DeBary partners with UCF in digital archives project to preserve local history
As he sifted through some of the photographs and news clippings laid out on the table in front of him, it got Mickey Holloway to talking about his "old buddy" Charles Richard Beall, the namesake for the main boulevard that runs through DeBary.
"I said, 'Dickey (a nickname Beall went by), why are you going back to 'Nam?' He said, 'I don't know, I've just got to do it, but I know I won't be coming back,'" Holloway, also a veteran of the U.S. Army, recalled.
Beall was the only resident from DeBary to be killed in the Vietnam War in 1968, posthumously earning a Purple Heart. The road was named in his honor in 1995.
On Monday, community members were invited to bring their letters, photographs, maps and other artifacts related to DeBary's past to the city's first-ever "History Harvest."
The project is a collective effort of the DeBary Historic Preservation Board and the University of Central Florida's Public History Team whose professors and students are helping to scan artifacts and digitize a lasting archive for generations to come.
The goal is to analyze the information gleaned and create multi-data points that can be correlated, cross-referenced and finally transferred to a searchable online website which will also include information about contributors and any details about how and when artifacts were collected.
Though UCF has worked with other groups and organization on projects like this, it is the first time Scot French, director of the university's Public History Department, can recall a community-wide effort. There is no fee for services to the city since UCF students gain valuable experience in creating digital archives, French said.
Community turnout 'amazing'
Dozens showed up at City Hall to make donations, some of which included telephone books going back to 1960, aerial maps and schematics of subdivisions established decades ago. Ronald Muse, 72, brought a scrapbook of DeBary memorabilia kept by his mother, Betty, who passed away in 1979.
"It's amazing, this turnout," said French. "Not everyone knows the value of what's in their closets, but clearly the people in DeBary care a lot."
But it's not just physical objects the project aims to preserve. UCF students also recorded oral histories — first-hand accounts and personal narratives like Holloway's memories of Beall — as part of "History Harvest."
Mayor Karen Chasez said community leaders realized the gravity of saving history for perpetuity. The final result, a website devoted just to DeBary archives, will be launched at the completion of the project.
"We think it's important because we all want to know where we came from and preserving those things that are reminders," Chasez said. "Especially in hearing the stories that go with them from those who can tell them while they're still here."