The Burdines records document the company’s unique place in Florida’s retail history.  Organized by subject headings are: newsletters, company documents, manuals and guides, photographs, scrapbooks and catalogs of Burdines’s sponsored community events, newspaper clippings, brochures illustrating advertising campaigns, and papers pertaining to rehabilitative measures taken by community leaders following the 1980 riot in Miami.

The bulk of the holdings date from the 1960s through the 1970s. With the exception of a volume on financing and construction in 1938, there is little pertaining to the company prior to the acquisition by Federated Department Stores. Also included are some scrapbooks and other references to the Jordan Marsh stores, which became part of Federated in 1991.

Over the years, several variations on the name Burdines have been used by the store.  Except for folder headings using a variation of the name in the container list, the name Burdines is used through this document.