The title should explain to all that the intention of this bibliography is to take the first necessary step in creating an all-encompassing reference to sources for the history of Putnam County, Florida. The author readily admits that this current bibliography falls far short of being considered in any way complete. It was started for my own personal use while I was attending the University of Florida because my primary research interest in history was and continues to be the history of our area. The work sat far from complete until work on it commenced once again this year.
As a "first step" readers should be made aware of the deficiencies of this bibliography so that future efforts may be directed in those areas in which this bibliography is lacking. Several institutions that house sources have not been fully exploited.
Archives, Libraries, and Historical Societies. The author has first-hand knowledge of the holdings of the University of Florida and the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History (identified as PKY throughout this bibliography) but has generally relied upon printed and electronic catalogs and the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections for archival material held by other universities, libraries, and historical societies and was therefore at the mercy of the deficiencies of these sources. Several references to manuscripts and microfilms held by the Putnam County Archives are included but no thorough accounting of all the material held by that body has been made. Another look at the collection of the St. Augustine Historical Society would be appropriate as my references to their collection are now five years old. A listing of St. Johns County newspapers in their possession would be valuable. I have not documented any records held by the Putnam County Historical Society. The only public library the author has visited was the Palatka Public Library and so I remain unaware of any unique records held by other libraries.
Public records-Federal, State, Local. The public records of Putnam County held by the county and various municipal governments have not been included. In my various research projects I have sifted through a mountain of county records and would guess that most of the bound records (deed, mortgage, probate, civil and criminal, county and circuit court, marriage, etc.) of our county survive. I believe that the one notable exception would be the records of the Justices of the Peace. It also appears that the county has all the case file packets for probates, divorce proceedings, and circuit court civil proceedings including chancery and common law. Criminal cases and county court civil and criminal cases appear to be sparse (or dispersed and well hidden). (A guide to the local public records one is likely to run across in Florida research would be helpful.) The only state records I have included are election returns and tax rolls as those included documents specifically about Putnam County. Other records such as Supreme Court case files and records of the executive department and legislature include records of importance to our county but would contain no one series of records specific to Putnam County. The same would hold true of federal records (the one exception being federal census records--population, slave, agriculture, manufacturing, mortality schedules-- which have not been included). The federal district and circuit courts that had/have jurisdiction over Putnam County have records dating back to 1891; a fire at that time destroyed the federal courthouse in Jacksonville.
Community organizations. The author has made no attempt to document the records of houses of worship held by those bodies. No inquiry as to records held by the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce was made or for that matter any civic organization. (Where, if they survive, would one find the records of the old Palatka Board of Trade?)
Spanish and British records and Native Americans. In this bibliography references on sources regarding these areas are sparse due primarily to the author's own ignorance of the subject and their tenuous connection to the history of Putnam County.
Photographs. A few words about this subject would be appropriate. With the exception of a few collections at the Florida State Archives whose subject matter was almost exclusively Putnam County, photographic collections have not been included. This is primarily due to the scattered and unique nature (and difficulty of description especially when no other identifying features other than subject matter is given) of individual photographs. The two most important institutions that have significant holdings of Putnam County photographs are the Florida State Archives and the Putnam County Archives. Perhaps a catalog of individual photographs by series name (found for many published stereoscopic views) or photographer (i.e., J. G. Mangold, A. P. Lewis, R. E. Neck) would be appropriate for a compiler so inclined. The same may be said for postcards. There are several collectors in the county with extensive private collections of local postcards. Publicly-available collections may be found at the Florida State Archives and the Putnam County Historical Society.
Perhaps the one source with the greatest potential to produce
historically-valuable material is Putnam Countians themselves. It is the
author's hope that the distribution of this bibliography will encourage private
collectors and families with historical material to come forward to make their
resources on the history of our county known and/or available for use by
researchers. On a final note, the reader will notice that a large section is
devoted to the newspapers and county records on microfilm for counties in our
region as they will hold information of value to researchers of Putnam County's
history.
Robert Tindall
October 1, 1998