May is Florida Golf Month! Get out there and hit the links at one of the more than 1,200 golf courses in the Sunshine State. Enjoy a few of our favorite photographs of Florida golfers getting whacky.
Golfer standing on Rosie the elephant, Miami Beach, 1927
Ringling Circus clown Paul Jerome golfing in Sarasota, 1960
Marie Fajardo playing golf on Daytona Beach, 1960
May is National Barbecue Month. Some etymologists believe the word barbecue comes from the Timucuan Indian word “baribicu” meaning “sacred fire.”
“Mode of Drying Fish, Wild Animals, and other Provisions,” from an engraving by Theodor de Bry
There is no doubt that barbecue and barbecuing is sacred to many Floridians today and was certainly enjoyed by the Timucuans of yesterday. From the meat lover to the vegan, Florida’s beautiful spring weather demands that we come together for a barbecue!
Barbecue at the Koreshan Unity, Estero, ca. 1945
Barbeque at the annual cattle round-up, Big Cypress Reservation, 1949
Barbecuing ribs at the Mathews Bridge barbecue, Jacksonville, 1953
Barbecuing at the boat-a-cade, Kissimmee, 1955
Barbecued corn on the cob, Tallahassee, 1961
Family picnic at Lake Talquin, Leon County, 1963
Tallahassee Fire Department Lt. Tommy E. Roberts grilling with his daughters, Tallahassee, 1968
Barbecuing at the Florida Folk Festival, White Springs, 1983
Rosalie Pitts (L) and Rovenia Certain barbecuing at the Zora Neale Hurston Festival, Eatonville, 1991
Governor LeRoy Collins and State Forester C.H. Coulter planting Florida’s “1,000,000,000th” pine seedling, Tallahassee, ca. 1960
Governor Claude Kirk and State Forester C.H. Coulter planting Florida’s “2 billionth” slash pine, Tallahassee, 1969
April is National Poetry Month. Florida, called “[t]he State with the most beautiful name…” by poet Elizabeth Bishop, has been the home and inspiration for many famous and not so famous poets over the centuries.
James Weldon Johnson, ca. 1920
Robert Frost with two Florida State College for Women students, Tallahassee, ca. 1940
Renowned poets such as Donald Justice, Nathaniel Mackey, and James Weldon Johnson were born in Florida. Others, such as Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Frost chose Florida as a haven for inspiration.
Poet, publisher, and playwright Kirby Congdon, Key West, ca. 1968
Allen Ginsberg with protesters at the Republican National Convention, Miami Beach, 1972
Poet and dancer Lucille Ranger-Brown performing on Jamaican Independence Day, Miami, 1985
Cowboy poet Carl Sharp, Kenansville, 2006
National Bookmobile Day celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities.
Leon County Public Library Bookmobile, Tallahassee, 1965
It’s National Library Week! Dorothy Dodd served as State Librarian from 1952 until 1965. She was also Florida’s first State Archivist.
Throughout her tenure at the State Library of Florida, Dr. Dodd actively preserved valuable Florida records and documents. With her foresight and knowledge of the state and its history, she built a collection of outstanding scope and depth. She is credited with assembling more than 15,000 cataloged items in the Florida Collection of the State Library of Florida.
Dr. Dorothy Dodd and student flattening documents (1953)
Although there was no money for the archives, she managed to rescue from destruction and organize 260 linear feet of territorial and state records and manuscript collections.
These records included negatives from a Tallahassee photographer’s attic and original reports of Florida’s role in the state and federal vote-fraud investigations surrounding the contested 1876 Hayes-Tilden presidential election.
Dorothy Dodd long jumping during field day in Tallahassee, Florida (1920)
Nominated by former Governor LeRoy Collins, she was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame in 1986.
Congratulations to Okeechobee, Main Street Community of the Month for April 2013! Learn more about the Florida Main Street Program.
Steamboat Mary Howard, early 1900s
Lake Drive, 1910s
Railroad Depot, 1910s
Fanny Stuart and Susie Tiger, Indian Prairie, 1919
Downtown, 1924
Levee Construction, 1935
Calf Roping at the Rodeo, 1949
Seminoles at the Rodeo, 1949
Charles Hunt and Mary Padgett at the Soda Fountain, 1949
Fish Caught in Lake Okeechobee, 1977
Leather Belt Pattern by Bob Dellis, 1992
Working Cow-Dog, Dixie Ranch, 2008
Kaley Dees, 2008
Dixie Ranch, ca. 2008
Visit Florida Memory to learn more about Okeechobee and its residents.
Join in the VIVA Florida 500 commemoration, April 4-6, 2013, at the R.A. Gray Building in downtown Tallahassee.
Go behind the scenes at the Bureau of Archaeological Research Conservation Lab, view three rarely displayed documents from the State Archives, and take a guided tour of the Museum of Florida History’s new permanent exhibit Forever Changed: La Florida, 1513-1821.
Conservation Lab
10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
Museum of Florida History
11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m.
The R. A. Gray Building is located two blocks west of the Capitol Building on Bronough Street, between the Civic Center and the Supreme Court of Florida: 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399, 850.245.4400.
Congratulations to Fort Pierce, Main Street Community of the Month for March 2013! Learn more about the Florida Main Street Program.
P.P. Cobb General Store, early 1900s
Lowell Hill and daughter, early 1900s
Florida East Coast Railroad Station, early 1900s
Harry Hill with Goliath grouper, early 1900s
Riverfront, 1908
2nd Street, 1910s
Billy Bowlegs III, 1916
Senator Claude Pepper speaking at the dedication of the park named in his honor, 1950
Entrance to the Florida Turnpike, 1959
Indian River Community College, 1963
“Miss Sandy Shoes” Jan Arnold (later Russell), 1972
Frederick Douglas Memorial Park, 1994
Gospel steel guitarist Aubrey Ghent (left) teaching his apprentice Elton Noble, 1994
Visit Florida Memory to see more images of Fort Pierce and its residents.
This year is the 40th anniversary of National Nutrition Month. Celebrated in March, National Nutrition Month is a nutrition education and information campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign focuses attention on “the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.”
Alice Cromartie teaching a lesson in nutrition: Tallahassee (January 10, 1955)
4-H short course on nutrition: Tallahassee (1949)
Class in infant nutrition at Florida A&M College: Tallahassee (ca. 1935)
