06/20/2001
FLORIDA
LOCAL HISTORICAL RECORDS GRANT PROGRAM
STATE HISTORICAL RECORDS ADVISORY BOARD
GRANT APPLICATION
Submit one (1) original & one (1) copy to: Bureau of Archives and Records
Management
Department of State, Mail Station 9A
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0260
1
PROPOSED PROJECT
Project Title: South Florida Court Records Preservation
From: November 2001 To: Auaust 2002
Beginning Date of Project Completion Date of Project
Amount Requested: _$2,000
TOTAL
2
SUBMITTED BY Monroe County Public Librarv (Local Historv Collection)
Name of Applicant Organization
Address: 700 Flemina Street
Street
Kev West
City
FL
State
33040
Zip
305-292-3595
Telephone
AUTHORIZING OFFICIAL: Georae Neuaent
Name
Monroe County Mayor
Title Emall
Address: 5100 Colleae Road Stock Island
Street
Key West
FL
City
State
Zip
33040
Telephone
305-292-4441
Fax
Project Director: Thomas L. Hambriaht (resume attached)
Name
Title
Historian
Emall
Address: 700 Flemina Street
Street
Key West
City
FL
State
33040
Zip
305-292-3595
Telephone
305-295-3626
Fax
3
INTRODUCTION (Attach additional sheets if necessary.)
The Local History Department ofthe Monroe County Library maintains the local history, genealogy and
photographic collections for Key West and Monroe County. The collections are housed in a fire and storm proof
vault in Key West. Two Monroe County employees, a historian and genealogist staff the department. During the
fiscal year 1999/2000 the department had 6,508 patrons.
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PROJECT PROPOSAL (Attach additional sheets if necessary.)
8. Overview. The History Department has a collection of approximately 15,000 pages of early court
records that because of age and condition are not available to the public. The goal is to have these
records sorted, indexed, microfilmed and made available to the public.
b. Justification. Lack of funds and manpower has prevented these documents from being microfilmed
or electronically copied. These are court and associated records from 1828 to 1919 with the bulk of
the records in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850's and cover criminal and civil cases in what is now Monroe,
Dade, Broward, Lee and Collier Counties. Included in the records are summaries of cases, jury
findings, jury list, Governor's appointments, a number of cases involving Jacob Houseman, marriage
applications, citizenship applications and grand jury reports for Monroe and Dade counties 1840 to
1860. The last papers in the file is a 1919 case from the Criminal Court of Record of Dade County,
"The State of Florida versus the Miami Water Company for providing water that was contaminated,
impure, polluted and unwholesome, thereby injuring the health of the citizens of Miami."
The cases for the 1830's have been sorted, filed and indexed. The remaining documents will be filed
by years and cases and indexed by the Library staff prior to copying. A few of the historically
significant cases and documents in the 1830's are:
1. The first murder case and execution in South Florida with the trial and execution of Norman
Sherwood in 1830.
2. The trial of ten free men of color for entering the Territory of Florida illegally in violation of the law
to prevent free men of color from being brought into Florida.
3. Other early murder cases are from the Keys, Dade and Lee counties.
4. Joseph Delespine's claim for the Spanish land grant given to Juan Xavier de Arrambide. The grant
covers 92,176 acres of land in today's Dade and Broward counties. The trial was in 1837. The U.S.
Supreme Court settled the case in 1841.
5. Future U.S. Senator Stephen Mallory charged with discharging a firearm in the city in 1837.
6. Some other interesting documents are: the commission of William Cooley, as Justice of the Peace;
letters from C. Downey about work on Looe Key; a letter written from William Marvin while he is at the
St. Joseph Convention; Benjamin B. Strobel's commissions as a Justice of the Peace and Notary
Public; and John Dubose files for 100 acres homestead on the Miami River.
c. Plan of Work. The Florida History staff will sort the court records by cases and dates and establish a
filing system. The records will be indexed using a common database such as Microsoft. After the
records are arranged and filed an outside contractor will microfilm the collection.
d. Specific results or product (s). The results will be a computer-generated index and microfilm.
Six copies will be produced of each microfilm for distribution to the State Archives,
Monroe County Clerk of Court, Dade County, Lee County and Monroe County Library.
e. Post-project evaluation. The project will be judged successful when the records are indexed and
microfilmed.
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Relationship of the project to the programs' goals. This program will preserve the oldest court records in South
Florida. Once the records are microfilmed they will be made available to researchers across the state.
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BUDGET SUMMARY (Round all amounts to the nearest dollar.)
Grant Funds Cost-Sharing Total
SalarieslWages
Historian 20 hours week 20 weeks $ $7,532 $
Genealogist 10 hours week 20 weeks $ $2,798 $
$ $ $
Fringe Benefits (%)
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Services
Microfilm contract $ 2,000 $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Supplies/Materials
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Consultant Fees
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Travel
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Per Diem
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Equipment
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
Other
$ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $
GRAND TOTALS $ 2.000 $ 10,330 $ 12,330
Thomas L. Hambright is a graduate of Appalachian University in Boone, North Carolina, with a degree in education and history. He
served in the U.S. Navy for 21 years retiring in 1981 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He came to Key West in the mid 1960's
in the Navy and served three tours of duty in Key West. After leaving the Navy he worked three years for the Key West Art and
Historical society as curator of exhibits. He has been Monroe County Historian at the May Hill Russell Monroe County Library since
1985.
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BUDGET NARRAnvE (Attach additional sheets if necessary.)
The Local history staff will arrange the collection and develop an index and after this is completed an outside
contractor will copy the records and produce a master and six copies of the microfilm. Grant funds will only be
used for a contractor hired in accordance with Monroe County policy and produce a microfilm in accordance
standards in rule 18-26, Florida Administrative Code.
8
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