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The University of Florida Archives Photograph Collection contains historic images of the university and its predecessors. It is the most frequently used component of the University Archives and documents many significant events of the university’s past. In addition to images of places and buildings, there are photographs depicting student social activities, sports, classroom instruction, fine arts performances, academic ceremonies, and research.

The News and Public Affairs division, formerly the Office of Information Services, produced most of the photographs. Others came from college public relations offices, most notably Engineering, and the agricultural units. The agricultural units have generated thousands of photographs of the university’s extension and research activities. There are photographs of rural life from almost every county in Florida some of themdating to the early 1900s. The photograph collection also includes images donated by alumni and faculty as well as commercial photographers hired by the university.

This digital collection represents only a fraction of the more than 40,000 images in the Archives’ total holdings. The core part of the digital collection consists of the Archives’ photonegative file. These images had been underutilized, as they were difficult to access, and most have never been published. Images from the Archives’ print and slide files are gradually being added to the digital collection.