Utopian Communities of Florida

March is Florida Archaeology Month

This year's official Poster

Every March various groups in Florida ban together to host and sponsor programs and events tailored to educating the state's residents and visitors about our unique archaeology and history. As many of you know Brevard County has a long and distinguished archaeological record, and has the distinction of being the site of the famous Windover digs. For a full listing of events being held throughout the state visit the website of the Florida Public Archaeology Network and click on the Events tab at the top of the page. You can also check out the various chapters of Florida Anthropological Society to see what a chapter near you has planned. 

In honor of this month we asked the folks at our local chapter, the Indian River Anthropological Society, to help us put together a small display of some of the artifacts from the collection of the Brevard County Historical Commission in the lobby of the Central Brevard Library in Cocoa. They did a great job, please drop in and take a look!

Artifacts in the Lobby Case

Throw Back Thursdays

The wonderful library staff that is managing the Brevard County Libraries Google+ page have asked me to provide them with an interesting historical photo to feature once a week on what they want to call "Throw Back Thursdays." Since the Central Brevard Library is also home to the Brevard County Historical Commission's collection we hope to draw upon this resource, and others, to provide you with some interesting images relating to the history of our area. I will also post those photos here on my blog so that you all can enjoy them too.

Please consider following Brevard County Libraries on Google+. We can use your support!!!!



Above is a photo taken from the Cocoa Water tower around 1957 looking towards the Indian River. The site of the Central Brevard Library, which occupies the former Florida Today newspaper building, is near the top of the photo, just about in the middle. Forrest Ave. is the road pictured running north and south, and this view also shows the early path of the railroad tracks that have since been removed.



Early Brevard County Newspapers

Well, they have done it again! Intrepid researchers and writers Jim and Bonnie Garmon of Cocoa have published a new book entitled Early Brevard County Newspapers, which is based on their research in the archives at the Central Brevard Library in Cocoa. To use their own words, "Brevard County historians and genealogists are lucky - while doing research on the history of the area and the people who lived here they are greatly aided by having microfilm of many of the early newspapers of the area." In addition to the microfilm, many of the original papers have also survived and are housed at the Central Brevard Library. As the Garmons point out, we are indeed lucky to have these papers as there are large holes in some of the other records for our county, which the information contained in these papers can often fill. As an example, few of the Brevard's cities have saved their early building permits which makes researching historic structures difficult. However, the newspapers often carried mentions of  these permits and frequently elaborated on the structure planned. Local vital records are often incomplete but mentions of marriages and deaths are common in the papers.

 

Front Cover

 

Although we are indeed lucky, the Garmons discovered that using these newspapers can sometimes be a confusing prospect. Not unlike other areas, Brevard's newspapers were subject to frequent name changes and changes in ownership and editorship. In order to hash this all out the Garmons used the microfilm and other sources to document these changes. Thankfully, in most cases the editors of days gone by did a good job of noting the changes in the various editions of their own papers, but this could only be documented by going through each paper and noting the changes mentioned. Since some of these papers go back to the 1870's that was no easy feat. As a result we now have a book that is divided into chapters which outline the history of each paper. The book also includes a helpful index!

 

For anyone doing newspaper research in Brevard County this book is a must! It is available in paperback from lulu.com for $9.95.

 

 

Free Ancestry.com Seminar!

Family History Fair

On November 16th the Brevard Genealogical Society and the Central Brevard Library in Cocoa hosted our first ever Family History Fair. Our theme was, "Solve Your Family Mystery, Explore Your Family History." This free event was attended by over 200 people of all ages, and lots of volunteers in teal shirts, who all appeared to be having a good time!

 

Georgia and Dee at the entrance to the meeting room.

 

 We literally took over the library for the day! The main hall was filled with tables where we offered demonstrations of four different genealogical software programs, an Ask-An-Expert area and various informational tables from the DAR, SAR, Scottish Society, French-Canadian Society, and many more. Another meeting room was turned into a speaker's hall where we offered visitors the opportunity to attend four different lectures during the day on subjects as wide-ranging as beginning your genealogy, to learning more about the use of DNA in genealogical research. Our staff computer training lab was also put into use offering popular classes on using Family Search and Ancestry.com. Even the library's children's area was decorated for the day and staffed with volunteers who assisted our young attendees with completing artistic family trees, locating ancestor's home countries on maps and globes, and giving tips on interviewing family members.

 

David and grandchildren in the foreground with Mary and an SAR member.

 

Obviously an event like this takes a lot of planning and we have Georgia and David Ralston and their wonderful committee to thank for pulling this all together! I would also like to thank all those companies  and groups who provided goodies for our gift bags such as Community Educators Credit Union, Tourist Development Council, Cocoa Village Association and the Brevard County Historical Commission.

 

Hope to see even more of you next year!!

 

 

 

Friends of the Library Donate state of the art Microfilm Scanner!

With Friends like these, who could ask for anything more??? This is what we are saying after the Friends of the Central Brevard Library donated a state of the art microfilm scanner called the ScanPro2000. While some may think that microfilm is a thing of the past, the library system has a large collection of film that still needs to be viewed and community members frequently bring in records of their own, military for instance, that are on film or fiche. Unable to obtain parts for our aging readers and down to only one working machine the Friends donation allows us to keep serving our patrons with the use of the latest technology. The ScanPro 2000, which fits on a small desktop, comes attached to a computer and a 24" montior and does a lot for its small size.

With automatic focus, digital zoom, editing software, several scanning modes, DPI choices, cropping ability and varioius exporting options, such as to a thumb drive or email, there isn't much it can't do. Below is an example of two scans of a photograph printed in a 1935 issue of the Cocoa Tribune newspaper, which we have on microfilm. The first scan shows how it appears on the film when viewing it and the second scan shows the same picture after using the Auto Adjust feature of the ScanPro2000. Pretty great stuff, come by and check it out!

Cocoa House Newspaper Photo Before Editing

Cocoa House Photo After Editing