Welcome to Jacksonville Historical Society’s website – a guide to the history and heritage of Jacksonville, its citizens and neighborhoods. 

Our website is an extension of our mission which is to document and preserve the heritage of our community.  Jacksonville’s heritage is a community asset.  Our mutual heritage instills a sense and pride of place that creates citizen participation in community activities.

On behalf of the Society’s Board of Directors, Members and Staff, I encourage you to use the resources provided in our website and to participate in the activities of the Society.  Please become a member of the Historical Society.  With your financial support the Society can maintain and expand the numerous programs we employ to preserve Jacksonville’s heritage.

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President's Notes - February 2008

I would have liked to have known H. H. Buckland, Jacksonville Historical Society’s first president.
Mr. Buckland’s Jacksonville had 107 years of history in May of 1929, when, with a tap of his gavel, he started the two hundred plus charter members of our Society on their basis tasks – to identify, tend and promote the history of Jacksonville and its citizens.

Now, almost seventy-nine years later, our Society is still involved in each of these tasks and many more.

Archive:
The Society’s archive, our core mission and most valuable asset, continues to grow in size and scope.  In December, after much deliberation the Board decided to respectfully decline the opportunity to move part of the archives to the downtown library.  The true extent and character of our collection became apparent as the possibility of this move was studied.  The Board concluded that the archive can best serve the community if all of it is one place and that the cost of moving part of the collection will be more effectively used in securing such a space.  In the meantime, grants have enable us to make our material more available to interested parties by greatly expanding our cataloguing and scanning efforts.

Endangered Properties:
The Society’s List of Endangered Historic Properties is a project of growing importance.  Under the leadership of Skip Booth.  and Harry Reagan, this inventory of the condition of local landmarks was announced in May of last year and has since been cited in plans to restore several of these properties.  Using an inventory of endangered properties to promote their restoration and reuse is part of similar highly effective programs maintained by the Florida Trust for Historical Preservation and the National Trust for

Historical Preservation & Promotion of History:
We continue to promote local history with a wide range of events including our outstanding Old St Andrews History Pro-grams, a celebration on Bay Street complete with pony and carriage to mark Jacksonville’s founding and, through a joint effort with Southside Rotary, a new holiday tradition – Gingerbread Houses at Old St. Andrews complete with an old fashion bookstore and tours of the Merrill House.

Perspective on our Mission:
I am sure that Mr. Buckland would still agree that our Jacksonville Historical Society has a unique role in our community – it is our responsibility to promote the history of Jacksonville and all its citizens.  We do this through our own programs, and, through our Preservation Consortium, we encourage other Jacksonville organizations to do the same.  Both parts of this effort are important because it is our history – individually and collectively – that creates that pride of place which causes citizens to participate in all that makes Jacksonville great.
 
And it just as clear that success in preserving history has more to do with the frame of mind of the community and its leaders about the importance of our history than with the structural conditions of historic buildings or the cost of restoration and availability of funds.
I am convinced that a city with a sence of place is a city that operates more effectively and is a more rewarding place to live.

Our Society is responsible for the history that creates our collective sense of place and that inspires citizens and leaders to preserve historic properties.

Perspective on JHS:
I feel our Historical Society is looking directly at major changes in our funding policy.  When it comes to membership in JHS I invite you to make the same shift I and the other board members have made – we are investors in an organization that will serve Jacksonville this year and for years to come.

I would like to think that Mr. Buckland and his fellow 1929 charter members would be pleased our stewardship of their Society.

I know that the current officers and board are interested in your thoughts about the work that needs to be done and will appreciate your financial investment in the Jacksonville Historical Society.

Jerry Spinks,
   President