The Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives (The Wolfson Archives) is currently housed at

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...

Wolfson Campus Miami Dade College (Wolfson Campus) is one of Miami Dade College’s eight campuses. The campus was opened in 1970, holding classes in storefronts in Downtown Miami, Florida. As the only comprehensive urban campus in the City of Miami, Wolfson Ca ...

in downtown

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, United States.

History

Wolfson Archives was named in honor of benefactors Lynn and Louis Wolfson II and was founded in 1984 primarily by philanthropist Lynn Wolfson (''née'' Rabin) (1927-2012), journalist

Ralph Renick Ralph Apperson Renick (August 9, 1928 – July 11, 1991) was a pioneer American television journalist for Miami's WTVJ, channel 4 (now channel 6), Florida's first television station. He was WTVJ's first and longest running news anchor and the driv ...

(1928-1991), and Miami historian

Arva Moore Parks Arva Moore Parks McCabe (born Arva Moore; January 19, 1939 – May 10, 2020) was a historian, author and preservationist in Miami, Florida. Career A University of Florida alumna (1960), she was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame (1986 ...

. It was created under the joint sponsorship of the Miami-Dade Public Library System,

, and the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Originally, the Archives was housed in the basement area of the Main Branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System, until it moved to its present location. The mission of the Archives is to: "collect, preserve and make accessible film and video materials made in or about Florida which reflect the history and culture of the region". The Wolfson Archives has collected 35,000 hours of videotape and 23 million feet of film. It is recognized as an official repository of audiovisual material by the State of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and one of the largest archives of its kind in the entire country.

Collections

The Wolfson Archives is dedicated to film produced in or about Florida, and receives requests for footage from such notable people as the acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The archive houses everything from news footage, home movies, and county-commissioned videos to promotional videos made for local tourist attractions, like Parrot Jungle (now called

Jungle Island Jungle Island, formerly Parrot Jungle, is a relaunched eco-adventure park on Watson Island, Miami, Florida, United States. The park is re-opened following a series of major renovations after the park incurred damage from Hurricane Irma. The park ...

). Some of the footage dates as far back as 1910. The Archives also help restore film that holds historical importance and that runs the risk of deteriorating to original quality. Footage from the Archives was also used by CNN for the Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown series on Miami, Season 5, Episode 3. The Wolfson Archives currently has the following collections available for browsing online: *

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

Historical Commission Collection * Conni Gordon Collection *

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

Collection * Home Movies Collection *

Collection *

Miami Seaquarium The Miami Seaquarium is a oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami-Dade County, Florida located near downtown Miami. Founded in 1955, it is one of the oldest oceanariums in the United States. In addition to marin ...

Collection * Montage Collection *

WINK-TV WINK-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, making it one of a han ...

Collection

Public programs

The Wolfson Archives is in the process of digitizing its vast collection in order to make it more readily available for the public. It offers a series of public programs such as the annual Home Movie Day, and weekly video "Rewind" showings of video clips. The Archives also participates in various South Florida special events such as the annual

Miami Book Fair International The Miami Book Fair is an annual two-day street fair and literary festival organized by Miami Dade College. The fair brings over 300 national and international authors exhibitors to a weeklong gathering and includes pavilions for translation, ...

. These are two of the programs geared to the community: *Rewind: A series of free, informal, twice-weekly public screening of historical footage of archives' holdings. *Learning from Miami: A collaborative website http://learningfrommiami.org/ between the Wolfson Archives, Miami Dade College's School of Architecture and Interior Design, and

HistoryMiami HistoryMiami Museum, formerly known as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, is a museum located in Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. HistoryMiami Museum is the largest history museum in the State of Florida. HistoryMiami houses four per ...

.Learning from Miami: History, Architecture, Preservation. Retrieved November 2015 from http://learningfrommiami.org/?page_id=22

References

External links

* *Wolfson Archives
Facebook page
* {{Florida Film archives in the United States