Well, hello there! I've been extra busy this past week between multiple on-site archives visits and also attempting to stop the destruction of historic collections in the university's library. Here's a great blog post about why physical sources matter by a graduate colleague of mine that you should read. To say I'm tired today would be an understatement! My apologies that this week's post might be a bit brief due to the library issue that took up quite a bit of my time during the past few days.
Last week, I spent some time in the Orange County Regional History Center's archive with my favorite curator, Jeremy Hileman, and while reviewing some sources that I had looked at many months ago, I made a discovery that should come in handy during the next round of research. I believe I may have located a photograph and evidence linking "the last log cabin" in Orlando to Samuel A. Robinson, one of the original surveyors of Greenwood Cemetery. I spotted it completely by chance and it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Jeremy pulling a related item that he thought might have something I was looking for! Never underestimate the power of a good curator!
Another archive I visited last week was the City of Orlando's Records Warehouse which was very exciting for me! I've been cleared to visit whenever I need something, so I hope to utilize this excellent resource more frequently. The Warehouse holds all of the original burial cards, deeds, and plats for Greenwood Cemetery along with lots of other wonderful city collections like City Council meeting minutes and the like. Above are a few images from my visit. There are so many plat maps that I barely know where to start!
I stopped by Greenwood this morning for the first of the newly instituted regular meetings with my supervisor and discovered something interesting in the Fred Weeks case while I was there! Directly across from the Weeks' mausoleum is the burial plot of one of the so-called "swindlers," James Abner Knox, identified by Weeks himself in the Orlando Morning Sentinel on September 7, 1915. I had no idea that he was buried so close to Weeks! Their plots are right across the roadway from each other, within "spittin' distance" as my mother used to say. I'll be looking into the deeds for his purchase at Greenwood as well as the other two men involved. I do know that the other two are buried in the "new front" of the cemetery, which was created after the 1936 purchase of the Magruder land and subsequent expansion. I feel like this revelation may add to the story in ways I wasn't expecting though! I'm looking forward to digging back into it soon.
I suppose this post didn't wind up any shorter than usual...I think I'll always have lots to say about Greenwood! Until next week...
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