Museum of Florida History

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Opened in 1977, the Museum of Florida History collects, preserves, exhibits, and interprets evidence of past and present cultures in Florida, and promotes knowledge and appreciation of this heritage. As the state history museum, it focuses on artifacts and eras unique to Florida's development and on roles that Floridians have played in national and global events. Through exhibits, educational programs, research, and collections, the Museum reflects the ways that people have shaped and reacted to their cultural and natural environments.

Today is National Hair Day, a time to celebrate everything hair, from hair styles to hair tools, and the stylists who ma...
10/01/2026

Today is National Hair Day, a time to celebrate everything hair, from hair styles to hair tools, and the stylists who make our hair look good! This “Mar-Self Waver” was designed to produce a variation of the Marcel wave, a hair style that featured tight waves close to the head. François Marcel, a French hairdresser, invented the style in the 1870s, but it achieved its peak of popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s.

This hair styling tool has a separate hair waver and electric heating unit. Harry C. Gates of Minneapolis, Minnesota patented the “Mar-Self Waver” in 1926. According to the patent, it gave “the hair a double wave or curl which is more pleasing to the eye than when the curls are effected in one plane only which creates an artificial or unnatural appearance.” Happy National Hair Day!
📷: “Mar-Self Waver” hair waver and instruction manual, ca. 1920s.
Collection of the Museum of Florida History

Today is National Hair Day, a time to celebrate everything hair, from hair styles to hair tools, and the stylists who ma...
09/30/2026

Today is National Hair Day, a time to celebrate everything hair, from hair styles to hair tools, and the stylists who make our hair look good! This “Mar-Self Waver” was designed to produce a variation of the Marcel wave, a hair style that featured tight waves close to the head. François Marcel, a French hairdresser, invented the style in the 1870s, but it achieved its peak of popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s.

This hair styling tool has a separate hair waver and electric heating unit. Harry C. Gates of Minneapolis, Minnesota patented the “Mar-Self Waver” in 1926. According to the patent, it gave “the hair a double wave or curl which is more pleasing to the eye than when the curls are effected in one plane only which creates an artificial or unnatural appearance.” Happy National Hair Day!
📷: “Mar-Self Waver” hair waver and instruction manual, ca. 1920s
Collection of the Museum of Florida History

Let’s tip our hats to the start of Paris Fashion Week with a trio of hats from the Schiaparelli fashion house. Italian d...
09/28/2026

Let’s tip our hats to the start of Paris Fashion Week with a trio of hats from the Schiaparelli fashion house. Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli created Maison Schiaparelli in 1927 in Paris. The luxury fashion house soon became synonymous with “shocking” color and inventive, playful designs created in collaboration with Surrealist artists including Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, and Jean Cocteau. Beginning in 1937, the designer’s use of a vibrant magenta color, dubbed “Shocking Pink,” became her calling card; two of the three Schiaparelli hats in the Museum’s collection make use of the striking hue. They were worn by Florida First Lady Mary Caldwell, wife of Governor Millard Caldwell. The third hat, adorned with faux flowers and leaves, utilizes softer pastel colors.
📷: Schiaparelli women’s hats, ca. 1940s–1954
Collection of the Museum of Florida History

Today is National Cooking Day! Do you like to cook but have a tiny kitchen? Maybe you need a device like this electric A...
09/25/2026

Today is National Cooking Day! Do you like to cook but have a tiny kitchen? Maybe you need a device like this electric Armstrong Table Stove. This cute kitchen appliance from the Armstrong Manufacturing Company could make toast or waffles while poaching eggs AND frying bacon at the same time! The white enamel section of this appliance is the heat chamber. To make toast, the toast grill was inserted into the toaster compartment within the chamber. For waffles, a waffle mold replaced the toast grill in the same slot. When frying food, the cook placed the included griddle on top of the appliance. For poached eggs, the egg poacher in the deep pan was inserted below the heat chamber. The poacher would have held removable egg cups. The deep pan could also be used for broiling, boiling, creaming, or even baking apples, biscuits, or other dish. It could sit on top of the heat chamber or below it depending on what dishes the cook was preparing.

These images show the Table Stove assembled and with the egg poacher in the deep pan separate. To learn more about the Armstrong Table Stove and its versatility, see the 1919 Table Cookery the Armstrong Way booklet at https://repository.duke.edu/dc/eaa/CK0018. National Cooking Day is a good time to get creative with cooking or pull that near-forgotten appliance from the back of the cabinet and whip up an old favorite!
📷: Armstrong Table Stove, ca. 1922
Collection of the Museum of Florida History

Happy First Day of Fall! Though maple trees may be most associated with Vermont or Canada, Florida has multiple native m...
09/22/2026

Happy First Day of Fall! Though maple trees may be most associated with Vermont or Canada, Florida has multiple native maple trees, including the Florida maple (Acer saccharum subsp. Floridanum), box elder (Acer negundo), and red maple (Acer rubrum). Throughout the season, keep your eyes peeled for the showy red, orange, and yellow maple leaves in North and Central Florida.
📷: MAPLE LEAF BRAND citrus crate label, ca. 1937–38
Collection of the Museum of Florida History

September 15 is the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. As Florida was first founded as a Spanish colony, thi...
09/15/2026

September 15 is the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month. As Florida was first founded as a Spanish colony, this month has particular importance in the state. The Hispanic community has had a profound impact on the state. This set of 14 dominoes date to the 1860's and were handmade with wood and bone. Although dominoes were first created in China and modern play became popular in France, it is often associated with the Caribbean. Hispanic immigrants brought the game to Florida where it has been popular ever since, especially in Tampa and Miami. Local history even says the name of Titusville, Florida, was won over a game of dominoes between Henry T. Titus and Captain Clark Rice in 1873.
📷: Set of 14 dominoes, ca. 1860s. Collection of the Museum of Florida History.

As the nation commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, we remember the heroes ...
09/11/2026

As the nation commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, we remember the heroes and loss of life which changed our contry's trajectory forever. New York City police officer Bob Crystal wore these boots on September 11th, 2001, during recovery operations. He gifted them to Florida governor Jeb Bush at the one year anniversary in 2002. The boots were donated to the museum in 2006.
📷: New York City police boots, Collection of the Museum of Florida History.

Happy Labor Day! Florida's industries have often participated in labor movements including Ybor City's cigar industry, c...
09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day! Florida's industries have often participated in labor movements including Ybor City's cigar industry, central Florida's citrus industry, and throughout the state, the lumber industry. One complaint in the lumber industry was from employees who had to live in company towns and were paid in company scrip, currency which could only be used in company stores. These stores often inflated prices, trapping workers in their jobs. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act made payment in scrip illegal.
📷: $1 Glover Lumber Co. token, ca. 1880-1920. Collection of the Museum of Florida History

At the start of this new school year, let us look at an old school supply. These days, students might complete their cla...
09/02/2026

At the start of this new school year, let us look at an old school supply. These days, students might complete their classwork on lined paper or by using electronic tablets, but long ago, young learners wrote on slate tablets to practice their lessons. Made from slate stone, these low tech tablets were cheaper and more readily available than paper. Students would show their completed work to the teacher for approval before erasing their tablets with a cloth rag and going on to the next assignment. They wrote using slate pencils or chalk. The double slate shown here is sometimes known as a "book slate," because it consists of two slates bound together down one side and opens like a book. Its fabric-wrapped edges cushioned the tablet when set down, so it made less noise. As paper became more affordable and available in the latter part of the 1800s, it eventually replaced the slate tablet.

Slate tablets, ca. 1880s–1920s. Collection of the Museum of Florida History

As everyone prepares for the school year to begin, it is always nice to remember that the oldest wooden school house in ...
08/21/2026

As everyone prepares for the school year to begin, it is always nice to remember that the oldest wooden school house in the country is right here in St. Augustine, Florida. This postcard shows the Oldest School House in the early 20th century. You can still visit it today off St. George St. https://oldestwoodenschoolhouse.com/

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