Unsealed

Preservation plays an important role here at the Florida Department of State. We have a whole bureau within the Division of Historical Resources, the Bureau of Historic Preservation, that works to identify, evaluate, preserve, and interpret the historic and cultural resources of the state. The division director serves as the state's Historic Preservation Officer. The division also maintains Florida's Master Site File, which is Florida's official inventory of historical cultural resources, and they also oversee the State Historical Markers Program and the National Register of Historic Places program for Florida, as well as administering the Historic Preservation Grants Program and assisting applicants for federal tax benefits and other local and state programs to aid in the preservation of historic buildings and other historic resources of significance. I sat down with a couple members of this bureau to discuss some of the work they do with a look at architecture in Florida and also how America's Bicentennial played a part in how we preserve things today.

April is the month in which we celebrate Earth Day, so we thought we would take a look at the life of a woman who became one of the most important voices to emerge from the dawning of environmental consciousness in 20th Century America, and who is today remembered as "the woman who saved the Everglades."   Marjory Stoneman Douglas  

March is Women's History Month, so let's take a look at the life and work of Florida author and member of the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, Marjorie Kennan Rawlings. While not a native Floridian, Marjorie Kennan Rawlings has become strongly identified with Florida through her writings, which told stories of life in rural Florida. 

March is Archaeology month. And archaeologist is one of those professions that, for better or worse, have some well-known fictional characters that have presented the profession as an adventurous action-filled thrill ride. But, when it comes down to it, archaeologists are scientists who study the human past using material remains left behind by past civilizations. Sometimes this is done through digging and excavation, but increasingly this work is accomplished via technology. Here at the Department of State, archeology comes into play as part of the Division of Historical Resources' Bureau of Archaeological Research, which is a part of the Department entrusted with the maintenance, preservation, and protection of over 12,000 years of Florida heritage. So, in honor of archaeology month, we sat down with some of these archaeologists to find out a little bit about what they do they do here in the Department and about some of the technology they use to do their work.  

In our inaugural episode of Unsealed Profiles and in honor of Black History Month, let's learn a bit about a group of Florida artists known as the Highwaymen. This group of young Black American painters from the Ft. Pierce, Florida area began painting and selling their work out of their cars along Florida's highways in the 1950s, earning them the group's nickname and eventually ending up in the Florida Artist Hall of Fame.