These interviews from the 20s and 30s depict the lives of former slaves during their childhood and teenage years as told by those who lived it.
Florida Slave Narratives
Collection Principles
The 40 written interviews in the collection were compiled from 1926-1936, but there is no information about how the University of South Florida digitized the materials. However, the interviews were digitized for students to understand on a more personal level the experiences of former slaves. The original typed documents are owned by the Florida Historical Society. Digitool is the digital asset management system and the website was made in 2005. There are terms of use for this collection, but someone failed to enter what they are.
Object Characteristics
The items are listed in alphabetical order by title, but can be changed to list by creator or subject. You can view the records in brief view, table view, or full view. Next to each thumbnail (which is not a picture of the document, but the Adobe PDF symbol) is a description of the item which is a link to the full view of the record with metadata. By clicking on the thumbnail, a new window is opened and the document is opened as a PDF. All of the regular options for zoom and searching within the text are present. There are 2 metadata options: open metadata in new window or show/hide metadata (above the file). This metadata is different than the full view record because it is a MARC record. This option is handy and unique, but not easy to understand if you do not know what a MARC record is or how to read it.
Metadata
The metadata fields are: object, system number, title, imprint, date, etc., notes, subjects, other, contributor(s), related collections. The related collections field is somewhat useless because the options for the other collections are only those provided by USF, most of which are not even remotely related to slave or slavery. Also, it would be a good idea to provide the location of the physical piece.
Intended Audience
The site says the collection was intended to “give students the opportunity to experience history at a personal level.” While it is specifically aimed at students, the collection would also be useful for research by historians and the casual browser interested in experiences of slaves. Overall, the collection was not that impressive. It would be better if it had more background information, was more inviting, and if the introductory page was easier to access. The information the interviews hold is priceless, but the way the interviews are presented could be better. Sadly, the best thing about the collection is that you have the ability to change the size of the text!
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