Society of Florida Archivists Annual Meeting 2026
Tides of Resilience and Growth

Annual Meeting Schedule

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

5:30 - 7:00 PM: Welcome Reception at the St. Petersburg Museum of History

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

List of Presentations (Times and Full Descriptions TBA)

• Archives Tabula Rasa: Notes from a University’s First Professional Archivist, Gino Pasi (University of Tampa)
• Perseverance Through Changing Times: A Case Study on Facing Challenges While Rebuilding the Ybor City Museum Society Archives, Gloria Rose Angelita Lopez (Ybor City Museum Society)
• Connecting Tampa Bay to the Archives: A Social Media Campaign to Promote Digital Collections, Alice Fabela (Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library)
• Making Archives Matter: Increasing Engagement Through Programmatic Planning, Alexandra Vargas-Minor, Gary Austin, and Kirk Mitchell (University of South Florida, St. Petersburg)
• The Trials and Tribulations of a Local Historical Society, Josh Liller (Loxahatchee River Historical Society)
• Becoming Shelf-Aware: Creating a Scalable Photography Project for a Historic Library Collection, Ayla Toussaint and Gibson Field (Vizcaya Museum and Gardens)
• Reflections on the First Year of the UNF Archivist in Training Program, Allison Mason, Anna Hobbs, Jennifer Bibb, Peyton Hudson, Emrys Hentish, and Clayton McCarl (University of North Florida)

Poster Session

• A First-Year Experience Focused on Archives and Digital Editing at the University of North Florida, Oliver Douglas, Shadae Reid, Zoie Turci, and Clayton McCarl (University of North Florida)
• Creating a New Special Collections Center at the University of North Florida, Hilary Streifer (University of North Florida)
• Discovering the Artchive: Inventorying the Fine Art Collections of USF Special Collections, Caity Campbell and Emerson Elliott (University of South Florida)
• The USF Women's Club: A Case Study in Donor Driven Digitization Projects, Elizabeth Rossbach and Stephanie Mackin (University of South Florida)
• They Said There Might Be Leaks…, David Benjamin (University of Central Florida)

Other fun stuff

• Welcome breakfast
• Vendor introductions
• Networking Activity
• SFA Board Meeting
• Reception at USF St. Pete

Thursday, May 14, 2026 

List of Presentations (Times and Full Descriptions TBA)

• Recovery and Resilience: University-Community Partnerships in the Wake of a Storm, Catherine Wilkins (University of South Florida)
• Processing Grief and Preserving Community Response to Tragedy, Taylor Henning (Florida State University)
• Preserving Jacksonville’s Legislative History, Claire Manos, Erika Alfieri, and Jess Salvato (Jacksonville Public Library)
• East Coast Citrus, West Coast Citrus: Citrus Crate Labels in Florida and California, A Study in Comparisons, Kendra Belton, Samantha Redmond, and Jeffrey Zines (Florida Southern College)
• Archives Unlocked: Opening Doors to Discover, Chereeka Garner, David Benjamin, and Renee Cole Montgomery (University of Central Florida)
• Curating the Bicentennial: Collaborative Exhibit Design and Student Experiential Learning with UCF Public History Central, Shantelle Clement and Jessie Oldham (University of Central Florida)
• Off the Wall: Building a Community Archive Outside the Institution, Laura Hampton and Harrison Bender (Novo Collegian Alliance)
• Growing Collections, Improving Access, Evolving Practice: Lessons from a New AI-Assisted Digital Collections Tool, Rachel Walton, Wenxian Zhang, Liriam Tobar (Rollins College), and Lee Dotson (JSTOR Digital Stewardship)

Other fun stuff

• Luncheon with Keynote Speaker Dr. Ray Arsenault
• SFA Business Meeting

Friday, May 15, 2026

Post-Conference Workshops

• Finding the Flow: Employment Trend Updates & Job Seeker’s Workshop hosted by Carady Madden at USF St. Petersburg

• Provenance and Evolving Narratives at the Dali Museum hosted by Sarah Lynch at The Dali Museum

Post-Conference Tours

• Heritage Village Park & Museum led by Al Miller
• Stetson University Archives led by Brooke Smith
• Sunken Gardens
• Henry B. Plant Museum tour led by Selena Martinez
• The Dali Museum