Records of the University of Florida Public Administration Clearing Service

Series 63 consists of the records of four PACS directors, Arthur J. Waterman, William F. Larsen, William C. Havard, and Gladys M. Kammerer. As such, the series contains records related to their activities outside PACS. Non-PACS documentation includes files on the University of Florida chapter of the American Association of University Professors of which Larsen and Kammerer were active members. Members of PACS were also involved in local political and civic activity including the Civic Action Association of Greater Gainesville (1954-1964) and the Alachua County Citizens' Tax Council of the Florida Citizens' Tax Council.

The first PACS records date from 1948. Among the early PACS records are a study of Florida municipal administration (1948), an examination of state purchasing procedures (1948-49), and a survey of Florida municipal revenue (1949-1951). The latter includes assessed valuation of property for many state municipalities for 1940 and 1950 and a breakdown of their 1950 revenues. Also noteworthy are records related to the Florida Legislature Joint House-Senate Survey Committee on the state's budget system and financial needs (1948-1949).

Records for the 1950s include research and manuscript notes on the Florida Legislature compiled by William C. Havard and Loren P. Beth. Much of this work focuses on reapportionment. The records of the early 1960s include a profile study of city managers in Florida and the council/manager system of municipal administration. The study includes a set of questionnaires completed by city managers on their career and education backgrounds and their personal and political philosophies, including attitudes towards labor unions, civil liberties, and government's role in economic development. In addition to the questionnaires, there is information supplied by city and town clerks on local elections for 1949-1959, including elections results for mayors, council members, and special elections. (Not all of the responses include both questionnaires and election results.) A list of participating municipalities is included in the contents list. Of particular interest are nine city profiles done for Dania, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville Beach, Largo, Miami Shores, Naples, Pensacola, Plant City, and Winter Park. In addition to the questionnaires and election information, the city profiles include summaries and analysis of interviews conducted with local politicians and civic leaders on local politics, factionalism in the councils, council-manager disputes, race relations, power structures, and other matters. The material was compiled for a study published in 1961 by Kammerer and John M. DeGrove.

Kammerer's correspondence for 1958-1965 is included in the series. This includes letters related to her involvement in AAUP, letters related to state and local politics, correspondence with the Institute of Governmental Research at Florida State University, as well as matters concerning PACS. The outgoing correspondence appears to be more complete than the incoming. Also contained in the series are materials related to city manager short courses conducted by the Service in collaboration with the General Extension Division.

Included in this series are four audiotapes of Professor Charles Detyens Farris, Professor of Political Science and a researcher in the Clearing Service, reading notes from interviews conducted in May 1963 in Kissimmee. The interviews focused on changes that were occurring in Kissimmee in the 1950s and the early 1960s and how they affected local politics. Much of the discussion focused on the development of a municipal reform movement and conflicts between reformers and the city's "old guard." Each interviewee was also asked to comment on race relations. At least two of the tapes made by Farris are missing.