Florida Archives and Manuscripts Repositories

Part of the Polk County History Center occupying the second floor. A selection of materials related specifically to the history of Polk include newspapers, aerial photographs, city directories, property tax rolls, cemetery records and more. The library website contains a number of online resources, including indexes to Polk marriages, cemeteries and obituary records.

Oral histories of Haines City pioneers and photographs from the 1950's.

Maintains a number of collections documenting the history and development of the Singing Tower and Gardens, as well as the historic Pinewood Estate. The Anton Brees Carillon Library houses one of the world's largest collections of carillon related materials, including a large number of scores, personal papers of carillonneurs, and the archives of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. The Chao Research Center Archives houses the institutional records of the Gardens including many Bok family papers- the Bok Newspaper Scrapbook Collection, Pinewood Estate Collection and American Foundation Collection. Available by appointment only.

The Museum focuses on the history of Lake Wales and the Lake Wales Ridge. The museum includes 15,000 artifacts, 4 historic buildings, two train cars, and a locomotive. Housed in the 1928 Atlantic Coast Line Train Depot, the museum has operated for over 40 years.

Florida Presbyterian Homes is a retirement community that began in 1955. The repository documents the development of the Homes with extensive original manuscripts, clippings, photographs. Of interest to the study of the Lakeland area and the Presbyterian Church.

The history committee preserves and displays historical and biographical information about FPH and its residents. Dr. Richard Adicks, retired history professor at UCF, served on the Board of Directors.

Collections consist of records, manuscripts, printed and published material, maps, more than 10,000 photographic prints and negatives documenting Lakeland from the turn of the century to the present. Films, videotapes, audio cassettes, scrapbooks, posters, news clips, newsletters and ephemera, especially postcards and citrus labels. The unit also maintains an index to obituaries in The Ledger from 1911 to 1975 and 1999 to the present and an index to deaths in Polk County between 1975 and 1998.The manuscript materials consist of personal papers and business records of a number of prominent citizens of Lakeland and the records of such civic organizations and social clubs as the Lakeland Chapter of the DAR, the Sorosis Club, the Woman's Club, and Historic Lakeland.

From the FAQ page: Where did the swans come from? Swans were reported to be on the city's lakes as early as 1923. The current birds are descendants of a pair of mute swans imported from England from the royal flock on the Thames River that arrived in 1957 and were donated by Queen Elizabeth. The city paid for the capture and shipping to Lakeland.

Official repository for the archival materials owned by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. This collection documents Methodism in Florida and contains church histories, oral histories, photographs and church records including membership lists, plates, postcards, museum objects, memorabilia, histories, biographies, hymnals, and general reference books.

The McKay Archives' collections include the institutional records of Florida Southern College created or used in the course of business since 1885; personal as well as faculty papers, photographs, audio, video and artifact materials, including the Florida Citrus Archives collected and preserved by Thomas B. Mack (1914-2004), when he was a professor at the College, since 2001 the official archives of the Florida citrus industry The collection strengths are photographs, postcards, organizational records, architectural drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright, school yearbooks and newspapers.

The College is home to the world’s largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012.