“Treasures of Panama Canal history reside at UF,” by Mimi Whitefield, Miami Herald, Saturday, August 9, 2014.
The Miami Herald featured information about UF’s Panama Canal history collections in time for a three-day celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal. August 15-17, exhibitions at UF will feature memorabilia, writings, and oral history interviews, including those conducted over several years by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.
On Friday, August 15, SPOHP will conduct additional interviews for the Panama Canal collection, emphasizing histories with former Silver City residents, workers of African descent.
The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries’ series of events August 15-17, 2014 will include:
- Chamber Orchestra Performance, Summerfest 2014
- Panama Canal Zone Day at the Florida Museum of Natural History
- Centennial Celebration Banquet
- Multiple exhibits across campus
- Exhibit at the Harn Museum of Art and presentation on molas by author Edith Crouch
All events and exhibits are open to the public. Select items from the Latin American Collection and the Panama Canal Museum Collection at the George A. Smathers Libraries will be on display. The Smathers Libraries have one of the largest and most respected collections of Latin American resources in the world. Contact Lee Herring, 352-273-2888, lherring@ufl.edu or visit http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/panamacanalcentennial/Index.aspx for more information.
In the canal zone we were living in a quite benign system of socialism. Everybody was salaried who lived there. Salaries were squashed together. There were no fancy big houses; there were no slums. The canal zone schools were better and even maybe considerably better than most schools in the United States.
— Dr. Richard Cheville (Panama Canal Zone 1961-63, 1970-94)