Preservation Needs Assessment for Special Collections and University Archives in the Thomas G. Carpenter Library at University of North Florida

FAIN: PG-280643-21

University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL 32224-7699)
Susan Swiatosz (Project Director: January 2021 to April 2023)

A general preservation assessment for the special collections and archives held at the University of North Florida, which document the school’s history as well as the history of Jacksonville and northeast Florida. Highlights include the personal and business correspondence, documents, notes, memorabilia, printed materials, ephemera, and photographs of Eartha M.M. White (1876–1974), a Jacksonville native who sang with the Oriental-American Opera Company, owned a number of small businesses, headed the Negro Republican Women Voters, and established a variety of community services through the Clara White Mission and the Eartha M.M. White Nursing Home. The rare book collection includes the Northeast Florida Literary Heritage Collection, with works by local authors and narratives that are set in the area or highlight important local events. The assessment would allow the library unit, which has a two-person staff, the opportunity to work with a preservation expert on setting priorities for collections care that would ensure the availability of the materials to future generations of researchers.

Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Florida (UNF) requests funding to provide a preservation needs assessment to serve as the foundation on which to base future preservation planning. Using the grant UNF will engage The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts to perform a preservation needs assessment, the first step in developing a preservation plan for the collections. The assessment will serve as the foundation on which to base future planning, outline best practices, and aid in prioritizing future projects. The collections focus on Northeast Florida and document local political development, civil rights, race relations, education, literature, urban planning, visual and performing arts, archaeology, and social welfare. General themes include social development of the Jacksonville community, civic development and local politics, and local and military history, all of which enhance UNF’s humanities curricula.