John Kunkel Small photographs of South Florida

3 bound albums

Three bound volumes of captioned photographs record the 1916 exploration of South Florida by taxonomist and botanical explorer, John Kunkel Small,1869-1938, Curator of Museums at the New York Botanical Garden. The expedition and documentation of the project was underwritten by Charles Deering, Chicago industrialist and part time resident of Cutler (Fla.).

Small recorded what remained of the original landscape primarily near Miami and the Florida Keys as he foresaw significant changes coming to the area from drainage programs, railroad construction, and land development for agriculture and settlement. Views include the Everglades, Florida Keys, hardwood hammocks, lime-sinks and pinelands, drainage canals, early road construction south of Duval County to Fort Myers, the Deering estate and the USDA’s plant introduction garden in Miami. Volumes 2 and 3 include Miami aerial views by Richard B. Hoit and postcards of Miami and environs.

The expedition concentrated primarily on Miami and environs, and the Florida Keys. Including the Royal Palm Hammock, Addison Hammock, Sykes Hammock, Snapper Creek Hammock, Hattie Bauer, Costello Hammock, Sands Key, Long Key and Key Largo among others.

The collection is open for research.

Permission from HistoryMiami Museum staff required prior to reproduction of materials. Please contact the Research Center staff for more information.

• English

Gift of the Wienhardt family in honor of Dr. Carl Wienhardt, Sr., 2023.

Related materials may be found in the John Kunkel Small Records at the New York Botanical Gardens. https://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/libr/finding_guide/small.asp.html

Florida Photographs and number is printed on the spine of each volume.

Botanical Exploration in Southern Florida in 1916 by John K. Small [in John Kunkel Small Botanical Monographs. Everglades. Reprinted from the Journal of The New York Botanical Garden, May, 1917.]