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Shelf number: 16682.

General Note

In 1931 Josiah K. Lilly, the son of Indiana pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli K. Lilly, suggested a memorial to composer Stephen Foster, whose song "Old Folks at Home" made the Suwannee River known all over the world. The Florida Federation of Music Clubs adopted his idea and obtained contributions of land in White Springs, Florida. The Stephen Foster Memorial Commission administered the development of the park, which opened in 1950.

Dioramas at the Stephen Foster Museum at Stephen Foster Center are 6 feet by 9 feet at 1/6 scale. They began in 1935 as a couple of dioramas used for an exhibit at the World's Fair. Foster L. Barnes worked there and later came to White Springs as the museum's first curator, bringing the original dioramas with him. Barnes later had more dioramas made by Exhibit Builders, Inc., in De Land, Florida.