Cyg Cob Says: The Secret Legacy of Howard Phillips
By Joy Wallace Dickinson from the Fall 2023 edition of Reflections Magazine In 1954, the influential Orlandoan poured his love of words, his sharp wit, and his strong opinions into a newspaper column with a mysterious byline inspired by the city’s beloved swans. Howard Phillips’s college career was not what
Award-Winning History Center Unveils Enhanced Core Exhibitions
The Orange County Regional History Center is building an even better visitor experience with enhancements to its core exhibitions, which have been in place since the museum opened in 2001 in a historic courthouse in the heart of downtown Orlando. Improvements include increased bilingual content, use of more accurate and
Join a book club focused on genealogy at your library
Photo courtesy Orange County Library System Orange County Library System Genealogy Events – January 2024 OCLS’s West Oaks Branch and Genealogy Center offers events that cover a range of basic and beginning genealogy research. Each month, we are pleased to let you know about these offerings from this valued History
Major League Drama at Tinker Field
By Pam Schwartz, from the Fall 2023 Edition of Reflections Magazine Note: This article contains profanity in quoted material. On March 28, 1977, Orlando’s Tinker Field readied for the upcoming Spring Training game between the Texas Rangers and the Minnesota Twins. What might have played out like any other nine-inning
Has your Ancestry.com research plateaued? Your library can help!
Orange County Library System Genealogy Event – December 2023 OCLS’s West Oaks Branch and Genealogy Center offers events that cover a range of basic and beginning genealogy research. This month you can get guidance on how to use holiday gatherings for research, among other virtual classes. For more information on
Hitching a Ride: The Incredible Journey of Martha Esch
By Jeremy Hileman, Assistant Curator, from the Fall 2023 issue of Reflections Magazine For some people, it can take a lifetime to discover what they are truly passionate about. There are those among us, however, who seem to have known what moves them right from the very beginning. For Martha
Discover how military records can uncover ancestral information
Orange County Library System Genealogy Events – November 2023 OCLS’s West Oaks Branch and Genealogy Center offers events that cover a range of basic and beginning genealogy research. This month you can learn how to learn more about your family tree using newspapers, among other virtual classes. For more information
The Haunts of Downtown Sanford
By Kara Kovalev, Registrar, Orange County Regional History Center Sanford’s charming historic district sits along the shores of Lake Monroe. The town was incorporated in 1877 by Henry Shelton Sanford and ten years later suffered a devastating fire that took out most of the downtown area. Fortunately, its residents were
The Story of Brownie, the Town Dog of Daytona Beach
by Halifax Historical Society & Museum “Brownie, the Town Dog” is the inscription on the burial marker located at the south end of Riverfront Park in downtown Daytona Beach. Who was Brownie, and where did he come from? In 1940, a large brown short-haired dog wandered into the downtown area.
The Koehnes of Gotha: German Heritage and a Literary Link
By Rachel Williams, Historian, Orange County Regional History Center How is the influential American author Kurt Vonnegut historically tied to the Orlando area? In July 2023, we posted on the History Center’s Instagram account about a scrapbook we found during a research visit with a member of the Koehne family