The Florida Photographic Collection of the State Archives of Florida provides vast visual documentation of Florida, its people and its culture. Images of women appear throughout the more than 1 million photographs and 6,000 movies and videotapes in this nationally recognized collection.
The holdings of the Photographic Collection form the most complete visual portrait of Floridians in the state. Women are represented in the home, in the workforce and in the military. They are shown washing, hunting, cooking, plowing, teaching, sewing, politicking and playing. Subject matter is diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion. There are numerous stereotypical and sexist images, as well as a multitude of strong pioneer portraits. Women of all ages, races and social classes are represented.
The majority of the photographs of women are found in the General Photographic Collection, arranged alphabetically by subject (the collection includes subject and personal name finding aids). Comprised of photographs provided to the State Archives by hundreds of individual donors, the collection reflects the homes, families, work, pastimes, and social, cultural, and natural environments of Floridians from the mid-1800s to the present. Images of women can be found in all subject categories including agriculture, aviation, government, integration, industry, railroads, slavery, towns and universities.
While most of the images in the Florida Photographic Collection have been obtained singly or in small groups, such as those in the General Photographic Collection, there are a number of other significant collections containing photographs of women. Those collections are described below. Many of the photographs in these collections are available in digital form in our online Florida Photographic Collection. Just click on the collection number to view those images.
American Association of University Women, Miami Branch
This 1975 photograph of members of the Miami Branch of the national organization and other women's groups documents their support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Tallahassee Photographic Collection, 1940-1966
Forrest Granger worked as a commercial photographer in Tallahassee. His photographs, primarily from the 1940s-1950s, include street scenes, parades, clubs and portraits. There are many images of women.
Photographic Collection, 1898-1912
1 cubic foot
This collection consists of glass negatives of Eastpoint and Apalachicola. It includes family portraits and photographs of women working in fields, swimming and relaxing on the beach.
Russell I. Peithmann
Photographic Collection, 1930-1960
1 cubic foot
This collection consists of photographs of Seminole Indians. They portray Seminole life on the Brighton and Big Cypress Reservations. There are many images of Native American women and girls.
Photographic Collection, 1947-1974
Harvey Slade was a commercial and portrait studio photographer in Tallahassee. The collection is comprised primarily of portraits of Leon County residents.
Jack Spottswood Photography
Spottswood Photographic Collection, 1916-1967
This collection consists of images taken by commercial photographers Gordon Spottswood and his son Jack in the Jacksonville area. There are some portraits, but the photographs primarily document Jacksonville’s businesses, organizations and street scenes. Women are represented throughout the collection. Three areas of interest are postmortem photographs, women working in health care and union strike photos.
Alvan S. Harper
Photographic Collection, 1884-1910
This collection consists of glass negatives and photographs by noted portrait photographer Alvan S. Harper, who worked in Philadelphia before moving to Tallahassee in 1885. Many of the 1,300 portraits in the collection are of women. Especially noteworthy are Harper’s portraits of middle-class African-American women.
Photographic Collection, ca. 1940-1964
Photojournalist Benjamin L. “Red” Kerce settled in Tallahassee in 1944. This collection contains approximately 1,600 images of the Tallahassee area, including images of news events, Florida government officials, fairs, street scenes and residences. Women are well represented throughout the collection.
Florida Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism
Florida Promotional Films, 1948-1978
This series consists of films and videotapes produced for or by the Division of Tourism to promote the Florida tourism industry by encouraging visitors from other states and countries to visit Florida. Women are widely represented in films covering a variety of subjects including tourist attractions, communities, industry, sports and government.
Florida Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism
Publicity Photographs, 1940-1996
130 cubic feet
The Division of Tourism used these photographs in advertising, publicity and promotional literature to create and build Florida tourism and to encourage visitors from other states and countries to come to Florida. Women are represented in many categories, including agriculture, recreation, education, industry and glamour.
Photographic Collection, 1860-1995
This collection consists of 486 black and white images of Madison County and surrounding areas from the 1860s to the 1990s. The photographs depict agriculture, industry, people, residences, and schools from communities including Blue Springs, Cherry Lake, Hamburg, Lee, Macedonia and Madison.
Deborah Thomas Photography
Photographic Negatives Taken for Publication in Florida Flambeau Newspaper, 1983-1989
2 cubic feet
This collection consists of negatives taken by Deborah Thomas, an independent Tallahassee photographer, for use by the Florida Flambeau student newspaper of Florida State University. The negatives consist of pictures of local interest, mostly concerning Florida State University and state government.
Marie Louise McClure
Photographic Collection, 1888-1951
This collection contains images of families from several Florida locations, including: the Peeples family of Hamilton County; the Fleming family of Washington County; and the Thigpin family of DeSoto County. The images include a Civil War veterans' reunion; lumber industry; pioneer residences; family photographs; and street scenes.
Mark T. Foley
Photographic Collection, 1969-2006
This collection consists of color and black and white photographs and negatives of Florida politicians, celebrities and sporting and other events taken during Mark Foley's years as Associated Press photographer and later as Senior Photographer for the Florida House of Representatives.
Richard Parks and Evon Streetman
Photographic Collection, ca. 1954-1974
29 cubic feet
This collection consists of photographs by Tallahassee photographers Richard Parks and Evon Streetman. The images consist primarily of portraits, many of prominent residents, including governors, Supreme Court justices and other government officials and public figures. About one-third of the collection consists of images of Tallahassee attractions, businesses, events, industry and surrounding areas, such as St. George Island and Woodville.
Photographic Collection, 1969-1976
John Buckley moved to the Florida Panhandle with his family in the early 1950s. He later attended Florida State University from 1963 until 1967, becoming deeply involved in political and social movements. In addition to taking pictures, he helped organize workers’ strikes in Tallahassee and worked as a platform speaker and photographer for civil rights demonstrations, anti-war rallies, anti-nuclear demonstrations, and women’s rights demonstrations. This collection consists of 35mm black and white negatives, 35mm slides and 8"x10" prints taken by John Buckley, documenting demonstrations in and around Florida as well as in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia. There are also photographs from the 1972 Florida Democratic Convention in Miami, images from the Florida Folk Festival and commercial portraits.
Photographic Collection, 1980-2000
Donn Dughi (1932-2005) was a longtime United Press International photographer and was chief of UPI's Tallahassee bureau for 21 years. He also served as official photographer of the Florida House of Representatives and as a television cameraman. This collection of photographs primarily depicts political subjects such as the Florida legislature, the Capitol, protests and other political topics and activities. Images of sports, crime and space exploration, as well as some family photographs, are also included.
Joseph Janney Steinmetz
Photographic Collection, 1930s-1970s
Joseph Janney Steinmetz was a world renowned commercial photographer whose images appeared in such publications as The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Look, Time, Holiday, Colliers, and Town and Country. His work has been referred to as "an American social history," documenting diverse scenes of American life from affluent northeasterners to middle-class Floridians. Steinmetz's Florida images, in particular, document the rapid development of the state and the marketing strategies commonly employed in post-World War II America. This collection of photographs includes images of social events; tourist locations and activities; the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus; prominent people; and various recreation and industry shots.
Photographic Collection, 1983-2012
14 cubic feet
This collection consists of photographs taken by Bjorn Lusth during the years he lived in Lakeport, Florida (1983-2012). The images depict local residents, events, industry, tourism, the environment and Lake Okeechobee area culture, including significant images of Seminole Indians.
Ann Dickinson Mowell
Photographic Collection, 1984-2005
This collection is comprised primarily of portraits of Tallahassee people and images of Tallahassee places and businesses.
Photographic Collection, ca. 1960-1989
92 cubic feet
This collection consists of tens of thousands of photographic negatives taken by Bert Morgan and his son Richard from the 1960s through the 1980s, documenting Palm Beach high society people, places and events. Included are images of parties, charity balls, sporting events, gallery openings, street scenes and other events and locations. Nearly every prominent individual or public figure who lived in, or passed through, Palm Beach during this time was captured in these images, including a number of photographs of John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family.
Don and Gladys Marks
Photographs and Papers, 1920-1969
1,000 photographs and .25 cubic foot
This collection consists primarily of approximately 1,000 images taken from the 1920s to the 1960s by Don and Gladys Marks documenting many areas of Florida. The Markses worked with Harriet Bedell, prominent missionary and friend to the Florida Seminoles, and approximately 400 of their images document the Seminoles, including their work, daily life and tourism. Other images depict many locations around the state, including Key West, the Everglades, Sanibel Island, Ft. Myers, St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Tampa and St. Augustine.