Digital Collections - Florida: State Resource Guide - Research Guides at Library of Congress

Digital Collections - Florida: State Resource Guide - Research Guides at Library of Congress
Library of Congress
Research Guides
Main Reading Room
Florida: State Resource Guide
Digital Collections
Florida: State Resource Guide
Introduction
Digital Collections
Related Resources
External Websites
Print Bibliography
Digital Collections
Ask a Librarian
Have a question? Need assistance? Use our
online form
to ask a librarian for help.
Chat with a librarian
Monday through Friday, 12-4pm Eastern Time (except Federal Holidays).
Digital Collections
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of primary source materials related to Florida, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, motion pictures, photographs, sheet music, and sound recordings. Provided below is a link to the home page for each relevant digital collection along with selected highlights.
Written Materials
Prints and Photographs
Maps
Motion Pictures
Sound Recordings
Written materials in the Library's digital collections include books, government documents, manuscripts, and sheet music. Examples of written materials related to Florida are provided for most of the collections listed below.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940
The collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet, and miscellaneous observations. Included in the collection are 128 titles of mostly first-person accounts of life in Florida during the Great Depression.
View the American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940 Collection
This link opens in a new window
American Notes: Travels in America, 1750 to 1920
The collection comprises 253 published narratives by Americans and foreign visitors recounting their travels in the colonies and the United States and their observations and opinions about American peoples, places, and society from about 1750 to 1920.
View the American Notes: Travels in America, 1750 to 1920 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Volume 2--Florida from Our Whole Country; or, The Past and Present of the United States, Historical and Descriptive. By John Warner Barber ... and Henry Howe ...
This link opens in a new window
CHAPTER IX. Causes of the Florida War from the Second Series of A Diary in America, with Remarks on its Institutions. By Capt. Marryat
This link opens in a new window
The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
The American Variety Stage is a multimedia anthology selected from various Library of Congress holdings. This collection illustrates the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920. The collection contains two items that reference Florida.
View the American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 Collection
This link opens in a new window
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
The collection contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves.
View the Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Josephine Anderson, Tampa, Florida , October 20, 1937
This link opens in a new window
Samuel Simeon Andrews, Jacksonville, Florida , October 27, 1936
This link opens in a new window
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
The collection consists of a linked set of published congressional records of the United States of America from the Continental Congress through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875.
View the Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
An Act, For ascertaining claims and titles to land within the territory of Florida
This link opens in a new window
Treaty with the Florida Indians.
This link opens in a new window
East Florida Papers
This collection consists primarily of the records (65,000 items; 190,918 images) of the Spanish colonial government of East Florida from 1784, when Spain regained the colony from Great Britain according to the terms of the Treaty of Paris External, which settled the Revolutionary War, until 1821, when Spain ceded Florida to the United States after the Adams-Onís Treaty External of 1819. Some records dating back to the early eighteenth century are included. The collection is largely in Spanish, with some in English. The digital scans were created from 175 reels of previously produced microfilm.  A finding aid to the collection is available online (PDF and HTML) with links to the digital content on this site. Additional indexes and access tools are described below.
View the East Florida Papers
This link opens in a new window
The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
The collection documents the historical formation and cultural foundations of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage, through books, pamphlets, government documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, and motion picture footage drawn from the collections of the Library of Congress.
View the Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920 Collection
This link opens in a new window
Selected highlight from this collection:
U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 36, Part 1, Chap. 189, p. 964. "An Act To authorize the establishment of a marine biological station on the Gulf coast of the State of Florida." H.R. 10430; Public Act No. 438
This link opens in a new window
The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress
The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress presents the papers of the nineteenth-century African-American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and then risked his own freedom by becoming an outspoken antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher.
View the Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress
This link opens in a new window
Selected highlight from this collection:
Colored Men of Florida, 1884
This link opens in a new window
Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885
The collection contains more than 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright: more than 15,000 registered during the years 1820-60 and more than 47,000 registered during the years 1870-85.
View the Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
"Florida forever!"
This link opens in a new window
"Florida waltz"
This link opens in a new window
Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera collection at the Library of Congress is a rich repository of Americana. In total, the collection comprises 28,000 primary source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history. The collection includes twelve items printed in Florida.
View the Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Proclamation by the Governor. State of Florida ...
This link opens in a new window
State of Florida. Thanksgiving proclamation. William S. Jennings. 1904. [Tallahassee, 1904]
This link opens in a new window
Slaves and the Courts, 1740 to 1860
The collection contains just over 100 pamphlets and books (published between 1772 and 1889) concerning the difficult and troubling experiences of African and African-American slaves in the American colonies and the United States.
View the Slaves and the Courts, 1740 to 1860 Collection
This link opens in a new window
Selected highlight from this collection:
Trial and imprisonment of Jonathan Walker, at Pensacola, Florida, for aiding slaves to escape from bondage. With an appendix, containing a sketch of his life
This link opens in a new window
Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consist of approximately 27,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. The collection is organized into ten series or groupings, ranging in date from 1606 to 1827.
View the Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Albert Gallatin, April 4, 1806, Florida Purchase Memorandum
This link opens in a new window
McKee, Memoranda on Florida
This link opens in a new window
The visual material collections at the Library of Congress contains thousands of images documenting the history of Florida. Selected images of Florida are provided for each collection listed below. Search on terms such as or names of cities, towns, and sites, etc. to locate additional images.
Digital Collections: Photos, Prints, Drawings
This link opens in a new window
The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people. Search using the subject heading United States--Florida to find digital images related to Florida, such as prints, photographs, and political cartoons.
Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey
This link opens in a new window
This list includes structures identified as the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Search the online Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) records and consult the book The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog by William Allin Storrer, 2nd ed., 1974. As additional documentation is digitized from the HABS/HAER collection, entries will be added. The list includes images for Florida.
Pictorial Americana: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress
This link opens in a new window
The image lists includes prints and photographs relating to historical events to 1899; general subjects such as education, daily life, miners and mining; and views of U.S. locations (text and images). Images of Florida are included in the guide.
Detroit Publishing Company
This collection of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company Collection includes over 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies as well as about 300 color photolithograph prints, mostly of the eastern United States. Browse the collection by location to locate more than 900 photographs for Florida.
View the Detroit Publishing Company Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
City Hall, Jacksonville, Fla.
This link opens in a new window
Confederate Monument, Hemming Park, Jacksonville, Fla.
This link opens in a new window
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
The images in the collection show Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life and the adverse effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization. The collection contains more than 2,000 images of Florida.
View the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection
This link opens in a new window
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs
The color photographs of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection include scenes of rural and small-town life, migrant labor, and the effects of the Great Depression. Browse the collection by location to locate eleven images of Florida.
View the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs Collection
This link opens in a new window
Gottscho-Schleisner Collection
The Gottscho-Schleisner Collection is comprised of over 29,000 images primarily of architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings, and other structures. The collection contains more than 2,000 images pertaining to Florida.
View the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Good Samaritan Hospital, West Palm Beach, Florida. Library
This link opens in a new window
Prince & Princess Alex Zalstem Zalesky, residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Exterior I
This link opens in a new window
Prince & Princess Alex Zalstem Zalesky, residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Exterior II
This link opens in a new window
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States through a comprehensive range of building types and engineering technologies. Browse the collection by location to locate more than 700 items for Florida.
View the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Goodwood Plantation, Tallahassee, Leon County, FL
This link opens in a new window
West Florida Museum of History, 200 East Zaragoza Street, Pensacola, Escambia County, FL
This link opens in a new window
Panoramic Photographs
The collection contains approximately four thousand images featuring American cityscapes, landscapes, and group portraits. The images date from 1851 to 1991 and depict scenes in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. More than twenty foreign countries and a few U.S. territories are also represented.
View the Panoramic Photographs Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Arrival of first train at Key West, Fla., over sea, Florida East Coast R. R., Jan. 22, [19]12
This link opens in a new window
New bridge and Plant Park, Tampa, Fla.
This link opens in a new window
Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978 to 1996
The collection presents 181 segments from recorded interviews with quiltmakers and 410 graphic images (prints, positive transparencies, and negatives) from 2 collections in the American Folklife Center: the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project and the Lands' End All-American Quilt Contest Collection.
View the Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978 to 1996 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
1992 Florida State Winner
This link opens in a new window
1994 Florida State Winner
This link opens in a new window
1996 Florida State Winner
This link opens in a new window
The Library of Congress has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including over 19,000 CDs/DVDs.
Digital Collections: Maps and Cartography
This link opens in a new window
The online map collections represent only a small fraction that have been converted to digital form. The digital collections include more than 800 maps of Florida.
American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789
This collection represents an important historical record of the mapping of North America and the Caribbean. The maps and charts in this online collection number well over two thousand different items, with easily as many or more unnumbered duplicates, many with distinct colorations and annotations. The collections contain more than sixty maps for Florida.
View the American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Carte de la Louisiane, et de la Floride
This link opens in a new window
A map of part of West Florida : from Penfacola to the mouth of the Iberville River, with a view to shew the proper spot for a settlement on the Mifsifsipi
This link opens in a new window
Cities and Towns
This category includes maps that depict individual buildings to panoramic views of large urban areas. These maps record the evolution of cities illustrating the development and nature of economic activities, educational and religious facilities, parks, street patterns and widths, and transportation systems.
View the Cities and Towns Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Dowling Park, Suwannee County, Florida
This link opens in a new window
Gulf Hammock, Florida, satellite image map: NASA LANDSAT-1 1:500,000, N2849W08245
This link opens in a new window
Civil War Maps
This presentation contains approximately 2,240 Civil War maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks that are held within the Geography and Map Division, 200 maps from the Library of Virginia, and 400 maps from the Virginia Historical Society. Browse this category by location to locate more than twenty maps for Florida.
View the Civil War Maps Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Map of the cost [sic] of Georgia & Florida
This link opens in a new window
St. Mary's River and Fernandina harbor, Florida
This link opens in a new window
Panoramic Maps
The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle.
View the Panoramic Maps Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Bird's eye view of Cedar-Key, Fla., Levy Co.
This link opens in a new window
Green Cove Springs, county seat of Clay County, Florida. 1885
This link opens in a new window
Railroad Maps, 1828 to 1900
The Railroad maps represent an important historical record, illustrating the growth of travel and settlement as well as the development of industry and agriculture in the United States. They depict the development of cartographic style and technique, highlighting the achievement of early railroaders. Included in the collection are progress report surveys for individual lines, official government surveys, promotional maps, maps showing land grants and rights-of-way, and route guides published by commercial firms.
View the Railroad Maps, 1828 to 1900 Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Maps showing the Florida Transit and Peninsula Rail Road and its connections
This link opens in a new window
A new sectional map of Florida issued by the land department of the South Florida R. R. Co. and the Plant Investment Co.
This link opens in a new window
Sanborn Maps
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist provides a searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The online checklist is based upon the Library's 1981 publication Fire Insurance Maps in the Library of Congress and will be continually updated to reflect new acquisitions. Browse the collection by location to locate more than 400 maps for Florida.
View the Sanborn Maps Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Apopka, Orange County, Florida
This link opens in a new window
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Daytona, Volusia County, Florida
This link opens in a new window
Transportation and Communication
These maps document the development and status of transportation and communication systems on the national, state, and local level. Transportation maps can depict canal and river systems, cycling routes , railway lines and systems, roads and road networks, and traffic patterns. Communication maps illustrate the location and distribution of telegraph routes, telephone systems and radio coverage.
View the Transportation and Communication Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Map of the peninsula of Florida and adjacent islands: East Coast Line, the St. Augustine routes and connections
This link opens in a new window
Transportation map of Florida
This link opens in a new window
The Library oversees one of the largest collections of motion pictures in the world. Acquired primarily through copyright deposit, exchange, gift and purchase, the collection spans the entire history of the cinema. The following moving image collections contain materials related to Florida.
Digital Collections: Film and Video
This link opens in a new window
The moving image collections at the Library of Congress include a wide variety of films ranging from historic silent films to webcasts of recent Library events and performances. Search for your state by subject (begin with United States and then select Florida).
Civil Rights History Project
On May 12, 2009, the U. S. Congress authorized a national initiative by passing The Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-19). The law directed the Library of Congress (LOC) and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to conduct a national survey of existing oral history collections with relevance to the Civil Rights movement to obtain justice, freedom and equality for African Americans and to record and make widely accessible new interviews with people who participated in the struggle. The project was initiated in 2010 with the survey and with interviews beginning in 2011. Browse the collection by location to locate eight interviews for Florida.
View the Civil Rights History Project
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Audrey Nell Hamilton and JoeAnn Anderson Ulmer oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Saint Augustine, Florida, 2011 September 13
This link opens in a new window
Purcell Maurice Conway oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Saint Augustine, Florida, 2011 September 13
This link opens in a new window
Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
The collection features 341 motion pictures, 81 disc sound recordings, and other related materials, such as photographs and original magazine articles.
View the Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Military camp at Tampa, taken from train
This link opens in a new window
U.S. cavalry supplies unloading at Tampa, Florida
This link opens in a new window
The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures
This presentation features 68 motion pictures, produced between 1898 and 1901, of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine Revolution. Browse the collection by location to locate more than ten motion pictures for Florida.
View the Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures Collection
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Military camp at Tampa, taken from train
This link opens in a new window
U.S. cavalry supplies unloading at Tampa, Florida
This link opens in a new window
The Library of Congress holds the nation's largest public collection of sound recordings (music and spoken word) and radio broadcasts, some 3 million recordings in all.
Digital Collections: Recorded Sound
This link opens in a new window
Search for recordings for Florida by selecting from the larger list of locations.
Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937 to 1942
The collection is a multiformat ethnographic field collection documenting African-American, Arabic, Bahamian, British-American, Cuban, Greek, Italian, Minorcan, Seminole, and Slavic cultures throughout Florida. Recorded by Robert Cook, Herbert Halpert, Zora Neale Hurston, Stetson Kennedy, Alton Morris, and others in conjunction with the Florida Federal Writers' Project, the Florida Music Project, and the Joint Committee on Folk Arts of the Work Projects Administration, it features folksongs and folktales in many languages, including blues and work songs from menhaden fishing boats, railroad gangs, and turpentine camps; children's songs, dance music, and religious music of many cultures; and interviews, also known as "life histories." The collection includes a special presentation, "A Florida Treasure Hunt."
View the Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937 to 1942
This link opens in a new window
The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America
The Songs of America presentation allows you to explore American history as documented in the work of some of our country's greatest composers, poets, scholars, and performers. From popular and traditional songs, to poetic art songs and sacred music, the relationship of song to historical events from the nation's founding to the present is highlighted through more than 80,000 online items. Browse the collection by location to locate more than 400 items for Florida.
View the Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America Collection
This link opens in a new window
September 11, 2001, Documentary Project
The September 11, 2001, Documentary Project captures the heartfelt reactions, eyewitness accounts, and diverse opinions of Americans and others in the months that followed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93. Browse by location to locate five interviews from Florida.
View the September 11, 2001, Documentary Project
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
Interview with Brian Fornoles, Orlando, Florida, September 18, 2001
This link opens in a new window
Interview with Quanita Fermakis, Orlando, Florida, September 17, 2001
This link opens in a new window
Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
The collection is a multiformat ethnographic field collection that includes nearly 700 sound recordings, as well as fieldnotes, dust jackets, and other manuscripts documenting a 3-month, 6,502-mile trip through the southern United States.
Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
This link opens in a new window
A selection of highlights from this collection includes:
1939 Southern Recording Trip Fieldnotes--Section 18: Newberry, Florida; June 1
This link opens in a new window
1939 Southern Recording Trip Fieldnotes--Section 19: State Penitentiary, Raiford, Florida; June 2-5
This link opens in a new window
<<
Previous:
Introduction
Next:
Related Resources >>
Jan 30, 2026 1:48 PM
URL:
Print Page
Login to LibApps
Subjects:
American History
History
Hosted by Springshare
Library of Congress Legal
SpringShare Privacy Policy