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When we think of a "museum," it is most often as a collection of artifacts—old, rare, valuable, or otherwise important objects. The Museum of Florida History has plenty of these. The 45,000 artifacts in the MFH collection include official portraits of Florida governors, early labels and advertising from the state's citrus and cigar industries, tourism-related artifacts from beach resorts, pottery and household items from Spanish and Indian settlements. Many are textiles, including inaugural gowns of Florida first ladies, quilts from rural Florida, and battle flags from the Civil War.
While these collections represent the diversity of Florida, the MFH collections policy defines several thematic areas: Florida maps from the 1500s through 1880s; Florida art from 1564 to the 1930s; traditional Florida arts and crafts; early Spanish items (1500s to 1819); the British period (1763 to 1783); ethnic and cultural groups, including Seminole and Miccosukee materials, African-American artifacts, and Cuban-American items; notable Floridians; military artifacts; tourism in Florida; clubs and organizations; sports and recreation; transportation; and Florida industries such as movies, cigars, and citrus.
Objects from this treasure trove are used to build exhibits, and are made available for loan to other institutions and for examination by scholars. Much as books in a library, every item is carefully registered, cataloged, indexed, preserved, and conserved.
The museum's professional curators use the full range of the Museum of Florida History collection to plan and mount exhibits that bring Florida's history alive. Among the permanent exhibits in the Gray Building's MFH galleries are: "Florida's First People," focusing on prehistoric Florida, "Florida in the Civil War,", "Waterways," the story of Florida steamboats and "Plate Fleet," artifacts recovered from Spanish shipwrecks. Changing exhibits include "Curator's Choice"—displaying MFH collection treasures that are not on permanent exhibit. Special thematic exhibits are mounted each year. Most recently, two of these, Florida Remembers World War II and Follow that Dream: Florida's Rock 'n Roll Legends, toured museums in several major Florida cities.
The Knott House Museum, in Tallahassee's downtown Park Avenue National Register Historic District, was probably built in 1843 by George Proctor, a free black carpenter. It served as Union headquarters following the end of the Civil War in 1865. In 1928, state official William Knott and his wife Luella purchased it. The house has been restored to interpret the Knott family's life in the first half of the 20th century, a "time capsule" of Tallahassee history.
Mission San Luis, a National Historic Landmark on a western hilltop in Tallahassee, is centered on the remains of a 17th century Spanish mission, once the western capital of Spanish Florida. A combination of archaeology and history, the mission provides school groups and the general public with exhibits and hands-on interpretive programs.
The Old Capitol has been a museum site since 1982. With its newly installed exhibit, Florida Center of Political History and Governance, the historic Capitol building, restored to its 1902 architecture, provides visitors with an extensive look at the political history of the state.
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