All Posts by

James Cusick

Florida in 1821 – A Small but Diverse Population – by James Cusick

  The new territory of Florida entered the American Union with a population that still represented the core of its colonial population under Spain.  Although American settlers would quickly migrate to Florida in search of land – the population rose from 8,000 people to 34,730 in just 10 years –…

The Redoubtable Mary Boyd

By Rachel Laue, Graduate Research Assistant,  2021 The stories we hear of pioneer lives conjure a certain set of images. Often they are of hardy men breaking new ground, planting new groves, and going off to war. The contributions of women in these stories are typically depicted as domestic,…

Transcribing Florida’s History

By Rachel Laue, Graduate Research Assistant (2020-2021) What do the letters of an orange-grove obsessed young man named Pliny Reasoner and an unknown woman’s handwritten romance novel have in common? More than you might think, as I have learned. I am a fourth year PhD candidate at UF,…

New Books about the Dozier Boys School

Dormitories at the Dozier Boys School, Marianna, Fla. Photograph from Florida Memory. The Florida Industrial School for Boys, established near Marianna, Florida, in 1900, became infamous for abusive treatment of youth sent to live and work there.  Set up as what was essentially a juvenile delinquent detention center…