Category: Floridiana

A series of articles related to my interest in library/research resources on Florida and Florida history.

Selected content from Florida, part 2: Diamond ball and the etymology of ‘cracker’

Part two in a series of selected highlights from the Work Project Administration’s Florida guidebook, Florida: a guide to the southernmost state, 1940 (c1939). All content is quoted directly from the Florida guidebook. Any comments in brackets are mine. [These selected excerpts are from the sections on Florida’s folklore history and its sports and recreation activities. The WPA’s take on the…

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Selected content from Florida, part 1: Florida’s contemporary scene

A selection of highlights from the Work Project Administration’s 1940 (c1939) survey guidebook to Florida. All content is quoted directly from the Florida guidebook. Comments in brackets are mine. On Florida’s Contemporary Scene Politically and socially, Florida has its own North and South, but its northern area is strictly southern and its southern area definitely northern (Florida, p. 3). [I grew…

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Rare Books: Florida; a guide to the southernmost state

At a UCLA book sale I found a 1940 edition (1st edition, 2nd printing) of a Florida guidebook written and compiled by the Work Project Administration’s Federal Writers’ Project. The Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) was a New Deal-era program to provide employment opportunities to skilled workers such as writers, researchers, historians, librarians, and teachers (“New Deal Programs: Selected Library of…

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