ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■  D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 8 /8 9 5

F O C U S  O N  C O L L E C T I O N S

Reclaiming the Everglades

T he University o f Miami (UM) Library, in partnership with Florida International Uni­
versity (FIU) Library and the Historical Mu­
seum of Southern Florida, received a 1998 Li­
brary of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Li­
brary Grant of $137,188 for “Reclaiming the Ever­
glades: South Florida’s Natural History, 1884-1934.”

The three institutions 
will digitize historical ma­
terials that document the 
evolution of the Florida Ev­
erglades. Upon completion, 
the partnership will merge 
a series o f separate yet in­
terrelated collections at four 
institutions into a single re­
source for students, schol­
ars, researchers, and other 
individuals. The project will 
d ig itiz e  a p p r o x im a te ly  
1 0 ,0 0 0  im a g e s , le tte r s , 
documents, and pages o f 
printed text.

This project represents A  b o o k  (c. 1
the culmination of years of a d v e n tu re s  o f th e
work by librarians and ar­ L a k e  O k e c h o b e

Everglades.
chivists at these institutions.
The invaluable support provided by the Library 
o f Congress and Ameritech Corporation will 
help us create this unique historical and edu­
cational resource on the Everglades for the citi­
zens o f the world.

Gail Clement, who serves as project direc­
tor for the Everglades Information Network 
& Digital Library project, a collaborative ef­
fort o f FIU Libraries and Everglades National 
Park, observed that “‘Reclaiming the Ever­
glades’ . . .  demonstrates the commitment and 
determination o f South Florida’s libraries to 
advance our knowledge about the past and 
present state o f the Everglades.” R ebecca 
Smith, archivist at the Historical Museum of 
Southern Florida, also hailed the project for 
its inter-institutional cooperation.

The Everglades, a unique subtropical eco ­
system, bears a rich and troubled history. As 
this fragile wilderness wavers on the edge of 
environmental annihilation, the textual and vi­

8 8
 c
e  

sual history o f this natural treasure also bor­
ders on destruction. The preservation o f our 
natural resources and the survival o f its textual 
and visual history are linked in this consortial 
project. Don L. Bosseau, director o f libraries at 
UM, said, “This grant represents the unique 
joining o f modern technology with rare and 

unique documentation of the 
history and ecology of the 
Everglades. The project is a 
precursor to the new ap­
proaches that libraries are 
embracing to enhance access 
to intellectual content.” 

Laurence Miller, execu­
tive director of FIU Library, 
commented, “We appreciate 
the opportunity this repre­
sents to enhance the content 
o f the Everglades Informa­
tion Network, based at FIU, 
and welcome the opportu­
nity to share the technology 

7 ) a b o u t  t h e  that has been developed in 
lu b  t h a t  e x p lo re d  this effort.”

in  t h e  F lo r id a  Primary source materials 
proposed for digitization in­

clude writings, correspondence, photographs, 
and related materials from many individuals 
and organizations. The selected assemblage 
represents the records of politicians, landown­
ers, real estate companies, agriculturalists, sci­
entists, naturalists, journalists, Indian rights ac­
tivists, engineers, Native Americans, and oth­
ers involved in the exploration, exploitation, 
o r c o n s e r v a tio n  o f th e So u th  F lo rid a 
environment.— William E. Brown Jr., principal 
investigator a n d  h ea d  o f  archives a n d  special 
collections, University o f  Miami, wbrown@ 
umiami. ir. miami.edu. ■

Feature y o u r c o lle c tio n

If you’d like to submit a brief 300-word 
“Focus on Collections” about a significant 
collection at your institution, please e-mail 
C&RL News Editor-in-Chief, Mary Ellen 
Davis, at medavis@ala.org.

mailto:medavis@ala.org