About Florida Memory

The State Archives of Florida is the central repository for the archives of Florida State Government. It is mandated by law to collect, preserve, and make available for research the historically significant records of the State, as well as private manuscripts, local government records, photographs, and other materials that complement the official State records.

In a concentrated effort to make the collection available to the largest possible audience, the State Archives of Florida applied for grant funding under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) to digitize a large part of the collection and to make it accessible through the internet. This Web site is a result of that project.

Florida Memory provides a web-based structure for primary records that illustrates significant moments in the state's history, provides educational resources for students of all ages, and makes available collections for historical research. Florida Memory utilizes original documents, photographs, and other materials from the collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida.

The five primary components of Florida Memory are:

1) The Florida Photographic Collection: a searchable image database of over 160,000 online photographs.

2) The Online Classroom: an educational web site for students and teachers with transcripts and scanned images of original diaries, letters, documents and photographs from Florida's past. Materials, lesson plans, online activities and quizzes are referenced to the Sunshine State Standards.

3) Highlights of Florida History: an online exhibit of significant State Archives documents representing some of Florida's defining moments.

4) Collections: online access to selected historical and genealogical collections.

5) Timeline: an interactive timeline of people and events featured on the Florida Memory site.