Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History

A transformational gift received in 2023 was the catalyst for the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History, which will hold its grand opening in the spring of 2025. It will be an interdisciplinary center for academic excellence housed within University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library. It will house the Lastinger’s donated collection of unique and historic Floridian artifacts, books and maps. Most of the collection will be digitized and globally available to UNF faculty and students and audiences outside of UNF who wish to learn about Florida history.  The Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History collects primary and secondary source material related to the state of Florida's transportation and banking industries, from Precontact to the present, placing Florida history within the larger context of the history of the United States and Atlantic world.  Comprised of books, maps, manuscripts, postcards, and other ephemera, the Center’s foundational collection has a strong focus on banking, tourism, cartography, and trade. 

We are temporarily located on the first floor, in Special Collections and University Archives. We are open to the UNF community as well as the public.  Please see the Visiting tab for further details. 

We gratefully acknowledge that the University of North Florida is on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Mocama-speaking Timucuas.  We recognize that other Indigenous peoples also built homelands here, including the Yamasees and Guales.  For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples made this region into a vibrant center of diplomacy, exchange, and religious practice.  We pay respect to these nations and to their descendants.

We further recognize the historical and ongoing impact of colonization in our region and state as well as the resiliency of Indigenous peoples.  Today, Florida is home to the sovereign nations of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, as well as citizens of other Native nations and communities whose ancestors include Mocamas, Yamasees, and Guales.

Mission

It is the mission of the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History to provide an inclusive and supportive space for the study, use, and stewardship of historical materials related to the history of the state of Florida; supporting student and faculty success as well as the larger community of those interested in the materials. 

Vision

The Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History aims to be a global resource for scholars and community members who seek to expand their knowledge about the state of Florida, through both in-person and digital platforms. 

Values

Collaboration: We seek opportunities for collaboration, physically and digitally, with local, national, and international partners.  

Acknowledgement:  We recognize that the history of the state of Florida, the United States, and larger Atlantic world involves historically underrepresented people, who have been removed from or misrepresented in traditional narratives.  We strive to include these voices and communities in the historical narrative as we collect, interpret, and reinterpret historical materials.  

Technology-focused: We leverage technology to provide access to our materials, creating opportunities for interaction and learning across a broad audience.   

Stewardship: We exercise the utmost care of our collections, physical and digital, following accepted industry standards for arrangement, description, preservation, digitization, and access.