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Citrus archives director receives
Award of Excellence

LAKELAND, Fla. (May 13, 2004) - Florida Southern College Professor Emeritus Thomas B. Mack, director of the Thomas B. Mack Citrus Archives, received the Award of Excellence from the Society of Florida Archivists at its annual meeting April 28-30.

Mack was recognized for his establishment of and dedication to the Florida Citrus Archives at FSC; the effort he has made to learn about and follow archival procedure, and the recognition he received for his efforts in 2001 when the Florida State Legislature declared FSC's archives to be the official archives of the Florida citrus industry. 

Mack started collecting citrus material in 1947 when he graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in agriculture. He took a job with the Florida State Department of Education where he developed a citrus program for the Bartow High School Agricultural Department. At the program's completion in 1951, he came to Florida Southern, which had begun a citrus department in 1948. He became the first director of the Citrus Institute of Florida Southern College, serving until 1981. 


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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