in the South Jacksonville community across the St. Johns River. But the Great Fire changed that in a little more than eight hours, as flames roared through 146 city blocks – destroying 2,368 buildings, taking seven lives and leaving nearly 10,000 people homeless.
“We have a series of telegraphs transmitted during the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1901 that serve to document the events immediately following the fire,” Minor said.
The event triggered a massive rebuilding. Within five months, more than 1,000 building permits were issued, as many of the city’s finest homes were built in the neighborhoods of Riverside and Springfield. The Florida Collection has maps of the city’s historic neighborhoods and real estate and marketing brochures that were used to encourage people to build in those neighborhoods.
The Florida Collection is also home to the photographs of Loyd Sandgren, a Jacksonville-based commercial photographer from the 1940s through the 1990s. After his death in 2001, the Jacksonville Public Library acquired a collection of more than 14,000 prints and thousands of negatives from his family. Many of these prints have been digitized and are available online, with more continuing to be added.
Another rich source of information are historic designation applications. The application for the Murray Hill Theater, which opened in 1949, notes that the theater included a special “crying room” outside the ladies’ room where mothers could view the screen while comforting babies and young children.
“It is interesting that the theater itself is Murray Hill-made,” said Special Collections Manager Laura Minor. “Murray Hill resident Benjamin P. Philips was responsible for construction, and Murray Hill architect William H. Marshall designed the theater.”
Special Collections is also home to the Memory Lab.
“We have stations that enable anyone with a library card to digitize books, photos, slides, negatives, microfilm, vinyl records, audiocassettes, reel-to-reel audiotapes, VHS, Hi8, Betamax, MiniDV, and 16mm, 8mm and Super 8 film formats free of charge,” Minor said.
People can donate to the collections as well. The library encourages people to donate to its already large collection of Duval County yearbooks and seeks other materials representative of life in the River City.
“We have a special interest in local history,” Minor said, “and a Neighborhood Project in which we hope to collect digital copies of materials representing each of Jacksonville’s neighborhoods.”
The Special Collections section is located on the fourth floor of the downtown Main Library. While materials in the Florida Collection cannot be checked out or browsed, a staff member is always present to assist with on-site research and help locate materials.
“Being specific about what you want to know is important so that our staff can pull them for you,” Minor said.
For more information on what is available, view the Jacksonville Public Library’s online catalog or call (904) 255-BOOK.
