SW0123 Unsung, Shush-less Librarians Organize Foundation’s Books into Central Access Repository

The 1500+ book collection comprises the cornerstone of research materials at the Frank
Laumer Center for the Study of the Seminole Wars. Other items include hundreds of paper
files that supported Frank Laumer's accounts of the Dade Battles, microfilm, tens of
thousands of print and digital images, thousands of digital records, and assorted comic
books and movie posters that put Seminole front and center. 

 

At the time of his death in late 2019, Frank Laumer had amassed a library of roughly 350 Seminole Wars-related books. In addition, his compendium contained another 450 books on American presidents and American history related in some way to these wars. This included donations from the late Dr. John Mahon, author of The History of the Second Seminole War.

These legacy books are the cornerstone for the Seminole Wars Foundation’s Frank Laumer Center for the Study of the Seminole Wars. Since Frank Laumer’s passing, and through aggressive, savvy canvassing, the Foundation has doubled its collection, to nearly 1,600 with some ties or references to the Seminole Wars. Some of the books are in-house purchases, but the vast majority are donations from members and friends of the Foundation, which provides a professional permanent home for the titles. 

Today, the Frank Laumer Center features scores of non-fiction, biographical and historical books on the Seminole – including dozens more with Osceola as a central character. It also carries shelves of titles on the Seminole Wars, Black Seminoles, the U.S. Army of the time, crackers, pioneers, militia, and even Florida’s environment. This library also carries many adventure novels -- featuring boys or girls avoiding, encountering, or working with Seminoles – as well as adult stories with a war setting that includes mystery and passion as key components. There are even several manuscripts of poetry with a Seminole Wars theme.

 

 

The Seminole Wars Foundation media collection includes a separate antiquarian book section with fragile or old volumes published during the Seminole Wars about those unfortunate conflicts. Open on display in this image (left) is a first edition of John T. Sprague's The Florida Wars. (Right) The war, although obscure, nevertheless resonates in American popular culture. This wall at the Foundation homestead sports posters and programs from a number of 1950s Hollywood productions that showcase Seminoles. On the half-book shelf below it are comic books that use Seminole in their story narratives.
 

In an interview with the Florida Historical Society, Frank Laumer himself said he wanted his collection of research files AND his books to be available for scholars to peruse. This is all well and good. The challenge, however, became cataloguing, labeling, and sorting the collection into a recognizable and standardized order so titles can be found and reviewed easily on the shelves.

That is where three generations of librarians come in. Eileen Goodson and her adult daughter Erin Lewis have experience in Sumter County as librarians, media specialists, and school teachers. Erin’s daughter Jayley, a high school student, mature and insightful beyond her years, brought online savvy and tenacity to the endeavor. Each brought special skills to this project and together they’ve created and refined a most valuable search tool for accessing this collection just as Frank Laumer desired.

In this episode, Eileen, Erin, and Jayley describe their organizing process and reveal, because of the breadth and depth of this library -- what they learned about the Seminole Wars. They explain how they used LibraryThing.com, a social cataloging web application. It permits the Foundation to store and share its extensive book catalog for public inspection and review before they make an appointment to visit the Center in Bushnell to see the physical books themselves.

 

 

Jayley Lewis and Eileen Goodson crosscheck spreadsheet entries. Eileen said the library presents ample space to spread out. At Eileen's feet is the enormous Foundation floor logo that caught her eye (and in a good way).  (Right) Eileen Goodson and Erin Lewis discuss how best to line up spreadsheet catalogue numbers with the computer-printed multi-label sheet. 

(Below left) Researchers can stretch out (or relax) on this work bench directly below a Jackson Walker painting, The Battle of Camp Izard. To its right is a display Halls rifle 1817, mentioned frequently in newspaper- and book-published accounts of the Florida War as they called it at the time. (Below right) By popular demand, the Foundation floor logo amidst the library shelves. 

  

 

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. 

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