Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
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Related Sites
Listen: The Folk ProgramPhoto Exhibits
Photo exhibits spotlight various topics in Florida history, and are accompanied by brief text intended to place selected materials in historical context.
Tin Can Tourism
From Campers to Trailer Parks
The fondness of many of Florida's millions of visitors and new residents for leisurely accommodations and vacationing helped establish new communities that catered to people looking to stay for extended periods without living in one location year-around. Still other places, such as trailer parks, offered both the chance to put down roots and to pick up stakes and move on when the time was right. Florida is a state well-suited for those who choose impermanence as a lifestyle. In some cases, however, trailer parks and resort camping areas became so well-established that they constituted new towns in themselves. Florida cities that experienced tremendous growth, prosperity and popularity as vacation and relocation destinations, such as Sarasota, also benefited from their trailer parks which helped draw visitors and new residents.
Al and Roey Stickles pushing a baby stroller through a trailer park in Sarasota, Florida (1946)
Image number: C002906
Al Stickles tends to the area near his trailer: Sarasota, Florida (1946)
Image number: C002951
Al and Roey Stickles sit down to have a meal: Everglades National Park, Florida (1946)
Image number: C002885
View of the Sarasota Trailer Park: Sarasota, Florida (1948)
Image number: C008139
Accompanying note: "The city-owned trailer park in Sarasota is one of the world's largest. Thousands gather here every winter to enjoy Florida's Scenic beauty."
View of Hollywood Beach Trailer Park: Hollywood, Florida (1953)
Image number: C017604
Photo by: Charles Barron
Trailer parks proved particularly attractive areas for the thousands of retirees that annually chose Florida as their new homes. Successful parks such as Briny Breezes in Palm Beach, on famous Highway A1A, gained enough population and established enough infrastructures to be incorporated as distinct towns. Trailer parks also provided necessary housing for the droves of new workers brought to areas of Florida transformed by new industries such as Cape Canaveral, the center of United States space-age development in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Retirees play shuffleboard at the trailer park: Clearwater, Florida (1955)
Image number: C022013
View of the shuffleboard court at the trailer park: Clearwater, Florida (1957)
Image number: C022012
View of the Trailer park and boat area at Briny Breezes: Delray Beach, Florida (1963)
Image number: C640338
Photo by: Johnson
Briny Breezes Auditorium (19--)
Image number: PC0908
View of the Briny Breezes Trailer Park: Delray Beach, Florida (1963)
Image number: C640331
Photo by: Johnson
Unidentified couple tends to their yard at Trailer Estates: Sarasota, Florida (1967)
Image number: C023723
View of the Miami Heights Trailer Park: Miami, Florida (1967)
Image number: C673886
Photo by: Karl E. Holland
Mr. Paul E. Linthieum tends to the garden near the trailers: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1967)
Image number: C673865
Photo by: Karl E. Holland
Ladies sit near the community swimming pool: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1967)
Image number: C674485
Photo by: Karl E. Holland
Hollywood camp on the ocean front: Hollywood, Florida (1950)
Image number: C013526
Retirees at the trailer park: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1963)
Image number: C640346
Photo by: Johnson
Features
Territorial Legislative Council Records, 1822-1845
Documenting Florida's legislature prior to statehood
State and County Officer Directories, 1868-1969
Lists of Florida's state and county officials either elected or appointed between 1868 and 1969.
Guide to Military Records and the Wartime Experience
A guide to government records and manuscript collections relating to service members and the wartime experience.
Dust Tracks
21 tracks from Hurston's time documenting African American culture for the WPA in 1930s Florida.
History Day 2025
Resources for Florida History Day from the State Library and Archives of Florida.