Research in Archives

As we researched our topic for the History Engine, I was very surprised by how much historical context can be found behind something that we would normally consider very ordinary or even insignificant. When looking for my first primary source, I came across a railroad ticket from the 1890s. Today, we would not even consider keeping a railroad ticket or airplane ticket after we have used it. However, this was a ticket to the South Florida Railroad, purchased shortly after it was constructed. Therefore I decided that my first episode would be about the development of that railroad line. Through research I realized how much more complicated and difficult building a railroad at that time was than I had imagined. I found out how much capital and labor the enterprise required, and how difficult construction was considering the Florida environment.
For my second primary source I will pick something about the Flagler Memorial Church. I haven't been able to find a good document yet, but I am looking forward to learning more about a place I have actually visited before but never really studied more about even though it is of great historical significance for several reasons such as its schoolhouse or the Spanish fort.

Vermont secede from Union

http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/06/03/in_vermont_nascent_secession_movement_gains_traction/

kind of interesting, they feel that the US has become too big to have one functioning government, brings us back to the idea of a republic which we learned about earlier in the semester.

Studying Hard Evidence

From our first day in the Rollins Archives, there is one thing that stuck out in my mind and that was this "the history we know is only what people have recorded". That got me thinking that all we know of the past is what people have bothered to write about, as well as artifacts from their time period. That is why I am enjoying going to the archives and studying actual documents from nearly 200 years ago, as ultimately history is all about the documents, such as the ones we are studying for the history engine, and artifacts that people wrote and made. Without these then we may have a very different view of our history.

The Continued Importance of the Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine, announced in his presidential speech in 1823 by President Monroe, would become one of the most important pieces of legislation governing American foreign policy of the 19th and 20th century. Drafted by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the doctrine secured American interest in the Western hemisphere. Responding to the threats of the French and Russian empires to the Latin American region, the United States publicly stated the freedom and independence of the Latin American continent in order to prevent any European interference in the region. Latin America would become a sphere of interest to the United States, which was solely supposed to interfere in the region if it be on grounds on promoting stability of the region.
The Monroe Doctrine is of such continued historical importance because continued to be applied until today and has shaped American foreign policy significantly over the course of several events. Examples of 20th century applications of the doctrine would be Eisenhower overthrowing Guatemala's liberal reformist president Arbenz in 1954, and replacing him with a dictator. The establishment of Soviet control in Cuba could be seen as a failure of the Monroe Doctrine, since President Kennedy failed to maintain US control over Cuba. Other applications of the Monroe Doctrine have involved several US efforts to overthrow dictators and regimes in Latin and South America and replacing them by heads of governments more so inclined towards the US.

Economic Nationalism

During the era of good feeling, there was a drawing back to old federalist values. The American System added a high tariff to fund the governments endeavors. One such example was the Tariff of 1816. This Tariff was greatly opposed my the South because of their agricultural, and there exporting status.

Untypical Slave Owners

As I was doing the reading assigned for tomorrow, a rather surprising an unusual fact struck me. The book mentioned that the wealthiest Native Americans, in that case the Cherokee, would sometimes be slave owners too. In an attempt to adapt to white culture, the wealthiest Cherokee would purchase African American slaves and built substantially large cotton plantation. I found this fact so surprising, since when we think of slavery in the US or in the states, we always think of white, upper-class men building large cotton empires on slavery. We would never think that a part (no matter how small) of a group that is oppressed and discriminated against itself (the Native Americans), would aid the repression of another group (African American slaves). Seeing it in the context of an attempt to copy or assimilate white culture in those states makes more sense, but still leaves it a peculiar fact.
Reference: American Passages, p.261

Jeffeson's Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana purchase was successful for many reasons, most notably was the fact that Napolean's French empire was in a decline. For much of the 18th and 19th century France and England had been engaged in a monumental war. By 1804 Napolean had lost much of his influence in North America following the loss of his army in St. Domingue. Jefferson caught Napolean at the most opportune time to make the greatest US acquisition in its history. The Louisiana purchase allowed for Jefferson to expand his idea of creating a nation that allowed for all of its citizens to own territory that permitted every family to cultivate its own land. Jefferson's agrarian ideals set out to avoid a class structure, even though the class system was already in place as a result of John Adam's presidential term where he implemented the US central bank. The Louisiana purchase represented a stance against federalist ideals and laid the frame work for generations of ordinary planters.

Importance of 2nd Presidential Election

The 2nd presidential election of 1796 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams set the United States back a term. By electing John Adams, US citizens became aware of many aspects of the US government that did not serve the people and gave more power to the government. John Adams brought into the presidential office many federalists ideas that he soon put into action. The establishment of the US central bank is a prime example of this. The US central bank ultimately gave all power to the government. The central bank would be able to control the interest rates of the money they would lend out to other US banks, which would in turn influence the value of the US dollar. Thomas Jefferson had consistently expressed his resentment towards the idea of a central bank and by the time he took the office of the 3rd US president it was too late.

Thomas Jefferson VS. John Marshall

It is ironic to think that two of the most bitter rivals in American political history were distant cousins. It seems as if every time Thomas Jefferson was making head way Marshall was there with the Supreme Court at his side to stop him. Even when Jefferson had caught Aaron Burr red handed, for conspiring against the union by creating another state in the west.  Burr even went as far as to plot to burn down Washington D.C.. Yet when there was a trial Aaron Burr got off scott free because Judge Marshall thought that Burr had to actually go through with his plans for them to be treasonous. Jefferson who was on the prosecution was furious that his cousin let such a treasonous character off the hook.

Federalists+Republicans=America

What strikes me most about the American politics from their deceleration of independence up to the Jefferson's republic - how each party is against each other to the point of declaring duels such as between Burr and Hamilton, yet republican ideas were enforced (the Bill of Rights) during the federalists government were in power. Now that Jefferson (republicans) are in power not only does he decide to reduce taxes, but he also decides to keep the federalist founded national bank and military. In my eyes, it seems as though each party influences the other to create a self-sufficient and powerful country

John Adams did not show very much confidence in his re-election campaign. At the end of his first term he seemed to pack in as many insurance policies as he could. It seemed a last ditch effort (late 1800, early 1801) to keep the federalist party alive as he appointed John Marshall, sent the peace convention in France, and the Judiciary act of 1801

Segregation

As a foreigner, there's a couple of things that I do not understand and that are quite puzzling about this country. One of these (and probably the greatest one) is the issue of segregation and racial prejudice in the United States until not really long ago. You can't really understand the scope of this problem unless you live among the people who suffered because of it and before you study the history. As I was researching my project, I discovered that no institution (not eve Rollins) was untouched by this institution. How did this happen? I must say that in some countries, Americans are thought of as racist-nationalist individuals who base their wealth on exploiting people they consider inferior. As I researched the history of the library, I came across documents that demonstrated me that most people did not agree with segregation and were quietly waiting to bring down the walls of racial separation. The library is an ode to such ideal, yet at the same time it's a monument to the continuation of a separate system instead of integration. Was the library created to decrease the separation between black and white communities in order to smooth up the path to integration or was it a way to justify the concept of "separate but equal"?

Hannibal Square Library

As I was researching the history of the library, I discovered parts of Rollins College's history I ignored and am glad I discovered. First of all, I'm glad to know Rollins College has always been a liberal and socially active community even when going through tough times like the era of segregation in the South. It makes me really happy to know that the faculty has always been committed to the ideals of community service and leadership, as exemplified by the creation of the library itself. I'm proud to attend an academic community with a tradition of community leadership and social work and a faculty that encouraged their students to go beyond their own expectations and encouraged them to change their community, this before Rollins College became the academic landmark it is today! The Hannibal Square Library is a symbol of the Winter Park community's commitment to social service, yet we must agree that 85% of the library's achievements happened thanks to the Inter-faith and Race Relations Committee of Rollins College.

Puritan values nowadays

Something that I have found here in the United States that we do not have, or at least is not so easy to see, are the remains of the puritan values in nowadays society. It was very curious to see how after all the scandal of the Clinton affaire with the world famous Monica Lewinski, it seemed that the real, or at least the most important fault that the president had had was that of lying, even above cheating to his wife. This is at least the impresion I got when all that happened and maybe also due to the way the scandal was treated in Europe. The fact is that these kind of things are what reflect, in my opinion, the old puritan values remains in nowadays American society.

Salem Witch Trials

The episode of the American History that most caught my attention up to this point, of what we have studied in class, were the Salem Witch Trials and all the hysteria that was unleashed during those days at Salem. What seemed to be a peaceful and quiet puritan community ended up being a growing snow ball of paranoia. From our perspective, more than 300 years later it really seems to be a very childish thing to believe in, but the fact is that although some people tried to stop it and did not believe in what was happening, nobody was able to stop it, or simply did not care about what was going on until some people from the upper class began to be accused. The fact that only one of the judges involved in the trials openly repented and apologised is scary.

George Washington vs. John Adams

When reading the history book, it was funny to see how different George Washington and John Adams were as presidents. George Washington wanted the opinion of the people and made sure not to step on any toes, whereas John Adams seemed to go ahead and do what he wanted to. George Washington wanted to form a governement based on the ideals of checks and balances and no poltical party fervor. Adams created very controlling laws such as the Sedition Act. The Sedition Act went against what many Americans today are so proud and protective of, our freedom of speech. Why did John Adams assume he had the authority to write the Sedition Act, stating that no one could say or write anything malicious about the government or laws. That is all we do today. Could you imagine George Bush passing a similar law today and putting several Democrats in jail for their "malicious" words?

ode to Benjamin Franklin

It seems to me that the Enlightenment in America can be best represented by Benjamin Franklin. He founded the first truly scientific society in the colonies. His new wood stove improved the heating in colonial homes and his experiments with electricity led to the lightning rod. He clearly believed that the human condition could be improved through science. He greatly contributed to the Enlightenment.

The Boston Massacre

After reading about the Boston Massacre, I cannot believe it did not have that much effect. I mean, it started out with a small snowball fight to 5 people dying. This incident gave Sam Adams something to get fired up about, but it did not seem like it really had that much affect on the American Revolution.

Hannibal Square Library

The Hannibal Square Library was created in honor of a wife of a Rollins professor. It was made to contribute to the black community because apparently the the professor's wife taught and contributed much to the black community of Winter Park. After further research, I wonder was the library just built in honor of a professor's wife, or to calm down the irritated African American community of Winter Park?

A Matter of Interest

Reading about the time when Winter Park was established and how the city limits were marked out, there were a couple of things i found very interesting. Hannibal Square was out of the Winter Park boundaries, it was early after the establishment of Winter Park that the discussion about if it should be included as part of the city or not was raised. What I found interesting and shocking in a way was that the number of black people in Winter Park would outnumber the number of white people, and the political party that was "afraid" of this were the democrats. The fact is that there were more republican people that had done bussiness with the black people in Hannibal Square community and they seemed to have a good relationship, so the democrats were concerned that the would support the republicans in the election, so they were the ones opposing to Hannibal Square to be included into Winter Park boundaires.

Class Project

At first, when we were told about the class project we had to do, i did not like much the idea of writing about the Winter Park history. I did not find it very interesting and thought it was going to be more difficult to get information about the topics. Then, when I saw the topic I was assigned to I really thought we were not going to find a lot of information. The fact is that when I started reading about the old Winter Park and how it was intended to be at first I started to enjoy the project. It was very interesting to read about the former inhabitants and how they have been displaced in the recent years from what used to be the place where they used to hang out in their free time.

Franco-American relations

Diplomatic relations between France and the United States have been from the beginning a very interesting aspect of this country's diplomatic history. Let us remember that France was the first and only european country that openly supported (after much hesitation) the American Revolution (The Netherlands and Spain supported the Americans as well, though in a very different way). We must agree that the victory at Yorktown was a Franco-American combined effort, and that the French Revolution was heavily influenced by the American example. Nonetheless, after the Treaty of Paris, America followed a separate path from France, a path that has led both nations to collapsing diplomatic points and moments of mutual need as well. France aided the americans in their struggle for independence and democracy, yet the Americans went into a Quasi War with them when the French tried the same thing. This changing pattern has persisted to this day: WWI, WWII, Afghanistan, Iraq, two modern nations with conflicting interests that love each other at times and then shift to mutual detestation overnight. Now the question is: What's next?

How the Dinky Line Affects Today's World

As mentioned in a previous blog, the Dinky Line is a railroad track that began running between Orlando, FL and Winter Park, FL in January, 1889. This railroad track was very useful in the beginning of its existence and it ran many times the first day. Over time though, the train started to become used less often because of other alternative forms of transportation. In 1969, the tracks of the Dinky Line were finally removed. Although they were removed, the interesting part of this that affects our world today is that the Dinky Line was eventually changed into the Seaboard Air Line.

Finance in History

One of the first financial situations in America was when it was in debt and Robert Morris was hired as Superintendent of Finance from 1781-1784. Once he became superintendent, he came up with the idea of a national bank. Robert Morris established the Bank of North America, which was set up to regulate the economy better.
In addition to Robert Morris, another significant figure in the history of finance was Alexander Hamilton. He was the first secretary of treasury. In 1791, he set up the first Bank of the United States. He set up this bank so that there could be more security and control over the money in this nation.

British Bring On Their Own Loss

After thinking about the British situation after the Seven Years War and how they handled this situation, I realized that it was the British themselves who were responsible for losing their territory in America. When they finished up the war 1763, they were in need of money, as they were in debt, and so they decided that taxing the colonists would help them. There was the Stamp Act in 1965, which is when the British Parliament required the Americans to put stamps on every official document they had. In addition, there were other tariff laws made, such as the Sugar Act and Townshend Act, which posed tariffs on sugar, molasses, glass, and tea. This created tension between the British and the Americans, which eventually resulted in the American revolution.

Historians in the Making

Looking over the web-pages I'm impressed with content and style some teams put into their project. The Winter Park Historical Association website will benefit from these pages. If only the blogging was as successful. The semester is still young, lets hope that the next project will generate more blogging.

It is what dreams are made of

Benjamin Franklin is a prime example of the American dream. He's an example of how with hard work and dedication someone can achieve whatever goal they set their mind to. He was born in Boston and ran away at 17 with his older brother from his apprenticeship to Philadelphia. When him and his brother arrived in Philadelphia they didn't have any money. He built a printing business, published newspapers, books including Poor Richard's Almanac. He invented bifocals, the lightning rod, iron stove etc. He opened the first library. How did he do so much? The American dream is something that children are taught.The American dream tells a child no matter what background they are from. They have endless possibilities on what they can achieve. Too bad the American dream doesn't exist. It's like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, or Santa's Workshop. It has become an idea, a fairytale, a destination that can' for some, and won't for many be reached. No matter how hard they try. How did Franklin achieve all that he did as a penniless boy from Boston? I hate ending my blogs with questions, but sometimes that is all I am left with.

Hamilton

Hamilton's Bank of the United States was set in place to make the rich richer. I never understood that. Why make the rich, richer? They are already rich, why do they need more money? I mean I know there were other reasons for the bank, to gain legitimacy. I know that it was the beginning of having banks. But still. Hey, is that the reason we have banks now? Now I am paranoid. Hamilton was a very smart individual and so was Thomas Jefferson. Even though Thomas Jefferson was strongly against Alexander Hamilton views and actions, Hamilton more often then not, seemed to get his way. Thomas Jefferson the man who wrote our constitution could never get his ideas to prevail over Hamilton. I don't know if Hamilton was just that manipulative, George Washington had high favoritism for Hamilton, or if Thomas Jefferson wasn't forceful enough. However something just doesn't add up. I wonder how different our society would be if Thomas Jefferson was listened to more than Hamilton. Would are society change for better or worse? Would are society have changed at all, or would we be the same no matter what? Would we have a better friendship with the French? I wonder.

Eli Whitney was gypped

Eli Whitney was gypped. He invented the first cotton engine, or gin,which seperated cotton fibers from husk and seeds. This new device was able to increase the production of cotton cultivation. However, the machine was easily duplicated so he didn't make much money off of his invention. Could you imagine inventing something that would help revolutionize society and not getting the reward you deserve? I bet this is how the guy who invented the broom felt. This probably how Thomas Wallace felt when he he came up with theory of Natural selection "at the same time " as Charles Darwin. Maybe we as Americans should stop stealing music. I can't even say that with straight face. Well one thing that Whitney taught Americans is get a patten.

I could too

Yeah finally it is over, whew. Although I didn't use the information involving Rollins College and the black community in Winter Park, I still found it interesting. Rollins College Race Relations club and the Black Student Union were thoroughly involved in the black community. Fred Rogers was the chairman of Race Relations in 1950-1951 wrote about how amazing it felt to give back to the community, and how important it was to raise funds for the Mary DePugh Nursing home. Can you believe that the 1950's race relations Rollins was so involved in the black community. I didn't even know there were black kids that attended Rollins in the 1950's. In the 1970's the Black Student Union has pictures of memebers handing out books to kids and the elderly at the DePugh Nursing home. Community service just doesn't have the same meaning now as it did before. It wasn't a requirement to get in to school, it was just done because people wanted to help improve the lives of others. I wish I could give back to the community as much as they did. The articles I read on the Members of Race relations, and the Black StudentUnion makes me want to give back more, and do more for the community that surrounds me. If these Rollins College students in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's could due so much when racism and discrimination was extremely blatant and prevalent. I can do so as well, especially since now a days although racism and discrimination does exist at least people try to hide it.

10 dolla bill

Does it seem to anyone else that Hamilton, one of the most influential minds of our countries creation, was extremely childish with some of his actions? He cheated on his wife of whom he called "best of wives and best of women" for three years with a younger woman named Maria Reynolds. Sure, he started one of the two leading political parties in the 18th century, and wrote myriad essays and papers covering economics, politics etc. but he risked it all in a duel? A DUEL! that's video game material.

Webpage

Finishing up the webpage on the Comstock-Harris house it's pretty cool to think that soon the webpage will actually be up for people to look at and get information from. I think the best part of the project was actually going to the Comstock-Harris house with my partner Jesse and meeting the Twachtman family. It was really interesting to see that this family had tried to keep as much of the original house intact. They knew all these fun stories and talked about W.C. Comstock as if he were family. I think a lot of times with history, we get it from textbooks and from lectures. It was definitely a great experience to learn history from people who knew it first hand!

Stressful!

This project has turned out to be so much more work than I expected!

I feel really bad saying this, but I did not think this project was going to be that difficult. I was so wrong. The research, the writing, the pictures, and making it a website was a lot of work and a lot of struggle. But what made it even harder was that I really cared about what I was doing. I always care about my schoolwork, but because I knew this was for the community of Winter Park and a lot of people would be seeing it, I put that much more effort into what I was doing. After visiting the DePugh Nursing Center, I became even more invested in the project because everyone there was so excited about it! I went a few days ago to take pictures (and ran into the two ladies outside who were talking me) and then I went again today to take some pictures of the interior. I ended up just talking to some of the people who work there and they were all so chipper! When I told them what I was doing they were so excited and it made me want to make the website look that much better for them.

I am happy with our final project. I think it looks really good and captures the history of this place that is still assisting members of Winter Park. Now that it is actually completed, I am excited to see it up on the Historical Winter Park website.

Isn't it inspiring

This web page is harder than I wanted it to be. However, the information I stumbled upon was very interesting. My project is on the Ideal Woman's club founded by Mary Lee DePugh in Winter Park Florida. It was inspiring to see how one woman was able to truly impact a community in such a positive way. It's surprising what she accomplished being a woman in the late 1930's, when women didn't even have the right to vote then. Also, she wasn't just a woman, but a black woman, and blacks back then were treated like second class citizens. Mary Lee DePugh wasn't born in the south she lived in Illinois most of her life. Since the beginning blacks in America were treated better as a whole in the North than in the South. That being said I can't help but wonder a few things. Would Mary Lee DePugh have created the Ideal Woman's club if she was born in the south or, would she have been too discouraged? Would she have created the club if she wasn't previously involved in the Dunbar club in Illinois? What would have happened to the blacks in Winter Park if she never left Illinois? I don't know. I bet people who are reading this blog have four questions. What is the Ideal Woman's club? How did Mary Lee DePugh make such a huge impact in a community? What community? What impact did she make? These are good questions, and they may be answered on later blogs. I make no promises. In the meantime, isn't it inspiring how such a positive impact on a community could be made by one person?

Missing Link

We know that the Gentile Brothers was a citrus packing plant, but beyond that it is a mystery. There must some missing links such as dates of operation, more about the owners, or possibly a company name change. It is possible that some information disappeared when the Gentile Brothers Company was sold to Minute Maid. However, there should be more than what we have found up to now because the company lasted for several years in Winter Park before being sold to Minute Maid. We did find out that there was a fire that destroyed the whole building. Maybe all the information about the company was lost in the fire. There is also a Gentile Brothers Company in Cincinnati, Ohio that may have a link with the one in Winter Park. It would be interesting to know if there is an existing relative of a worker of executive for the Gentile Brothers Company in the area.

Visiting History

Today, Wilson and I visited the Women's club. I never realized how close it is to our school - it's right next to the parking lot! Though it looks small from the outside do not be fooled by this! Even though when we visited their clubhouse they were holding a meeting, the inside is very big with wooden flooring and paintings on the walls. It's funny to think that such a significant factor that contributed a great deal to the shaping of the community we live in now is only across fairbanks!

History repeats itself?

Countless amounts of times, I remember sitting in my high school U.S. History classroom with students half asleep during the teacher's lectures. Those who remained awake seem too preoccupied doodling in their notebooks and daydreaming about their crushes. The question would somehow always come up, "Why are we learning about this anyway?? It's all done and over with!". The teacher would simply respond, "We learn about history so that we won't have to repeat our mistakes again...". The reason why I give this short story is because I thought about this situation in my readings of the Alien and Sedition Acts. There seemed to be many correlations with the past and our present. Could it be possible, that history does indeed repeat itself? The Alien and Sedition Acts rose in 1798, at the heat of the the U.S.'s Quasi-War with France. A series of acts were passed in order to limit the rights of the immigrants and critics of administration. The Congressional Sponsors would claim that these extreme measure were "necessary wartime measures". Two of the series of acts were the Alien and Sedition Acts. Th Alien Act allowed the President to deport any non-U.S. citizens that were a threat to U.S. government while the Sedition Act made it illegal for any person to oppose the government in any fashion or interfere with the execution of a law. These acts created much controversy within U.S. citizens since it infringed upon their freedom of speech and the press. Even though there were mixed emotions throughout the nation, U.S. President John Adams remained adamant and believed the acts to be constitutional as they protected the future of the republic. This situation in history almost identically parallels our present one with the War in Iraq and President Bush's introduction of the Patriot Act. Much like the Alien and Sedition Act, the Patriot Act infringed on people's freedom of speech and the press as it allowed the government the power to access your medical records, tax records, books that you buy or borrow and intercept in phone calls that may seem "terrorist like". Although, many U.S. citizens believe the Patriot Act to be a complete invasion of privacy, U.S. administration call it a necessary deed in order to protect the nation against terrorism. Though, the Alien and Sedition Acts only lasted until March 3, 1801, when the next President was elected... Must we wait until our next Presidential election to see a change with the Patriot Act??

Gentile Bros. Citrus Company

My partners and I got together last week to do some research on the Gentile Bros. We went over to the Winter Park Public Library (since there wasn't much at Olin) but when we got there of course we didn't really find much either. We ended up calling their plant in Ohio and found out that many of the records were destroyed when one of his factory's burned down awhile ago. We then decided to call a library that focuses on the Florida citrus industries, we figured they had to have a lot there. But it turned out that the man who was in charge of the archives had passed away a couple of weeks ago and the rest of the employees had no idea where to start looking.
Luckily though, the nice lady at the Winter Park Library was still going through her archives and found a book that had more information than we expected. So we used what we found in the book and a couple of online sources and were finally able to write our roughdraft, thankfully :o)

The Burning of an Ancient Oak Tree

While we had done research for our project (the Winter Park Country Club), I came across a really interesting fact. 1956 became a year to be remembered by many of the Country Club's members. In that year, an ancient live oak tree standing in the middle of the golf course was burned in order to make room for the golfers to play. The burning turned into a public event with many spectators. Some of the golf club members were that intrigued that they wrote poems or stories recounting the event. The absence of the tree was believed to improve the golfers' score tremendously. Many national newspapers covered the stories, adding to the good reputation the golf course was already enjoying across the country.
To me it seems interesting that a tree is burned instead of cut and also that the event includes that many spectators. Nowadays, I also believe it might not be customary anymore to remove such an ancient tree for the simple purpose of making a golf course more accessible. Laws protecting such old trees would prevent that, however in 1956, this was a completely permissible thing to do.

Winter Park Historical Museum

It seems the only historical information on the Gentile Brothers Company is little details, like pictures or the small The Rollins College archive had an entire folder devoted to Citrus Companies from Old Winter Park, and Gentile Brothers Company wasn’t even mentioned in the newspaper special about citrus companies in the area or the citrus magazine. There wasn’t even an ad. I took a trip to the Winter Park Historical Museum, and the older assistant there told me what the Gentile Company used to look like, and a little about the family’s prestige in the community. She was very helpful. The Winter Park Historical Museum was small but the people that work there know a lot of stories about specific subjects. The former mayor of Winter Park was also there, and my Friend and I got to meet him.

Alien and Sedition Act v. Patriot Act

I did not know that John Adams was so decisive in the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts. When I was reading the section about the act I could not help finding several parallels between the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Patriot Act of today. While the Alien and Sedition Act may deny American citizens their first amendment right to freedom of speech, the Patriot Act denies Americans their fourth amendment right, protecting them against unlawful searches and seizures without a warrant. Recently the federal courts have ruled two provisions of the Patriot Act illegal citing that they violate the fourth amendment. In the reading there is a section where Thomas Jefferson and James Madison tried to convince the state legislators that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional, but the states simply replied that it was not their place to determine wither the act was unconstitutional. This just goes to show that history repeats itself. Adam's administration passed a act in a time of war that supposedly protected the American citizens and Bush also passed a similar act in a time of war.

James Madison and Federalist Paper Number 10

James Madison one of the most influential founding fathers wrote The Federalist No. 10 to addresses the problem of “factions” and more specifically how to deal with “factions”. The “factions” that Madison speaks of are modern day special interest that by definition are citizens with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. 
The “factions” could also be perceived as political parties which do not represent the population as a whole. Madison then states that popular sovereignty would be able to control minority factions and that it is the majority faction that the future government would have to deal with. Madison concludes that a large and strong Republic that would be better equipped to deal with the “factions”, rather than a small democracy like a state government. The reason that a large Republic would be better equipped to deal with majority faction is that a large Republic would have a large and diverse group of representatives elected from all the states in the union. Thus the view of a majority faction from one state may not be the majority view of the entire United States and their view would then not be apposed upon the rest of the union. 
Towards the end of the document Madison alludes that the found fathers and the Constitution did not intended for American politics to be partisan and that the Constitution was designed to check “factions” and insure that the majority always ruled. 
Madison’s ideal that a large Republic would be able to check “factions” and other minority groups is still put in to practice to day. The constant struggle for majority power is a constant issue especially in the Legislative branch. In 2006 the Democrats took control of the House and the Senate (counting independents on their party). Although the democrats only have control by a slim margin it is still a representation of the majority. This is where Madison’s ideal of a large Republic constraining the power of minority groups. If both parties block vote there would be no way a Republican from the minority party would be able to get legislation passed because of the fact that a republic can encompass larger areas and populations, thus the true majority will always rule. 
The founding fathers set up the American system of government to have several intricate systems of checks and balances. The Federalist No 10. is no exception, it is a document that argues for a large republic so that the majority will always rule over the minority “factions”. The struggle for majority power is still fought over today, but thank to the Constitution a 1% margin in an election or by 2 chairs majority in the Senate the will always be a majority and the majority will always rule.

The Brewer House

At first my assignment seemed bland, I mean seriously writing about an old house never sounds good to me. But to my surprise that house has had some interesting owners. The most had to be a drug lord who was arrested inside the Brewer house. he had significantly changed the houses architecture. He had added things like false wall and weapons deposits. It was a pretty crazy thing to come across while researching the topic. 
Hopefully more crazy things will come my way while finishing this project...

Transferring Comments to Blogs

I finally am one of the contributors to the Digital History blog. So I am currently transferring all of my comments (which i was using as my blog) to blog from.

So I still have not received that e-mail, thus I am still not a contributor on this blog... Oh well I can post comments, so until Professor Chambliss makes me a contributor this is how I will have to post on the blog.

First post

Hi, this is my first post, i know it is a bit late but I am not very good with these things. Although I have made my readings in time for all the classes but for two sometimes I feel kind of lost at some points. I had never studied American History before and when we are dealing with things that "we are supposed to know from highschool", I often do not have the slightest clue what they are about at all, and I imagine it is the same for some other classmates. I am finding the class interesting though, as most of the things are new, so hope I will be getting better at dealing with it.

Surprising Experience

I am working on the DePugh Nursing Center project and this past weekend I drove over to the Nursing Center to take some pictures of what the site looks like today. There was a woman walking with her friend past the facility and she was looking at me funny, so I explained why I was taking pictures. She and her friend both got all excited and began to ask if I knew about Mary Lee DePugh. I was really surprised that these two women (who I assume are just residents of Winter Park) knew the history. They seemed very knowledgeable about Mary Lee DePugh and all the things she did for the community. I told them what website it was for, and they were very excited that the "younger people" were taking interest in the history of Winter Park. These women made me feel a little ignorant that I barely knew any Winter Park history before starting this project. Just a funny experience I had with the project!

A Hand In Everything...

In seems as though through looking at the other projects in the class as well as my own that Charles Morse had his hand in everything. Mr. Morse truly was the founding father that had the vision and the piggy bank to produce his retreat for the wealthy. From the construction of the Winter Park Country Club to the town layout Morse was apart of Winter Park from its primary infancy. Morse was also influential in the arts with his interest in museums, culture and education. Mr. Morse donated a lot of his money to Rollins College, which he believed in full heartedly as a future home of fine education. Winter Park owes its sense of community building, art loving spirit and aesthetic beauty to the vision of Charles Morse.

Learning of Other Historical Projects

This past Friday, we were given an opportunity to learn about other students' projects for the webpages. The two papers that my partner and I looked over were on the Brewery House and the Country Club. Both of these topics were very interesting because they were both involved very different aspects of some people's everyday life. I belong to a Country Club now and many of the topics that were talked about it that paper were very similar to Country Club's nowadays. It is amazing to think that there were golf courses that existed so long ago. This class time that we spent on Friday made the Historic Winter Park webpage project that much more enlightening, as we not only get to learn about our own topic, but we get to learn about others as well.

Similarities and Differences Relating to The Dinky Line and the Modern Day Winter Park Train

After doing research on "The Dinky Line," or in other words the railroad track that ran from Orlando to Winter Park, it was interesting to learn that President Thaddeus Seymour said that it would only cost 10 cents for a student of Rollins College to ride from Orlando to Oviedo. It is amazing to compare the cost of a train ride now to a train ride back then. Many other qualities changed relating to the Dinky Line over time, but it is actually interesting to see the similarities. For instance, now as I am a student that attends Rollins College, whenever I am near the train that is near the park in Winter Park and the train goes by, I complain about how noisy it is. Similarly, while I was reading information about "The Dinky Line," I read over some information that said that it was noisy, it did not arrive on time, and that it generated a lot of smoke.

The Federal Republic

After the ratification of the Constitution, the United States was faced with the challenge of creating a new government, one in which everyone can agree to. The only problem was that the nation was split with those who favored a strong central government to those who favored more of a republican government. Such opposing view were resembled through the Federalist and Republican Parties. The Federalist favored commercial development, a strong national bank, high tariffs and a strong central government based on a loose interpretation of the Constitution. They were critical of slavery which gained the allegiance of many free slaves. They were not enthusiastic about western expansion and believe in protecting the Native American's right to land. The Republican party, on the other hand, believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution without having a strong central government. They rejected the efforts on abolishing slavery since most of them were located in the South. They also had very little if no sympathy for the rights of the Native American's to own land. These opposing views shared by these political parties resulted in the nations problems in creating a strong central government. :p

National Register of Historic Places

As we were doing research for the website on the Winter Park Golf Course and Country Club, we came across the fact that the Golf Course and its Clubhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. To me, this was a pretty amazing fact and accomplishment, considering that the United States is such a big country with so many places to be considered for that list.
Out of personal interest, I visited the website of the National Register to see what other places are on the list for Orange Country, Fl. To my surprise almost all the places we are doing our projects on could be found on there.
The Women's Club was added in 1995, and the Edward Hill Brewer House had been on there since 1982. Additionally, all the project topics involving Rollins were found on there. Knowles Chapel is a part of the register since 1997, considered historically significant for its architecture. The Annie Russell Theater was added to the list a year later, historically important for its architecture and the founding person - Annie Russel. I also came across a building called the Parsonage. This building relates to Rollins in the sense that its owner and builder was an important person in Rollins history: Dr. Edward Payson Hooker, a reverend and Rollins first President. I thought it was very interesting to see what an important part Rollins and Winter Park play in Orange county history.

Title??

Our met on Thursday at the Winter Park Historical Center and formulated our web page. I feel like we don't have enough information though to make it more interesting. We have tried several ways of getting information and it all seems to come to a dead end road. In a way it makes it even more interesting to find out more information on the Gentile Brother's Company. Either way, I was able to contact the CEO of the current Gentile Brother's Company in Cincinnati and it seems as if he has some information regarding the history of their company. Once I receive the documents I will be able to have more, hopefully, interesting information so that our group can put it on the web page. :-)

Finding a Story that Works

This digital history project is a learning experience for me as well as the students. You can't always chose the absolute perfect subjects. When you assign something, you are hoping that there is enough information readily available that the students will not be so frustrated they can't go on. For the most part, in an effort to reflect a variety of perspectives I strove to assign locations that touched the community in different ways. I think it working, but you never know. Let's hope we don't have anyone drop over the web-page project. On the other hand, phase II will be harder on one level (working alone) and easier (free to chose from a greater variety of material). At the same time the intellectual process will be more demanding. Whether of not this was good idea--history will be the judge. At some level, finding out what people don't know about offers a education for me. An urban college like Rollins arguable should have resources and projects linked to the wider community. Those links should in turn create the opportunity for students and professors to create interesting projects that benefit both. I think this project qualifies, or at least I hope.

Cattle on the Course

My research led me to an interesting discovery about the original Winter Park Country Club. In the opening years of the course maintenance struggled with roaming cattle that occupied many of the holes. The cattle distracted golfers and angered community leaders eventually leading to the construction of a fence that blocked the open fields from the course. One would think maintenance wouldn't advocate animals on the course after the struggle with the cattle, but sheep were next. Keeping the grass short enough for play in the early 20th century was a struggle and costly, this was until there was a great idea. Maintenance and greens keepers let dozens of sheep lose on the course to eat the grass, thus providing a cheap way to keep the grass short for its members. This radical technique made its way to Golf Illustrated which featured the Winter Park Country Club for its interesting grass keeping. The sheep eventually proved to be more of any annoyance then a help and were run off in the early 1920's.

Today's Projects

Today was really great, getting to peer review and read up on some of the history of Winter Park! the dinky line was interesting b/c even to this day, Winter Park is known, at least to me, for keeping me up some nights b/c of the noisy trains! i found it great that Rollins students named it "the Dinky Line". Also i read about Hannibal Square and how amazingly integrated it strived to become. That is very important to me to know that Rollins College had a large hand in collaborating to make the Square's library. All in all, an interesting view into the history of beautiful Winter Park.

Winter Park's History is all around us!

At the beginning of the semester I decided to join crew, which entails a mile and a half run to and from the boat house 4 days a week (very tiring!). We have to run down the whole of Interlachen Avenue on our way to the boat house. As I was cycling back to Rollins after practise (due to an injury...not the point) this evening I noticed a sign for the Charles. H. Morse Park - Mr. Charles Morse was the husband of the founder of the Women's Club on January 13th 1915 who also purchased the plot of land that became the Women's Club clubhouse and still is to this day. I had never realized to what extent our present is influenced by the past.

History Project

Today, Hilary, Mikita and I went to the Winter Park Historical Library across from Rollins to try and research more information on the Gentile Brothers. We thought we would find more information over there since thats what we were told at the Archive center back at Rollins but in fact they only had a few things. Its getting a little frustrating because there is really little information on them, which makes this project so much harder. What I did learn though is that the Gentile Brother's Company was a very successful citrus company in Central Florida. They were located strategically next to the railroad which helped them advance economically. Also, the Gentile Brother's Company is now a successful enterprise located at Cincinnati , Ohio. Though, the company is not directly affiliated to the actual brothers even though it originated from them. We've contacted another archive center in Lakeland and hopefully we will be able to get more information soon enough :-)

The Womens Club

What I found most interesting when researching the Women's Club in the Archives, was the inspiration these women created for others by giving them the confidence to express an opinion and help the community, such as the 700 pounds of Marmalade to the French soldiers during the war (I know I am fascinated with the marmalade - must be a European thing!). It is these women's acts of social, civic, educational and moral welfare that has shaped the Winter Park community into what it is today.

The Palms

This is a picture of the Palms, the house constructed by Edward Hill Brewer in 1891. He actually purchased the land from Rollins College to build his winter home, a nice little retreat from his upstate New York life. This is a very interesting home which has been through many trials and turbulences in it's history. Anthony and i are going to go visit the house, if anyone wants to join.

Change in the times...

My research looking into the Winter Park Country Club has lead to many interesting discoveries. One of which exemplifies a true change in the times. Through the sorting of dozens of papers, pictures and articles I came across a document from the early twentieth century which shows a major cultural difference in the Winter Park community. The document gave the hours of operation for the golf course and issued special note the fact that NO golf was allowed to be played on Sundays. This may seem like a small detail but shows the difference of culture and the city as a whole. Obviously this rule was based from a religious stand point, an affiliation to the standards of Christianity. Today it would seem politically incorrect for any city funded recreational facility to link itself with any religion. This gives an image of what Winter Park was like back in those time, a portal to past regulations and culture. This one rule can start to paint a picture of what life was like in those days, for better or worse.

Rollins Archive

I never knew that there was a Rollins archive in the basement of the library. The things they pulled out for us to look at were great. I never knew that the first person to graduate from Rollins was a woman, or that there used to be so many rules (no messy rooms and curfew) or that back then it only cost in the upper hundreds to attend Rollins. Looking at pictures of what Rollins used to look like through the years was very strange (Pine Hurst looks the same), and one picture showed railroad tracks going through campus by the lake. Our project is to do research on the Gentile Company in Winter Park. I’ve never heard about it, so it will be interesting to see what their business was.

American Colonies

I realize that the time for this particular blog has pasted but I just figured out how to post... Now that we have learned how the American colonies developed, it is interesting to know the significance of the events that occurred, to lead us to become an independent nation. If there hadn’t been such an upset in the colonies, would we still be under the control of Britain? If the parliament had catered more to the colonists’ requests, maybe we would be. It’s funny to think that the colonists that dressed up as Indians and threw the British tea overboard didn’t truly know what they were starting. I wonder if they had known what was going to happen as a result of their actions, if they still would have gone through with it.

Winter Park Golf Course

During last weeks research at the Olin Library archives I came across an interesting fact. Our topic is the Winter Park Golf course. Not only did I find out that there originally was a golf course directly on the Rollins campus (we saw some pretty good pictures of it stretching along the lake all over campus, we also discovered when it first moved to a different location it was a pretty small (9-hole) golf course. After that it was continuously expanded. We also found out that for the longest time and well into the 1950s or even longer, the golf course would be closed on Sundays due to so-called "blue laws" (laws designed to uphold moral standards, particularly those of Sunday as a day of rest and worship). That was one of the facts I found most interesting since it is something that nowadays seems almost impossible to imagine with stores being open almost 24/7.

Banking

i know that the first bank in America was set up in 1791. Did Robert Moris have a helping hand in the system of a centralized bank b/c that was at first his proposal. In the Constitution, was a provisional bank set up in order to maintain and house the newly formed governments money. I think that it is a pretty interesting idea of creating and establishing a monetary policy with government backed security and money instead of commodity money, which is backed by gold and silver.

Gentile Brothers

Last Friday we went to the Archives at the Olin Library where my group began to collect information on the Gentile Brother's. They only had two folders with one having two pictures and the other an obituary. This didn't really give us too much information so therefore we began looking through the citrus documents to see if there was anything that we can find on the Gentile Brothers Co.. Not too much success on that end either! We even checked online to gather more information which resulted in no help as well. Though, the lady there advised us to go to the Winter Park Library since they seem to have more information on Central Florida's Citrus industries specifically on the Gentile Brother's Company. I will be contacting my two partners by tomorrow and finding out when we will be able to meet in order to go to the library together. Also, I will be emailing a professor in FSU where they seem to have more information regarding Citrus industries. Hopefully I will get more information then!

Getting let into the house

Upon thinking of ways to approach our research, Marianna and I, well Mostly just me, decided to go to the Comstock House for some primary source-age. I knocked, like some some kind of distraught salesman, until Mrs. Twatchman came to the door. After five minutes of uneasy questioning through the screen window, we were allowed into the house where they warmed up a bit. We traded pictures, stories, and knowledge of the house and it's origins (well not much of a trade, more of a receiving sort of deal) inside the large living room. I didn't really want to touch or sit on anything since most of the original furniture was still intact. In a day where history is often torn down or pushed into the background, it was refreshing to see the current owners' respect and knowledge of the house and it's history. This was really the best way to research as we got to see many of the house originals like the light fixtures, window panes, and wood fireplaces. We also heard some interesting stories from Al Capone's visit to Comstock's (rumored) monkey. Good times.

Mary Lee DePugh

My partner and I are researching the Depugh Nursing Center. In our search, a lot of information has come up about Mary Lee DePugh. She not only founded the Nursing Center, but also the Ideal Woman's Club. What I found really interesting was that she did not even visit Winter Park until 1936. The Woman's Club was established in 1937, and the Nursing Center did not open until 1956. But Mary Lee passed away in 1949. In twelve years, this woman put into motion two of the largest, most influential organizations in the Winter Park community. It would be really interesting to know more about Mary Lee DePugh before she arrived in Winter Park. I would be curious to find out what other things she set into motion during her lifetime.

Making Sense of History

This digital project offers students the opportunity to create historical content for the public. While much of what we do in lower level history classes does not last, this project will have a profound effect on Winter Park years to come. I am pleased to see student comments about new information and unexpected revelations about Rollins and Winter Park.