This week was fun! Prior to telling you my awesome visit to the Florida Historical Society, I will quickly explain what I did from last Friday to Tuesday night. As Holly advised me to do so last week during our Zoom meeting, I went ahead and did some light research on the topic I will be doing the podcast for---immigration in Florida. I went on JSTOR and Google Scholar, and found some interesting research articles that I saved onto my profile for future use. One of these articles were researched and written by Gary R. Mormino----the potential historian I will be interviewing for my podcast. Those articles in particular, I took note of. That is what I did within those days. I emailed Holly on Tuesday confirming the Wednesday appointment and the address to get there. Once Wednesday arrived (6/8), I drove to Cocoa to visit the Florida Historical Society HQ. The drive was about 50 minutes long (worth it). I arrived at 11 am and left around 3 pm. In those 4 hours, a lot happened so let's get straight to it!
Holly greeted me as soon as I stepped inside the building. I told her how it was nice to finally see her in-person after all this time communicating with each other (which I exaggeratedly talked about in last week's blog). She instantly gave me a tour of the place, and my god was I stunned. The building used to be an old post office during the 19th and early 20th century. The amount of historical materials and inventory they have------from books, newspapers, photos, maps, letters, and much more, it felt like I was in candy land. Never in my life I have felt "the world is your oyster" saying being so true. The oldest material they have is from 1608, which is so dope. As Holly continued with the tour and introduced me to the staff members that were there, I just had this adrenaline and motivational rush to do something really special with this opportunity I have. I had that mindset since Week 1, but seeing all the material they have and the reach they have, there really is no excuse to produce some pretty exceptional work. Holly showed me the upstairs part of the building (where most of the photographs and maps are stored) and the basement. Yes, you read that right, a basement in Florida! Holly told me it is one of the few buildings in the state to have a basement. There they have more archival materials, but mainly what is in the basement is most of the staff offices, and more importantly the podcast booth. When I saw the podcast booth/station, I got so hyped. I automatically envisioned myself doing my narration there and hopefully many more projects there in the future. After the tour concluded (which was almost an hour long, as she explained every section and its importance), we sat down in one of the tables they have by the entrance to discuss the books she found for me that she thinks would be of great use to me. Initially the books she gave me were "Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams" and "Tampa: The Treasure City" both by Gary R. Mormino (as seen in the picture below). As we talked, I told her about some other ideas I was flirting with that can be of use to this podcast, but also potentially to other ones (which is not to aim of this internship, as I am only required to produce one, but why not make more if I the resources available to do so). Thus, we walked back to the bookshelves to see if any of those ideas (which was still immigration, but focused in other major Florida cities), had corresponding materials. I found some books that not only piqued my curiosity (had to tame that throughout the visit because if not I would walk out with the whole library!), but were related to the my podcast ideas. These were "A Concise History of Florida" by James Clark (which oddly did not appear when I was doing my research of him in Week 2, where I was looking for a more updated book about Florida history-----this one was published in 2014.), "Miami: City of the Future" by T.D. Allman, and "Latino Orlando, Suburban Transformation and Racial Conflict" by Simone Delerme (all pictured below). The other book that I have not mentioned is a tangible version of the Florida Historical Quarterly, which was the research journal I was going through prior to my visit. I got that book later in the visit when I realized one of the essays/articles published in that specific volume was one I had saved on my profile online, so why not get the physical copy (it was the one that was written by Gary Mormino).
Once I had all the books laid out on the table, Holly and I continued to talk. I asked her if she had any advice on how to go through all this material and transform it for podcast use. She told me to go through the parts of the book that primarily talk about my topic (immigration) and take notes about it. She also told me that as I am going through the books, as I come up with questions in my mind that I would like to ask during my interview, to write them down because it will be nearly impossible to remember them later on. We talked more about Dr. Mormino himself, who he is, what he does now, and if Holly has had any interview experiences with him. Luckily, when we were talking about this (as I pulled up my computer to do research of him), we found that he has recently (May 17) published a book called "Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida's Turning Point" that focuses on modern-day Florida. I told Holly this was awesome news, as I can be one of the first people to ask him about this new book during my interview, regardless if it is not immigration-related (which I doubt it). Even more lucky (this day really was awesome), the UCF library on the main campus has this book and another one of his (The Immigrant World of Ybor City) available to rent. I instantly put a request for it in that moment, and will pick it up as soon as it's ready for me (probably early next week). Holly was happy for me that I was able to pick out more material, as this can produce a better product. We continued to talk some more, basically getting to know each other, which was great! As 2 pm approached, she went back to her office to catch-up on some emails she probably had missed throughout the whole time she spent with me, and I decided to stay longer and start reading some of the books I had in front of me. I decided to tackle this chronologically, as the story of immigration is ever-evolving, and I am thinking of framing my interview this way. My goal is that when I interview him, I want to know most of the material he has published, that way I can ask the best questions possible, and hopefully he will be impressed enough that he'll open up more for me. Therefore, I started reading "Tampa: The Treasure City" as that was the earliest book I had (1983). I took down some notes, as I was reading, taking Holly's advice seriously. I did this for about an hour. When 3 pm was approaching, I went to Holly's office (at this point one of the only people there because the building closes at 2 pm), and told her I was leaving. I told her how appreciative I was for her kindness and help throughout the visit, and how I am beyond excited for the work I have ahead. She gave back that same energy, and told me we will continue to communicate via email, and how I am welcomed back anytime to the FHS HQ. I left excited, appreciative, and motivated of the opportunity I just experienced and the opportunity I have ahead.
The next morning (Thursday), Holly emailed me informing me that Dr. Mormino will be having talks soon about his recently published book. The first one is June 15th and the second one is June 23rd. I immediately responded with thanking her for letting me know, and I will try my best in attending both. Both talks are located in Tampa, which is a bit further than Cocoa, but I am willing to do the drive. I still have not made an official decision, as I have to look into my schedule to see if its feasible. Simply put, I have had good experiences when I attend these types of history events in-person, and its no coincidence, as one of my professors told me, people in the field notice that level of commitment. So I hope I can go. You will certainly find out next week! This week was truly special, not only for the internship, but in my life in general, as I felt the progress of moving forward in the goals I have for this career I aspire to have. What's on my radar moving forward is not only seeing if I can attend these events, but continue to read all the material I picked up that day, and be as ready and prepared as possible for the eventual podcast interview. Thank you Holly for being awesome that Wednesday, and thank you for reading!
SG
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