Tag Archives: Florida

Florida Growth Management Oral History Collection

Posted on by
Reply

Project description: This project documents issues involved in growth management in Florida, particularly as they relate to planned community design and the environment. Interviewees include a banker, a professor of architecture, lobbyists, and a land developer.

Regulatory significance: These interviews cover a range of regulatory topics related to growth management and the environment, particularly water quality and beach erosion.

Repository: University of Florida

Interview dates: ~2000

Digital access: Transcripts are available online for four of these interviews. One interview is only available as an audio file.

Physical access: For access to all transcripts and audio, visit Pugh Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Link: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ohfgm

Everglades Oral History Collection

Posted on by
Reply

Project description: This project documents issues involved in the restoration of the Everglades. Discussion topics center on influence of and coordination between environmental groups, lobbying by environmental groups, pesticides and mercury levels, water conservation, growth management, relationship between National Park Service and Army Corps of Engineers, Everglades Forever Act, Save Our Everglades, use of aquatic crops, drought and flood conditions, role of scientists in restoration, obstacles to restoration, sugar industry, various taxes, comprehensive plans and task forces, public education, aquifer storage and recovery, and lessons learned. [Description from finding aid]

Regulatory significance: This collection provides rich insight into environmental regulation, particularly the regulation of water, chemicals, and run-off from agriculture and land development.

Repository: University of Florida

Interview dates: 2001 – 2002

Digital access: Transcripts are available online. Audio for at least one interview is as well.

Physical access: For access to all transcripts and audio, visit Pugh Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Link: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ohevg

Florida Water Management

Posted on by
Reply

Project description: The St. John’s River Project interviews focus on “ranching families in the greater Orlando area.” However, a broader, ongoing project has grown out of this to “conduct oral history interviews relating to the history of Florida’s water management districts.”

Regulatory significance: This collection sheds light on the creation and operation of water management districts in Florida. According to the Florida Department of State, water management districts “are authorized to administer flood protection programs and to perform technical investigations into water resources. The districts are also authorized to develop water management plans for water shortages in times of drought and to acquire and manage lands for water management purposes under the Save Our Rivers program. Regulatory programs delegated to the districts include programs to manage the consumptive use of water, aquifer recharge, well construction and surface water management.”

Repository: University of Florida

Interview dates: 2003 – 2006

Digital access: Transcripts are available online for 17 interviews on water management.

Physical access: For access to all transcripts and audio, visit Pugh Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Link: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ohfwm/all

Federal Judges of the Middle District Court Project Collection

Posted on by
Reply

Project description: The Middle District of Florida Historical Society has sponsored an oral history project on federal judges of the Middle District Court, whose jurisdiction includes Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. About a dozen interviews were conducted by staff members at the University of Florida’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.

Regulatory significance: No specific information about the content of interviews are available in the finding aid, but this collection could likely contain information on federal regulations as applied and enforced in Florida.

Interview dates: 1987-2009

Digital access: No online access

Physical access: Interview materials should be on location at the historical society in Orlando, Florida, but researchers are encouraged to call in advance of any visit.

Link: http://mdflhistoricalcommittee.com/donate/archives/finding-aids/hsa2010-02

Florida Legislative History Oral Histories

Posted on by
Reply

Project description: The Florida Division of Historical Resources conducted this series of  interviews for the creation of a proposed “Museum of Florida Political History and Governance,” but the museum was never built. Interviews were conducted with “prominent and influential political figures from Florida’s legislative past,” according to the project description.

Regulatory significance: Difficult to determine, as no online abstracts of these interviews are available.

Repository: State Archives of Florida

Interview dates: 2000 – 20002

Digital access: None.

Physical access: For audio and, in some cases, video, researchers may visit the State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee.

Link: http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/rediscovery/default.asp?IDCFile=/fsa/detailss.idc,SPECIFIC=481,DATABASE=SERIES

Florida Legislators

Posted on by
Reply

Collection description: This collection consists of more than 150 video oral histories with Florida legislators, with a focus on those who served in key leadership roles. The oral history program was established by the Florida legislature in order to provide a vehicle for institutional memory, particularly once term limits were enacted for legislators; the primary intended audience is new legislators who seek to better understand the work-place culture of the Florida legislature. Interviews are conducted by a contracted vendor that employs former journalists who covered the legislators.

Regulatory significance: This collection should prove valuable to researchers interested in how legislative culture and the legislative process affects regulatory policy at the state level. Unlike some heavily biography oriented oral histories of legislators, these interviews provide insight into the goals of legislators, the culture of the Florida legislature, and the legislative learning process. Interviewees discuss their legislative experiences going back to the 1950s. The repository does not have abstracts or subject listings for its individual oral histories, but interested researchers should contact the repository with specific questions.

Repository: Florida Legislative Research Center

Interview dates: 1999 – present

Digital access: No online availability. Website only contains listing of interviewees.

Physical access: Collection is accessible by appointment at the Florida Legislative Research Center & Museum at the Historic Capitol, 400 South Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL. To set up appointments, call (850) 487-1902.

Link: http://www.flrcm.gov/oralhistories.cfm