JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
AS February 2018 rapidly approached, I spent most of my free time searching the online database of the Florida State Library Archives. This was a daunting & often frustrating task as I could never seem to find what I was looking for. The fact that using the website itself could be challenging made things that much more aggravating. I was ready to tear my hair out when a thought popped into my head…RECORDS! Specifically, STUDENT RECORDS! I was FINALLY starting to find a steady direction to go in & I was fully convinced that I would type a few key words into Google & have everything I needed by the next day! Boy I was SO wrong…
STUDENT LEDGERS…
Locating these records should be a fairly simple job, right? WRONG!! I knew these were juvenile records, thus they’d more than likey be sealed. After a lot of trial & error, I located almost everything related to the student admissions/discharges through the State Library Archival Department. I excitedly tried to click on each link…NOTHING HAPPENED!! WHAT THE FRIG?!?! After about an hour of going in circles, I finally resigned myself to the reality that I was going to have to ask for help. I was able to locate an email address & promptly submitted my request. Guess it was time to play the good old waiting game…
A LITTLE HELP PLEASE…
Turns out that I didn’t have to wait too long as there was a response sitting in my In-Box a couple of hours later! Thank You Mr. James “Hendry” Miller, Archivest! I was on my way & did a little happy dance as I read through the response! Here’s some of what it said:
HOLY SH*T, that’s a whole lot of information! I clicked on one of the links provided in the email & voila…I was rerouted to the Florida Archives site with the complete listing of links to the ledgers that were currently available for public view. The difference now was that the links were actually available & able to be clicked on this time! That’s exactly what I did and…NO BUENO!! I kept selecting, clicking & every time would send me in a circle! I fired off another email to Hendry Miller…”WHY” won’t the live links to show the content?? His answer…”Oh, they’re NOT digitilized so you can’t view them online.” WTH Hendry?!?! Why didn’t he just say that in the first place?? I sent another email asking just that…Well NOT really, it was more of a “What Are My Options” kind of email. His response “You could come into the library & view them” OR “I can scan them & send them in a digital file.” Well Hendry, maybe we’re meant to be friends after all! I live almost 5 hours away, so I’ll take option number 2! I received another email from Hendry letting me know that he would put together a job estimate & email it within a few days. His parting words “If you want to view the material at the library, we do offer special research hours the 2nd Saturday of each month” should have given me a clue as to what that estimate was going to be…
IT COSTS HOW MUCH???
$648…Dollars? American Dollars?? I almost fell out when I saw that number listed as the bottom line! Guess a road trip to the State Capital would be in my near future...
FLORIDA ARCHIVES: http://dos.myflorida.com/library-archives/
☆Special Thanks to the Florida State Archives Department, Specifically Mr. James “Hendry” Miller – Archivest☆
Finding Florida 