J Magazine Winter 2019

Alan Bliss, executive director of the Jacksonville
Historical Society, is looking forward to renovating
the Casket Factory and the added space it brings.
space to store files of newspaper stories
and photos. The clip files are at the Main
Library Downtown where they are available
to the general public.
“I was determined that the Times-
Union collection would be preserved, and
be preserved in Jacksonville,” Bliss said.
The society and the library staff worked
diligently to arrange the safe storage of
newspaper items.
Newspaper photos at the old Casket
Factory still need to be catalogued and
organized. That’s a job for volunteers led by
Chief Archivist Mitch Hemann.
The old St. Luke’s Hospital
building is crammed with
material, but it is carefully
organized and the items
are recorded in a database.
But the old building is not
state-of-the-art because it still has too
much ultraviolet light, there is inadequate
climate control and the building is
vulnerable to severe storms.
“We are excruciatingly short on processing
space,” Bliss said. “We need space
and resources that can function in a
secure, organized, safe professional way.”
Enter the Casket Factory. The old
building needs major renovations to give
archivists the room to do their work. Only
one floor of the three-story Casket Factory
is air conditioned.
That is why the Historical Society is
raising $300,000 to renovate the building.
Thanks goes to Delores Barr Weaver for an
initial $50,000 grant that is designed to be
matched. The grant honors Emily Lisska,
who retired after 21 years as executive
director of the Historical Society.
The archivists do a lot of sorting and
sometimes discover real finds.
Recent discoveries include the second
edition of Zephaniah Kingsley’s treatise on
slavery from 1829.
There are a few yellow fever immunity
cards that residents used to move around
freely, including one from the governor’s
son, Francis Fleming Jr., with a physician’s
name on it.
There is a letter from W.E.B. DuBois
on Crisis Magazine letterhead looking for
information on African-American judges.
Included in the archives is 16 mm film
from the JAX Chamber promoting Jacksonville
as well as political campaign film from
the 1950s and 1960s.
A collection from the Jacksonville
Women’s Club dates to the late 1800s. A
part-time archivist is working on it.
Too often the artifacts are like orphans.
“We are very accustomed to getting rich
collections of old photographs with no
information,” Bliss said.
In fact, many of the old Times-Union
photographs have no identifying information
on the back.
Much of the Times-Union material can
be recovered digitally, Bliss said. Some material
is badly deteriorated. But nothing will
be thrown out until everybody signs off.
The Casket Factory will provide the
space to organize the work with limited
ultraviolet light, secure from storms. In fact,
the location is relatively high even though
it is near Hogans Creek. Windows on part
of the second floor have been bricked over,
so most of the sensitive material will be
stored there.
Jacksonville has a rich and fascinating
history. Thanks goes to the Jacksonville
Historical Society for continuing to preserve
it in a professional manner.
MIKE CLARK is Editorial Page Editor of The
Florida Times-Union and Editor of J. He has
been a reporter and editor for the Jacksonville
newspapers since 1973. He lives in Nocatee.
Mitch Hemann, archivist for the Jacksonville
Historical Society, will have plenty of work
researching and cataloging artifacts once the
Casket Factory in renovated.