Cunningham Funeral Home Records

The Cunningham Funeral Home Records include funeral home burial records organized in bound volumes by number. These have all been digitized and can be found online via the University of Florida's digital collections. Besides burial records, the collection contains photographs, cemetery maps, funeral service programs, and minutes from the Florida Morticians Association Inc. - all of which form the legacy of the Cunningham Funeral Home Collection.

Part of the collection's significance is due to the fact that, until the 1970s, the only comprehensive listing of African-American communities in any Florida county is found in morticians' records. For instance, if a researcher wants to know where African-American churches and schools were located, that information can be found in the records. Morticians have been - and continue to be - the means of knowing what was happening in the community: they knew everyone, and they could give directions to houses in obscure locations. They were truly the heart of the community.

Recent additions to the collection include video documentation of the funeral service of Albert L. Cunningham Sr., co-founder of the Cunningham Funeral Home, as well as photographs documenting the funeral home, community members, and the Cunningham brothers at work in their day-to-day operations.