| Images in the West Florida
Photohistory come from the various holdings of the Special
Collections Department, John C. Pace Library, University
of West Florida. The Department holds some 750 collections
of papers of families, businesses, organizations, and individuals
including Florida Governor Sidney Catts and a number of
congressmen from Florida. The Department is also the University
Archives for the University of West Florida.
Collections emphasize the history and development of
the West Florida region, the Florida Panhandle including
lumber and timber industries, shipping, railroads, military
presence (Naval Aviation, Air Force), history of education,
and other topics.
The “West Florida Photohistory” component
is a composite photograph collection of images taken
from many different individual archival collections,
and will also include images contributed from collaborators
with UWF’s historic preservation iniatives.
The initial contribution to “West Florida Photohistory” is
the Bell Collection, a group of 7,500 glass plate negatives,
from Pensacola photographer H. Lee Bell, and possibly
an earlier photographer, George Turton, for whom Bell
worked before opening his own studio circa 1911. These
images show Pensacola people as well as visitors, tourists,
and others including Florida Governors, ministers, priests,
families, children, and weddings, circa 1900-1920. |
