Index of Government House collection online

Thomas Reed Caswell, University of Florida Libraries Liaison for the Government House Research Collection, has forwarded some exciting news to the St. Augustine news desk at Historic City News of interest to readers who research local historical subject matter.

“Mike, I never imagined that this would happen,” said St. Augustine City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline. “It’s a dream come true for us who regularly look to historical documents to tell us more about who we are and how we got here.”

Many St. Augustine residents probably do not realize that during its existence from 1959 to 1997, the State of Florida’s Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board accumulated holdings that include government documents and books on historic preservation, planning, Spanish colonial history, anthropology, historic archaeology, architecture, cultural resource management, decorative arts, and other subjects pertinent to the history of St. Augustine.

There’s a good explanation for that — access to the original documents in the collection is limited to “pre-approved researchers”. Further the collection can only be inspected “by appointment”.

The collection presently includes records related to an estimated 2,100 items that have since been overseen by the City of St. Augustine’s Department of Heritage Tourism and Historic Preservation.

“What has been under lock and key for so long is now free and accessible to any and everyone,” Sikes-Kline said.

Unfortunately, although the collection does include a few images including “E-book” and “E-journal” items, most of the value in the public index today is the ability to quickly determine what items actually exist — and where they are located. Many of the items in the collection include books and other publications subject to copyright protection that would preclude them from appearing in complete form online.

According to Catherine Culver, Marketing and Event Coordinator, lot-block files have been scanned by the University as part of an ongoing project that started a couple of years ago. As those items are scanned, they, too, will appear as images accessible through the indexed search.

“There is presently a City of St. Augustine employee at the Government House seven days each week,” Culver said when asked about gaining access to items in the collection. “The library is locked and an appointment is still required by approved researchers”.

If you would like to search an index of the inventory of the Government House Research Collection, connect to the library’s online catalog http://uf.catalog.fcla.edu/uf.jsp?ADV=S and narrow your search by selecting “Affiliated Libraries: Government House-St. Augustine”

This service has been made possible through a partnership between the University of Florida Libraries and the City of St. Augustine’s Department of Heritage Tourism and Historic Preservation.

Photo credit: © 2010 Historic City News photographer Kerry McGuire