Monroe County's Florida Keys History Center publishes Feb. 19 local archives digest

On Feb. 19 the Florida Keys History Center, housed at the Key West Library at 700 Fleming Street, published a local archives digest summarizing historical photographs, documents and diary excerpts of local interest. The digest joins the center’s regular posting rhythm and points readers to archival items and columns the center has republished in recent months.

Library materials describe the History Center as "dedicated to the stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the historic, cultural, and ecological diversity of the Florida Keys. Archival materials include newspapers, maps, images, and genealogy resources." The center’s online holdings include more than 21,000 images available for public access and research, and the lead historian produces a monthly Island Chronicles series that highlights individual items from those collections.

The Feb. 19 digest included a run of diary excerpts that the center has been running in its column work. Daily entries from May Johnson Douglass written in 1896 and part of 1897 were printed in the column produced by the Monroe County Public Library’s Florida Keys History Center. Keysweekly noted the diary's personal details and social context and wrote "Though May Johnson Douglass did not have surviving children, the Florida Keys History Center is hopeful more volumes of her diary may someday be discovered – or other diaries like it may come to light. For now, this account is a one-of-a-kind window into island life at that time in words written not for posterity, but from the heart." Keysweekly coverage of the diary highlights that electricity had arrived on the island though not yet at Johnson’s home on Division Street now known as Truman Avenue, and that the island population in 1896 included a substantial number of Cuban immigrants.

The center has previously found engagement with other personal accounts. Keysweekly described William Hackley’s earlier 1800s diary as a big hit and reported "Hackley was an attorney who wrote about his daily habits of walking and bathing, about his children and their ailments, about his work and about his usually unsuccessful efforts at shooting birds."

Practical access details published by the library show the History Center generally open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday though hours may vary due to staffing. Visitors are asked to call 305-809-5260 or email history@monroecounty-fl.gov before making a trip. The Key West Library has a small parking lot behind the building with an entrance off Elizabeth Street.

Staff listings in library materials identify Senior Archivist Breana Sowers and name a lead historian as Dr. Corey Malcom on the library site while Monroe County pages and other references spell the name Dr. Corey Malcolm. Community affairs manager appears in material as Nancy Klingener while page metadata records last modification by Nan Klingener with email klingener-nancy@monroecounty-fl.gov. The site metadata shows a last modified timestamp of 2026-01-02 and includes CMS block identifiers used for the site’s Just Added displays.

The Monroe County Public Library system operates five branches and catalogs digital services including Libby, Kanopy, Freegal, Code with Fiero, Libby eMags, Mango Languages, and access to the Florida Electronic Library. The History Center maintains a Facebook page titled Florida Keys History Center - Monroe County Public Library Key West FL and recently posted a historic excerpt beginning "February 18, 1872 – A correspondent wrote of Key West, 'At the wharves you see the ugly hulls of wrecked vessels, which were formerly the main objects of trade in Key W'" with the post image showing the contact phone number 305-809-5260 and the email history@monroecounty-fl.gov.