Florida Archives and Manuscripts Repositories

Photo archives of people and buildings. Many artifacts from the 1800s to the early 1950s Many local Indian artifacts found near Lake Apopka, Artifacts from the lumber, citrus, turpentine and foliage industries. Microfilm and Scrapbboks of articles from Apopka Chief newspaper, Highschool yearbooks.

A full size replica of Fort Christmas which was built during the Second Seminole Indian War, 1835 - 1842. Seven restored historical homes preserve the 'Cracker' architecture of East Orange County. The houses are interpreted to show pioneer life from the 1870s through the 1930s. Key themes are homesteading, cattle, citrus, hunting, fishing and trapping. Has exhibits, a video presentation on the Seminole Indian Wars and scheduled events, reenactments and demonstrations related to local history such as the Florida Living History Festival, Militia Encampments and Cracker Christmas.

Website has virtual tour of fort and surrounding houses.

Sponsors the ZORA! STEM, Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, Excellence Without Excuse (E-WE) Community Computer Arts Lab & Learning Center and The Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Art (The Hurston).

Mission is to enhance the resources of Eatonville, Florida, “the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States” and the hometown of writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston; to educate the public about Eatonville’s historic and cultural significance; and to use the community’s heritage and cultural vibrancy for its economic development.

The former home of famed horticulturalist Henry Nehrling, the "patron saint of Florida gardens." who purchased the property in 1885 to establish a garden where he could experiment with tropical and subtropical plants year round. It evolved into a scientific growing and testing facility for newly discovered plant material from all over the world. It is now community resource and education center focused on historic preservation, horticultural education and environmental conservation. Specimens of the original 100-year old tree canopy and many of his plantings still exists as well as the original home – and authentic example of pioneer Florida life.

Has an Archive and Library with a large collection of artifacts, books, letters, cards, photographs and other memorabilia, oral interviews of survivors and liberators of the Holocaust. Sponsors permanent and traveling exhibits and films. They also have a number of exhibits available on loan to schools as well as the Teaching Trunks.

Archive is open by appointment only.

The Maitland Art Center was founded as an art colony in 1937 artist and architect, André Smith. Sponsors gallery exhibitions, art programming, and a strong curriculum of art instruction for all age groups and levels. It one of the few surviving examples of “Mayan Revival” or fantasy architecture in the Southeast. Also has founder Smith’s original book collection, containing many rare volumes and art folios.

In 2014 The Maitland Art Center beame the first National Historic Landmark in the four counties of Central Florida and one of only 44 located in Florida.

Documents the history and life of small town Florida. Includes cemetery and early City records, photographs, obituaries, voter registration information and the Waterhouse, Hill, and Dommerich family archives. The Telephone Museum collection includes telephones, equipment, and archives representing the story of the Galloway family who started telephone service in this area and the story of the rise of Winter Park Telephone Company.

The Packwood Avenue campus includes the Maitland Historical Museum, and The Telephone Museum.

Built in 1884 by pioneer settler and builder William H. Waterhouse as a home for his family the collection includes Victorian residential items, reflecting a middle class family lifestyle in nineteenth century Central Florida. The Carpentry Shop Museum includes a collection of antique woodworking tools, as well as tools owned by Mr.Waterhouse, used to build many of Maitland early homes and Waterhouse’s woodworking and construction business.

The Lake Lily campus has Waterhouse Residence Museum and Carpentry Shop Museum. Has guided tours by trained docents. The Cottage at Lake Lily and the Studios at Lake Lily are available by appointment only.

Disolved in 2012 and assets were distributed to various local organizations including the Henry Nehrling Society and the Winter Garden Heritage Museum. From the Oct.13, 2011 meeting minutes " We are no longer wanted or needed by the city"

Built in 1888 the house is open for tours and can be rented for rehearsal dinners, weddings, receptions, bridal/baby showers, corporate functions and anniversaries. Is on the National Registry of Historic Places. The house is of a Gothic Stick Style with Heart-pine floors throughout the interior of the home which is encompassed with a wrap-around porch. The house has served as a museum of the families that built and occupied it, as well as of other pioneer families in the area and the city's history.

The Friends of Ocoee History Preservation, formed and is active with the house.

Besides documenting all aspects of a 48 year-old worldwide missions organization, this institutional archives will also include the papers of Dr. Bill Bright, founder of CCCI, and Mrs. Vonette Bright, co-founder of CCCI and founder of the National Prayer Committee.

The National Vietnam War Museum includes the first monument in the state of Florida dedicated to fallen Vietnam War Veterans, with 167 names of men and women from Orange County, Florida. Other static displays consist of a U. S. Navy Patrol Boat River (PBR), also known as “River Rat”, a Douglas A-4B Sky Hawk aircraft, and a Bell UH-1 (Huey) Dustoff helicopter. The existing museum center includes numerous artifacts from the Vietnam era, a room-size, to scale, firebase re-creation that took approximately eleven years to complete, and a recently remodeled educational media/research room with enhanced audiovisual capabilities.

Unlike most other museums, this is a hands-on establishment, where visitors can touch the exhibit pieces and get into the vehicles.

The Leu House Museum is a restored 19th century home listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Each of the 29 different gardens is designed specifically to further the mission: inspire visitors to appreciate and understand various types of plants both edible and ornamental.Included are Florida friendly roses and one of the largest documented collections of camellias in the Southeast.The Garden House Welcome Center is the permanent home to a variety of art and rotating exhibits. The reference library has more than 2,000 volumes of gardening and botany books. Offers classes, tours and a weekly plant clinic.

Mulford B. Foster has 8 paintings here donated by his estate to the city of Orlando.

Documents nearly 200 years of Central Florida history. Features a photo archives, of more than 16,000 photographs and postcards, a research library, and a collection of archival material such as clipping files on thousands of subjects including local individuals and families, businesses, and significant events, Personal papers of notable individuals including civic and government leaders, Local history reference books; city directories; architectural and real estate resources; and genealogy resources and Central Florida maps from the 1840s to the present.

Special Collections acquires monographs, maps, photographs, ephemera, and visual and audio materials that have a central function to the curriculum that support long-term research goals. The University Archives holds publications, records, photographs, and other materials about the University of Central Florida, formerly Florida Technological University, from its beginnings in 1963 to the current day.

Mainly research materials used by Carl D. Patterson, former mayor and historian to compile his book Windermere among the Lakes: the story of a small town. There are binders covering 45 years of annual town events and history. Hand written original meeting minutes from the Town Council, Chamber of Commerce and various civic and religious organizations from 1925-1966. Financial records such as budget and real estate appraisals. Voter's registration roles, books, correspondence, newspaper articles, photographs, CD'S, audio cassettes, resident biographies, maps, National Register Nominations and annual reports. Collection spans 1904-2006.

Orlando Regional History Center also has information on the town. One of their staff created the finding aid and ORHC is also going to scan all the research materials used in creating the book. Windermere may also donate these items to ORHC if a suitable place can't be found in Windermere.

Located in the Tavares and Gulf Railroad depot built in 1913, the museum holds a large collection of dining car china and silverware, a 1938 Fairmont motor car, a velocipede hand car and the former Clinchfield Railroad caboose, #1073 and extensive private collections of local, state and national memorabilia and photographs of Central Florida’s railway history. Child-friendly and a must-see for all real train-buffs.

Winter Garden Heritage Foundation operates this and the Winter Garden Heritage Museum.

Housed in the 1918 Atlantic Coast Line Depot, the museum features a large collection of local citrus labels, a citrus packing house replica and an audio kiosk detailing the area’s citrus history, as well as Native American artifacts, and photographs and memorabilia of the area dating from the days of pioneer settlement to the present. In addition, an exhibit on Lake Apopka details the history and on-going restoration of the former “large-mouth bass capital.” Just outside the museum stands a 1943 Cheshire caboose and a 1950s fire truck, as well as old tractors and equipment used in the local citrus industry.

Winter Garden Heritage Foundation operates this and the Central Florida railroad museum.

Dedicated to preserving the works of Czech sculptor Albin Polasek, celebrating representational art and exhibiting regional and international artists. With over 200 works by Polasek, the museum is his retirement home. A 2004 Florida Artists Hall of Fame inductee Albin Polasek, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only 30 members of the National Trust’s Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios.

Contains the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933), including the artist and designer’s jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass lamps and windows; his chapel interior from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; and art and architectural objects from his Long Island country estate, Laurelton Hall. The Museum’s holdings also include American art pottery, late 19th- and early 20th-century American painting, graphics, decorative art.

Includes Floridiana, the papers of Hamilton Holt, horticulturalists Henry Nehrling and Theodore L. Mead, Rex Beach, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Collection, and the Jessie B. Rittenhouse Collection of Poetry. Its extensive College archives holds the papers, photographs and memorabilia of former faculty, students, administrators and staff, among them "Mister Rogers" who graduated in 1951 with a degree in music. Also documents the history of Winter Park.

Collects, preserves, promotes and researches the history of Winter Park and its surrounding area through educational programs,exhibits, lecture series and walking tours and the operation of a museum. Collections include the Langford Hotel Scrapbook Collection,Winter Park Vintage Postcard Collection and 150 oral histories from a variety of people who lived and worked in the community such as Hugh F. McKean,James Gamble Rogers and Robert Langford.

Maintains city government records, newspaper clipping files, postcards and photographs, biographies and an institutional archives. Significant collections include Paula Hawkins Collection, Langford Hotel collection and Jernigan Family Collection, Albin Polasek Museum Archives, the Philip Crosby Collection, the Hiram Powers Family Collection, and the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival Poster Collection.