“By donating your photos for this new collection, you can help document and preserve the history of your community and fill historical gaps in the State Archives’ collections,” Byrd said. “Consider contributing to Florida’s history by donating your photographs.”
Floridians are encouraged to email the State Archives of Florida at floridamemory@dos.fl.gov to discuss donating their original photographs featuring weather events, disasters and recovery efforts.
The Archives want photos from throughout Florida history, including negatives, prints and a variety of formats alongside contemporary digital photographs. If a person has taken photos with their phone, those photos may be donated but they must have a minimum resolution of 5 megapixels.
Accepted file formats include TIFF, RAW and JPEG.
Digital donations can be processed remotely via email. Send all photos as attachments to the Archives by email at floridamemory@dos.fl.gov.
After emailing the Archives, donors will be sent a Deed of Gift form to fill out and email back to them. All donors must sign the form to transfer image ownership and usage rights to the State Archives of Florida. This ensures that people will be able to access and use the image now and in the future. The State Archives will credit the photographer in collection records and when the image is accessed by researchers.