A Guide to Researching the Territorial Era

Bibliography & Additional Resources

A variety of additional resources on territorial Florida are available in print and on the web. This section contains a list of helpful online tools and a selected bibliography.

On the Web

Florida Digital Newspaper Library

This database, maintained by the University of Florida, provides free online access to over two million pages of historic through current Florida newspapers. A number of territorial-era newspapers are part of the collection, including the Florida Courier (Tallahassee), the Floridian (Tallahassee), the Florida Argus (Pensacola), the Pensacola Gazette, and the Apalachicola Courier, among others.

Territorial Papers of the United States - provided by HathiTrust Digital Library

The Territorial Papers of the United States consist of the official records of those Federal territories which ultimately became States of the Union. The records for Florida are found in volumes 22-26. The majority of these records consist of correspondence between the United States Department of State and Florida's Territorial Governors relating to the administration of the government. Documents contained in Part I have relevance mainly to the civil and military occupation of the provinces of East Florida and West Florida subsequent to the treaty of cession of 1819. Parts II - XIII contain papers relating to the administration of Governors or Acting Governors Jackson, Worthington (East Florida), Walton (West Florida), DuVal, Eaton, Call, Reid and Branch. Each volume contains an exhaustive index.

Selected Bibliography

Banking & Commerce

Bass, Bob. When Steamboats Reigned in Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008.

Dodd, Dorothy. "Railroad Projects in Territorial Florida." MA thesis. Florida State College for Women, 1929. Repr. 1972.

Dovell, Junius Elmore. History of Banking in Florida, 1828-1954. Orlando, FL: Florida Bankers Association, 1955.

Drobney, Jeffrey A. Lumbermen and Log Sawyers: Life, Labor and Culture in the North Florida Timber Industry, 1830-1930. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1997.

Gresham, Carling. Territorial Florida Banks & Bonds, 1821-1845. Rev. 2nd printing. 1993.

Marckhoff, Fred R. "The Development of Currency and Banking in Florida." Coin Collector's Journal 14.5 (September-October, 1947): 118-123 and (November-December, 1947): 138-141.

Moussalli, Stephanie D. "Florida's Frontier Constitution: The Statehood, Banking & Slavery Controversies." Florida Historical Quarterly 74.4 (1996): 423–439.

Pfeiffer, Philip A. Pensacola's Currency Issuing Banks and Their Bank Notes, 1833-1935. Pensacola, FL: Pfeiffer Printing, 1975.

Thomas, David Yancey. A History of Banking in Florida. Gainesville, FL.

Wilson, Timothy Livy. "Florida Business Corporations, 1838-1885." Diss. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1965.

Family & Community Life

Baptist, Edward E. Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Brown, Jr., Canter. "Race Relations in Territorial Florida, 1821-1845." Florida Historical Quarterly 73.3 (1995): 287–307.

Denham, James M. "Dueling in Territorial Middle Florida." MA thesis. Florida State University, 1983.

Denham, James M. A Rogue's Paradise: Crime and Punishment in Antebellum Florida, 1821-1861. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1997.

Dibble, Ernest F. "Religion on Florida's Territorial Frontiers." Florida Historical Quarterly 80.1 (2001): 1–23.

Dodd, Dorothy. "The Schooner Emperor: An Incident of the Illegal Slave Trade in Florida." Florida Historical Society Quarterly 13.3 (1935): 117–128.

Knauss, James Owen. Territorial Florida Journalism. Deland, FL: Florida State Historical Society, 1926.

Stowell, Daniel W., ed. Balancing Evils Judiciously: The Proslavery Writings of Zephaniah Kingsley. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000.

Williams, John Lee. The Territory of Florida. New York, NY: A.T. Goodrich, 1839.

Willis, Lee. Southern Prohibition: Race, Reform, and Public Life in Middle Florida, 1821-1920. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2011.

Local Histories

Davis, Jess G. History of Alachua County, 1824-1969. 2nd ed. Gainesville, FL: 1970.

Davis, T. Frederick. History of Jacksonville, Florida, and Vicinity, 1513 to 1924. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1964.

Dodd, Dorothy. "Locating the County Seat of Jackson County: The Difficulties of Pioneer Government: Chipola vs Webbville vs Marianna." Florida Historical Quarterly 26.1 (1947): 44–55.

Dodd, Dorothy. "The New City of Pensacola: A Real Estate Development of 1835-1837." Florida Historical Society Quarterly 9.4 (1931): 224–241.

Fairbanks, George R. George Rainsford. The History and Antiquities of the City of St. Augustine, Florida. Facsimile ed. Jacksonville, FL: Horace Drew, 1881. Repr. 1975.

Hammond, E. Ashby. "Notes on the Medical History of Key West, 1822-1832." Florida Historical Quarterly 46.2 (1967): 93–110.

Nobles, Glen. Pioneers of Jackson County. Rev. ed. Grand Ridge, FL: Nobles Publishing, 2000.

Owens, Henry P. Apalachicola Before 1861. Tallahassee, FL: Sentry Press, 2014.

Pearce, George F. The U.S. Navy in Pensacola: From Sailing Ships to Naval Aviation, 1825-1930. Pensacola, FL: University Presses of Florida, 1980.

Stanley, Bolling C. Fragments of the Postal History of Apalachicola, St. Joseph and Iola During the Territorial Period.Tallahassee, FL: 1974.

Maps & Land Documentation

Conway, V.Y. A Map of the Peninsula of Florida: Showing the Present Field of Surveying in the Territory. St. Augustine, FL: Office of the Surveyor General, 1844.

Davidson, Alvie L. Florida Land: Records of the Tallahassee and Newnansville General Land Office, 1825-1892. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1989.

Dike, Sheldon Holland. The Territorial Post Offices of Florida. Albuquerque, NM: 1963.

Glover, R. L. A Plat Exhibiting the State of the Surveys in the Territory of Florida. Washington, DC: W.J. Stone, 1838.

Knetsch, Joe. Faces on the Frontier: Florida Surveyors and Developers in the 19th Century. Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Press, 2006.

Knetsch, Joe. History of Florida Surveying. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Surveying and Mapping Society, 2013.

Knetsch, Joe. The Spanish Land Grants of Central Florida: Another Problem for Surveyors. 1997.

Knetsch, Joe. The Wekiva River: Was It Navigable in 1845? Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of Natural Resources, 1987.

Map of the Territory of Florida. New York, NY: Illman & Pilbrow, 1834.

Stanaback, Richard J. "Postal Operations in Territorial Florida, 1821-1845." Florida Historical Quarterly 52.2 (1973): 157–174.

Swift, W. H. William Henry. Map of the Territory of Florida. Washington, DC: Board of Internal Improvement, 1829.

Government & Politics

Carter, Clarence Edwin. The Territory of Florida. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1956.

Cash, W.T., and Dorothy Dodd, comp. Florida Becomes a State. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Centennial Commission, 1945.

Farris, Charles D. "The Courts of Territorial Florida." Florida Historical Quarterly 19.4 (1947): 346–367.

Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. Tallahassee, FL: 1822.

Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. Journal of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. Tallahassee, FL: 1822.

Martin, Sidney Walter. "Richard Keith Call, Florida Territorial Leader." Florida Historical Quarterly 21.4 (1943): 332–351.

Porter, Louise M. Louise Messina, and Charles B. (Charles Blanchard) Smith. Territorial Giants, Florida's Founding Fathers. Port St. Joe, FL: St. Joseph Historical Society, 1990.

Thompson, Arthur W. Arthur William. Jacksonian Democracy on the Florida Frontier. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1961.

Wolfe, William A., and Janet B. Wolfe. Names and Abstracts from the Acts of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, 1822-1844. Pass-A-Grille Beach, FL: 1985.

Yulee, David Levy. Circular Letter of D. Levy to the People of Florida, Relative to the Admission of Florida, into the Union.Washington, DC: 1844.

War & Military Affairs

Giddings, Joshua. The Exiles of Florida. Columbus, OH: Follett, Foster & Co., 1858.

Hulse, Thomas. "Military Slave Rentals, the Construction of Army Fortifications, and the Navy Yard in Pensacola, Florida, 1824-1863." Florida Historical Quarterly 88.4 (2010): 497–539.

Knetsch, Joe. Fear and Anxiety on the Florida Frontier: Articles on the Second Seminole War. Dade City, FL: Seminole Wars Foundation Press, 2008.

Laumer, Frank. Dade's Last Command. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1995.

Missall, John, and Mary Lou Missall. Index of Seminole War Articles in the Florida Historical Quarterly 1908-2008. Dade City, FL: Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, 2008.

Missall, John, and Mary Missall. The Seminole Wars: America’s Longest Indian Conflict. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2004.

Morrison, Aurie. Florida Militia Muster Rolls, Seminole Indian Wars. Saint Augustine, FL: Florida State Arsenal, 1980.

State Library of Florida. "Seminole Wars Bibliography." Florida Division of Library and Information Services.

Van Blarcom, Ralph. Seminole War Artifacts and a History of the Forts of Florida. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2011.

Wickman, Patricia Riles. Osceola's Legacy. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1991.