LibGuides: Special Collections: Personal Papers and Primary Resource Collections

Spotlight: John E. Mathews, Jr. Collection

John E. Mathews, Jr.
John E. Mathews, Jr., was a Florida state legislator representing Jacksonville from 1956 to 1970, and President of the Florida Senate in 1969-1970. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Florida in 1963/1964 and 1969/1970. As a Florida legislator, he played a pivotal role in establishing the University of North Florida in the mid-1960's. As a lasting tribute, the University's new Computer Science Building was dedicated in his honor on November 7, 1988.
Subject Index to the Collection
The collection contains the extensive personal papers, documents, and memorabilia of Mathews, spanning the years 1920 - 1988. The legislative years (1956-70) are chronicled by detailed reports, documents, and newsclippings. The collection is of primary value for research on Mathews, but in totality, provides insights into Florida political history and government circa 1950-70.

Major Collections

Digitized newspaper: John E. Mathews Bridge edition
Welcome to the Personal Papers and Primary Resources Section. Our resources include personal papers and primary source materials of prominent individuals and organizations. Detailed descriptive records for each collection are searchable through the UNF Library Catalog. Extensive finding aids, including container lists and indexes, are available for each collection. Our major holdings are:

Eartha M. M. White Collection. Online Exhibit / Finding Aid / Selected Resources / Subject Index
Barnett Banks Collection. Finding Aid / Container List
Courtland Buckman Papers. Finding Aid / Container List
Camp Joseph E. Johnston Collection. Finding Aid / Container List
John E. Mathews, Jr. Collection. Online Exhibit / Finding Aid / Biography / Mathews & UNF / Subject Index
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville Collection. Finding Aid / Container List
National Organization for Women, Jacksonville, Florida, and Jacksonville Women's Movement Collection. Finding Aid / Container List
George W. Simons, Jr. Planning Collection. Finding Aid / Container List
Arthur N. Sollee, Sr. Papers. Finding Aid / Container List
Women's History Month (Jacksonville, Fla.) Collection. Finding Aid / Container List

Visit the Personal Papers and Primary Resource Collections web page for a complete listing of all our collections.

Who's Who in Jacksonville History

Here is some biographical information on several prominent individuals in our Personal Papers Collections:

Nathaniel Glover, Jr.
In 1995, Nathaniel Glover, Jr. was elected Sheriff of Jacksonville, Florida, the first African American Sheriff in Florida in more than one hundred years. At the end of his first term Sheriff Glover was reelected, thus completing a highly successful eight-year service. He is currently the President of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville.
Joe Carlucci
Mr. Carlucci was a member of the Jacksonville, Florida City Council from 1968 to 1978, after which he won election to the Florida State Senate, serving from 1978 to 1986. Many of his legislative contributions were related to reforms of Florida's criminal justice system and child abuse laws. On a local level, he was particularly proud of legislation which established a lower division at the University of North Florida.
Virgil R. Deane
Mr. Deane was a professional photographer active in Jacksonville Beach, Florida for over forty-six years. His work, as depicted in this collection, provides a visual documentation of life at the Beaches and Northeast Florida in the second half of the twentieth century.
Tommy Hazouri
Mr. Hazouri has a long record serving the Northeast Florida area. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1974, where he served until 1986. In 1987, he was the successful candidate for Mayor of Jacksonville and served one term as Mayor until 1991. After unsuccessful mayoral candidacies in 1991, 1995, and 2002, he was elected to the Duval County School Board in November 2004, representing District 7.
Arthur N. Sollee, Sr.
As Director of the Jacksonville Expressway Authority during the pivotal transportation years of 1956-1972, Mr. Sollee was a major influence in the development of the Jacksonville, Florida road system in Duval County.
Eartha M. M. White
Eartha Mary Magdalene White, a prominent African-American resident of Jacksonville, Florida, was widely known for her humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors in northeast Florida. Her public service activities included: operated the only orphanage for black children in Duval County; directed War Camp Community Services; headed the Negro Republican Women Voters; established the Clara White Mission for black relief activities and the Eartha M. M. White Nursing Home.

New Collections!

We have added these collections:

Dr. Edna L. Saffy Collection
The collection contains awards, correspondence, memorabilia, printed materials, and writings. Many printed materials and photographs relate to politics and political activism. There are also numerous photographs and newspaper clippings, as well as Dr. Saffy’s dissertation. The collection also contains two large portraits of Dr. Edna Louise Saffy. The portraits are available for viewing by request in Special Collections. The collections spans from 1962 to 2013 with the majority of the items dated 1973 to 2010.
Carl Hayden Quinn
The collection is named after Carl Hayden Quinn who is the grandfather of the donor’s wife. The collection was received September of 2014 and consists of twenty-two items including World War I maps with markings of French barracks, photographs, newspaper clippings, and a variety of documents such as enlistment and discharge records. The materials are dated between 1917 and 1922.

Gifts and Donations

We are interested in adding the papers, letters, and historical materials of notable Northeast Florida individuals and their families. For more information, e-mail llib-special@unf.edu or see the Library's Development web page.