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Minutes of the East Florida Seminary Board of Education

 Series
Identifier: Series 142

Scope and Content

Minutes of the governing board of the East Florida Seminary, Gainesville, Florida. Minutes of 1870-1875, and perhaps later minutes, were transcribed from other records and are not in chronological order. In addition to official actions of the board, the minutes often include financial reports and letters read into the record. Pages 142-147 contain the rules of the Board of Education dated Feb. 4, 1884. Several items were tipped into the volume. At the beginning, there is a memorandum dated June 16, 1943, from Edith Pitts, administrative assistant to President Tigert, to Nelle Barmore, Acting Head of the Library, requesting that the volume be placed in the Florida Collection. Between pages 340 and 345, a hardware receipt from E. Baird and Co., a court judgment entitled "Form of Bond", and the Program of Organization and Recitation and Instruction were added to the record by library staff.

Dates

  • Creation: 1870-1905

Creator

Access

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Biographical/Historical Note

The East Florida Seminary opened in 1853 in Ocala, Florida, and was in operation until 1861, after all of the male faculty and students left to fight in the Civil War. In 1866, the Seminary was transferred to Gainesville, Florida by an act of the Florida Legislature.

From 1866-1877, the school was by and large a public school for Gainesville, with students ranging in age from four to twenty-four. After 1877, the school’s admittance age was gradually raised to thirteen. The Seminary was strictly military in its governance and organization from 1883, and its mission was to prepare boys and young men to be admitted to university or to begin an active adult life upon graduation.

In 1905, the Buckman Act reorganized higher education in the state of Florida, and four of the state’s institutions were merged to form the University of the State of Florida (now the University of Florida). The four institutions that were merged were the East Florida Seminary, the Florida Agricultural College (University of Florida at Lake City), the St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School, and the South Florida Military College.

The Seminary’s building was used by the newly-formed University of Florida in 1905 until it was deeded to what is now the First United Methodist Church of Gainesville in 1911.

The governing board of the Seminary is sometimes referred to as the Board of Trustees, but more often as the Board of Education.

Extent

0.03 Linear feet (1 volume)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Minutes of the governing board of the East Florida Seminary, Gainesville, Florida.

Physical Location

University of Florida Smathers Library Building

Title
A Guide to the Minutes of the East Florida Seminary Board of Education
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid created by Dept. Staff
Date
February 2010
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository

Contact:
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755