Research papers on settlements and people in South Dade (Miami-Dade County, Fla.), from Larkins (South Miami) and Kendall south to Homestead and Florida City, during the 1800s to 1926.

The papers hold topical folders of clippings, manuscripts, typescripts, photocopies, correspondence and notes used by Jean Taylor in researching her book, The Villages of South Dade. Also includes oral history interview sound cassettes and notebooks, the typescripts for Villages of South Dade and for Culture in the Boondocks, and material for the classes that she taught on South Dade history. Also included is a student paper Jean Taylor wrote on the early history of Miami, with annotations by her teacher, Marjory Stoneman Douglas; five 1906-1907 issues of Gustav Stickley's magazine, The Craftsman, given to Jean Taylor by Patty Munroe Catlow; and a photocopy of the National Register nomination for Silver Palm schoolhouse.

Scrapbooks and folders contain newspaper clippings, correspondence, campaign materials and photographic prints pertaining to Whitworth's involvement in public life and his social activities. Some government publications and newsletters from various county and state organizations are also included.

Biographical Note: Miami-Dade County as a Hialeah Councilman, Dade County Commissioner, State Representative in the Florida House of Representatives and elected circuit court judge. As commissioner, Whitworth secured federal funds to reimburse the county for medical aid given to Cuban refugees at Jackson Memorial Hospital. During his term as State Representative he was instrumental in the successful efforts to reform the state's judicial system and in the 1971 session, he sponsored, among others, two major bills that were signed into law. One was the marijuana felony-misdemeanor bill and the other, the nonpartisan election of judges bill