Summer Showcase: Local History Collections

Selections from the Mickler, Cary Hand, and Ben White Raceway Central Florida History Collections

Harness Horse and Jockey Training at Ben White Raceway A companion exhibit to Summer Showcase: Art, Dance, Music and Theatre is located in display cases outside the Special Collections & University Archives. Showcasing local history collections from the department, the display includes items from the Ben White Raceway Papers, Carey Hand Funeral Home Collection, and Thomas and Georgine Mickler Collection are on display. Photographs, directories and brochures from the now closed Ben White Raceway give a window into the past of this famed Orlando harness racing facility. The Carey Hand Funeral Home Collection consists of early records and other memorabilia from the Orlando Funeral Home (1891-1952). Patrons will be surprised to learn that Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal system widely used by public libraries to catalogue their books, had a Central Florida connection. Exhibit visitors can view his entry in the Carey Hand Funeral Home register and undertaker's memoranda from 1931. Items on display from the Mickler Collection were drawn from the Henry Nehrling Papers and Mickler Postcard Collection. The postcards on display are of the Maitland Art Center and some historic parks and buildings located in downtown Orlando. Included are the San Juan Hotel and an artist's rendering of the new Orlando Public Library building before its construction in 1985. The Henry Nehrling Papers are comprised of correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings and writing relating to famed ornithologist and horticulturist Henry Nerhling's research gardens in Gotha, Florida.

1967-68 Ben White Raceway Directory; sketch of Ben White Postcard San Juan Hotel American Eagle article in memoriam Henry Nehrling