by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Over the last several months, Claire Cardina has been traveling from her home in Tampa to Jacksonville to sift through massive amounts of City records; sorting the trash from the treasure.
The City hired Cardina as its archives consultant a little over a year ago as a first step toward establishing a municipal archives system. After conducting a feasibility study, the City gave Cardina the go-ahead to begin the second phase of the project.
She reported her findings to Mayor John Delaney’s Chief of Staff Audrey Moran Wednesday and handed over her recommendations for the next step toward establishing the system.
“My initial purpose was to inventory the records and to identify which of them are historically significant,” said Cardina.
In her report, Cardina listed the historical archives by department, division and date and included their contents and type of material.
Of course there are papers — 2,500 cubic feet of them — but there are also posters, maps and other interesting items.
“We found scrap books from the Parks Department that contain old newspaper clippings and the Solid Waste Department has material from the early days of its recycling program,” said Cardina. “Jacksonville is a better place because of these projects and I think the departments are pleased that their accomplishments will be remembered.”
Also among the recovered items are portraits of past City Council presidents that were discovered on the mezzanine level of the City Hall Annex. They have been re-hung in City Hall Chambers.
Some of the oldest records are minutes from a LaVilla town meeting dating between 1884 and 1885. There are similar records from the Town of Murray Hill meetings from the 1870s.
But not all of the records are yellowed and musty. Some of the City’s most recent work was deemed worthy of preservation.
“The Better Jacksonville Plan records don’t go back very far,” said Cardina. “But they’re significant, and happily, the City will have them for the future.”
“Her report is absolutely fascinating,” said Moran. “The fact that we have documents in our possession that date back to the last century is incredible.”
Cardina also created an electronic index for the archives, which will likely become part of the City’s website.
“That way members of the public who want to do research will be able to see what’s available and where it’s located,” said Cardina.
The report also contains Cardina’s recommendations to the City for continuing the program.
“I think the next step for the City will be to consider finding a facility for the archives, hiring a trained archivist and setting up policies and procedures for the archive system,” she said. “I also recommended that someone in the City act as a contact person with respect to the program so that there is someone in charge to refer questions to coordinate the program until an archivist is hired.”
For the present, the records will remain in their respective departments and Cardina has suggested they be transferred to archival quality file folders and boxes.
“In most cases, the records are in excellent condition, but I have identified some records that are in need of more care,” said Cardina.
According to Moran, the City is taking Cardina’s recommendations to heart, but it will be up to the next administration to follow through with them.
“What Mayor Delaney has suggested is that we pass along the report to the transition team and share with them our interest in the next administration pursuing this project,” said Moran. “It could even be something that the library’s board of trustees consider taking on; as the library is going through a renaissance, it may be the perfect time to combine the archives project with the library. There are a lot of exciting options.”