Political Collection--Almost 5,000 images of prominent Florida political leaders

Collection Number: S1842
Creator: Florida. Legislature. House of Representatives. Office of the Clerk.
Title: Photographs of Florida Political Figures, 1821-2002.
Quantity: Almost 5,000 photographs

Description: This series includes portraits and photographs first collected by Allen Morris, and images collected by the Florida Photographic Collection on a continuing basis, primarily from the House Clerk's Office, of governors, members of the cabinet, justices, and legislators; print, radio, and television journalists; and state agencies, buildings, and workers. The series includes images of all Florida territorial and statehood governors, most of Florida's United States Senators and Congressional representatives, most cabinet members, and many state legislators, either singly or in groups.

Notable in this series are composites of House of Representatives portraits for odd-numbered years from 1947 through 1967 and for 1968-70, 1970-72, 1972-74, 1982-84, and 2000-2002; and composites of Senate portraits for 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, and 1969.

Historical Note: The Florida Photographic Collection was established in 1952 by Allen Morris, a political columnist and compiler of The Florida Handbook. Realizing that the visual documentation of Florida's history was being lost to neglect and destruction, Morris initiated steps to prevent further loss. With the assistance of Dr. Doak Campbell, President of Florida State University, Morris began to assemble photographs of Florida people and places. The collection became part of the library on the F.S.U. campus, housed first in Dodd Hall and later in R.M. Strozier Library. In 1982 the collection became part of the Florida State Archives and was moved to the Archives facility in the R.A. Gray Building, where it continues to expand in size and scope.

Some of the images for which Dr. Morris first searched were political. Because of his longtime interest in Florida history, the three branches of government, and the reporters and columnists who covered them, he began to track down and collect the images that formed the basis of this series.