The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries actively collect a wide variety of historical materials in order to expand and strengthen the Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC), and we rely greatly on donations to accomplish our collecting goals. The following is a list of some of our “most wanted” objects:
- Diaries, journals, memoirs, firsthand accounts, oral histories, and other types of personal narratives that offer unique perspectives and stories.
- Correspondence such as letters, telegrams, and postcards.
- Home movies, films, and audio or video recordings. In general, we collect audiovisual materials that were not produced commercially.
- Photographs in all formats and types: prints, slides, negatives, aerial photos, panoramic, stereographs, etc.
- Scrapbooks. In general, we do not collect scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings.
- Ephemera such as brochures, pamphlets, programs, menus, and travel guides. We already have a lot of these in the PCMC and we do not collect duplicates, but we do want to collect ephemera that we have not already preserved.
For many of the objects listed above, we do accept digital reproductions if donors are not willing to donate the original objects.
When considering potential acquisitions for the collection, our committee makes decisions based on our Collection Development Policy.
When offering materials, please provide a photo and a short description with any contextual information for your item(s). Any images and associated information you can provide will be particularly helpful to the committee as they discuss your potential gift. Our goal is to collect as much contextual information (stories, names, personal experiences, and historical notes) as possible with each item to help frame the Panama Canal Museum Collection in a rich historical context.
For more information about donating items to the PCMC, please contact John Nemmers at 352-273-2766 or jnemmers@ufl.edu.