University Archives and West Florida History Center
The University Archives and West Florida History Center has approximately 800 collections totaling about 1.8 million items. A collection may consist of personal papers, manuscripts, genealogical and business records, photographs, maps, audio and video materials, and other sources of information. We also place a "tickler" collection-level entry in the library catalog for most entries.
We have one of the largest research collections on West Florida, its history, development, and people from the earliest settlements to the present, covering aspects of the region. In addition, we are also the archives of the University of West Florida.
IMPORTANT: The online databases and indexes available here cover only a small portion of our actual collections and holdings, which number 1.8 million items across over 800 collections, 250,000 photographs, 6,000 maps, and other materials, with new research materials arriving daily. Visits, phone calls, and e-mails to the Department are highly encouraged.
- J. Earle Bowden Cartoon Archive - In 2013, J. Earle Bowden, editor emeritus and cartoonist of the Pensacola News Journal, began donating the original drawings of his cartoons to the University of West Florida's Archives at the John C. Pace Library. They can be viewed and searched on the project's dedicated website.
- West Florida Photohistory - This resource contains thousands of photographs of the Bell Collection. Henry Bell operated a photography studio in Pensacola from 1911 to 1949, and these images are of Pensacola individuals, families, weddings, theatre actors, visitors, politicians, and others. The West Florida Photohistory Project is part of the PALMM (Publication of Archives, Libraries, and Museum Materials), a cooperative project of Florida's state universities.
- Florida Heritage Collection - The Florida Heritage Collection is an ongoing cooperative project of the State University System (SUS) of Florida to digitize and provide online access to materials broadly representing Florida's history, culture, arts, literature, sciences, and social sciences. UWF digitized and contributed many books, paraphernalia, and other items related to the history of West Florida.
ArchivesSpace
The ArchivesSpace database includes both the collection description and the collection inventory for searching by name, subject, title, etc. However, ArchivesSpace only covers about 240 of the 700 collections in the Department. This is constantly changing as we add new inventories and collections. Remember that the collection inventories can be consulted in the University Archives and West Florida History Center or by contacting the staff of the department. ArchivesSpace also includes digital objects such as digitized photographs, documents, and other files.
PALMM Digital Collections
The Florida Virtual Campus hosts the PALMM Digital Collections site. Various digital materials and collections from the University Archives and West Florida History Center are available here (and many are mirrored elsewhere).
UWF Digital Archives
The UWF Digital Archives facilitates the management of digitized primary sources such as historic local newspapers and magazines, letters, diaries, ship’s logs, photographs, research collections, and other digital content.
- Pensacola Lighthouse and Maritime Museum Collection – The Pensacola Lighthouse and Maritime Museum Collection includes the handwritten journals of the keeps of the Pensacola Lighthouse from 1881 to 1898.
- UWF Historic Trust Resource Center Collections – The digital collections from the UWF Historic Trust include the Edward Middleton Letters from the 1870s, ship’s logs from both naval and commercial vessels, historical documents and photos from the Port of Pensacola and the Quarantine Station, the family papers of Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, and the Wentworth Papers on the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
- Newspapers – The Newspaper Collection consists of local historical newspapers including The Colored Citizen (issues dated 1914 – 1958), Molino Advertiser (issues dated 1915 – 1918), The Florida Sentinel Annual (1900, 1904, and 1912), and The Pensacola Courier (issues dated 1948 – 1958)
- West Florida Serials – This collection is highlighted by Via Pensacola, the monthly publication of the Pensacola Port Authority. Most issues of Via Pensacola from 1958 – 1991 are digitized for use.
Users are advised to search all of the above resources.
Guide to Manuscripts and University Archives and West Florida History Center
This Guide below is an alphabetical collection description listing (by title of collection) to the individual collections of manuscripts, personal papers, business records, and governmental archives held by University Archives and West Florida History Center. Each collection also has an inventory listing the folders and contents of each box of records. For example, the Guide may have a paragraph describing the collection, but the inventory could be a listing of the contents of over 100 boxes. If a collection inventory is not online, it is available in the Center. (Scope: 700+ collections).