Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

Center for Florida History welcomes
University of Florida Archivist Bruce S. Chappell

LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 4, 2002) - Florida Southern College's Center for Florida History welcomes historian and archivist Bruce S. Chappell on Oct. 14 at 10:15 a.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room. Chappell will address students, faculty, and the public about a new partnership between the University of Florida Libraries and the Archivo Nacional de Cuba to preserve and make available to researchers 400 years of Cuban Notarial Archives. 

In a lecture entitled "The Keys to New World History, the Archives of Cadiz and Havana," Chappell will discuss the ongoing efforts to film and preserve nearly 6,700 folio volumes housed in Cuba, known as the Protocolos Notariales, and nearly 3,550 similar volumes held in the Archivo Provincial de Cadiz, Spain 

Background and Significance of the Records

Spain's empire from the 16th through the 19th century spread over more than half the globe. Its fleet system transported people, personal effects, gold, silver, precious gems, commodities and information throughout the world. One of the key intersections of this complex network was Havana. This city's importance derived from its strategic location. Maritime currents and prevailing winds determined that the city would become the port of final departure for all persons and products that traveled to Spain from major parts of the empire. 

Transoceanic travel was risky business at best; one in four ships was lost to the dangers of the sea and the hunger of Spain's international rivals. Over a period of four centuries prudent men  and women visited the cadre of notaries where they had their precious documents copied and
stored for safekeeping before they set out on ocean journeys. Contained in these documents are the stories of everyday Cuban residents, military officers, international merchants, and free and unfree persons of color. These documents also contain information from all regions within trade networks that now form parts of many nations. Florida, Louisiana, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Mexico and all other nations of the Caribbean Basin are represented in the voluminous documentation as well as Spain's expansive Pacific holdings and South America.

Since 1974, Chappell has served as archivist of the Spanish Florida Borderlands Program at the P. K. Yonge Library at the University of Florida. Chappell has published widely and has visited dozens of archives in Spain, Cuba and Mexico. 

The lecture is free and open to the public. For further information, contact the Center for Florida History at (863) 680-4312. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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