The Special Collections Department of the John C. Pace Library has served as a major historical repository for West Florida since its first collection was received in 1966 when the library and university occupied temporary quarters at Town and Country Mall in Pensacola. The Department is also the University Archives with a rich collection of records and papers of administrative and academic units, reports, student newspapers, press clippings, and other historical information from the University’s founding to the present.

One of the historical conundrums that face exhibit creation is “what anniversary is it?” The President’s Office at UWF began in 1965, now in its 42nd year; the Library began in 1966, now in its 41st year; the first University flag carries the date of 1963, first funding/enabling of UWF; or we could celebrate 52 years from the point that the Florida Legislature first created a University for Escambia County in 1955.

What makes 2007 so special is that it celebrates 40 years of UWF classes which began September 25, 1967 on a campus of 27 buildings. This online exhibit also celebrates our first venture into the online world of exhibits, and illuminates our past with selections from our University pictorial archives. It is by no means a historical timeline or a comprehensive collection of all university images. Rather it is a series of vignettes of images capturing our shared heritage. It is also a living archive and very public online evolving and interactive history. We encourage your participation by clicking on the Comments buttons located at the bottom left of every thematic category page and larger image. Feel free to add your memories and story about UWF, its past, present and future and help us document, preserve and create new histories.

In reality, the University’s history is its students and their contributions to the world from our teaching and care. It is for them that we expend our energy and services before we send them out into the world with wisdom and enthusiasm. They are our living history and this exhibit is dedicated to them, past, present and future.

For the exhibit: photograph selection and caption work prepared by Dean DeBolt and Melissa Gonzalez; topical organization by Melissa Gonzalez; scanning services provided by Mike Malone and Stephen Fluharty, with additional support from Fred Barry and Don Thompson; website development, architecture and configuration by Dr. Ray Uzwyshyn, with major support from Stephen Fluharty; additional support from Ron Besser, Jamie Woodward, the late Katrina King, Helen Wigersma, and Dr. Dana Sally, Dean of Libraries. For more background on the technological gestation of this project, click here.