About the Exhibit

     The Jazz in Florida Archive is ongoing project, begun in spring 2016, to document and preserve Florida’s place in jazz history. The project features student research and writing under the direction of Prof. Andrew Berish.

     The archive will contain oral histories, photographs, manuscripts, sheet music, letters and other materials related to jazz in the state. We hope these materials connect jazz fans, musicians, educators, students, scholars, and industry professionals to a living, interactive digital database that bridges the gap of personal (oral histories and stories), local (Florida, and more specifically the Tampa Bay Area), and national jazz history.

     In focusing on the local, the archive hopes to serve as a model and inspiration to other archival and research projects attempting to document jazz’s diverse local languages.