MOSAIC Collection--Over 1,100 images of Jewish life in Florida, 1880s-1960s

Collection Number: M88-77
Creator: MOSAIC, Jewish Life in Florida (Organization).
Title: MOSAIC Project Photographic Collection, 1880-1970.
Quantity: Over 1,100 photographs

Description: This collection consists of 650 black-and-white images documenting the lives and experiences of Florida's Jewish community and their contributions to the state's history, culture, and growth as an ethnically diverse, modern state. Among the photographs in this collection are images depicting Jewish individuals and families; social, religious, ceremonial, and celebratory activities; and synagogue, home, and school scenes.

Historical Note: The MOSAIC Project was organized to document the history of Jews and Jewish life in Florida. Initially formed as a local project in 1984, it was expanded to a statewide effort in 1986 with funding from the Florida Legislature and grant funding from state agencies. MOSAIC, Inc. was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1989 "to retrieve, document, preserve, and display for the public benefit - photographs, documents and artifacts depicting the Jewish experience in Florida." MOSAIC was a joint project of the University of Miami Judaic Studies Program, the Soref Jewish Community Center (Ft. Lauderdale), and the Central Agency for Jewish Education, in association with the Florida Department of State and the Florida Endowment for the Humanities. The main focus of the project was development of a traveling exhibit portraying Jewish life in Florida, along with community education programs to augment the impact of the exhibit. The exhibit opened in Miami in October 1990 and traveled to ten other Florida cities through 1993; in 1994 the exhibit traveled nationally. In 1995, MOSAIC found a permanent home with the opening of the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami Beach. The museum can be contacted at (305) 672-5044 or by writing to 301 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139. MOSAIC assembled over 6,000 items and later loaned prints to the Florida State Archives for copying. The images selected by Archives staff for copying form this collection.