Two local historical nonprofit organizations have joined forces to preserve local history in Brandon and Plant City.
The Plant City History and Photo Archives has been a part of the Plant City community for 24 years. Its mission is to keep local history alive through photos, print archives and artifacts.
“We are a steward of more than 100,000 historical photographic images and documents representing the Greater Plant City area, East Hillsborough and West Central Florida,” said Plant City History and Photo Archives’ executive director, David Moon. “We also will provide the public with open access to our collections and research resources.”
The Brandon Historical Society is a brand-new organization that was formed to bring together like-minded community members who have an interest in the history and preservation of the Brandon community.
“This must be a community organization with diversity,” said Brandon Historical Society founder Karen McGinnis. “When I decided to dedicate myself to spearheading this initiative, I thought to myself that we first must come together as a community, brainstorm and begin to develop a plan of action for a mission and I needed to know if there would be interest from the community to do this venture.”
Moon and McGinnis met and agreed that both organizations needed to support each other in their efforts to preserve local history.
“There is a lot of overlapping in history between both of our groups because of the close proximity of each other,” Moon said. “So, it’s a natural fit for us to help each other out, as far as preserving our local history.”
McGinnis is thrilled to have more support for her growing organization.
“I’m so happy we were able to connect out two organizations,” McGinnis said. “We both have such have so much to share between us. I look forward to what we can accomplish by supporting each other.”
Both groups recently met with the Tampa Bay History Center to work on a project that will focus on lectures about local history.
“This was a great meeting of the minds of local historians,” said the Plant City History and Photo Archives’ community outreach manager, Libby Hopkins. “All of our groups are very excited about the upcoming history talks that will take place this November. Our organizations have so much to share with our community.”
If you would like to learn more about the Plant City History and Photo Archives, you can visit their website at www.plantcityphotoarchives.org.
If you’d like to become a member of this new organization, you can contact McGinnis at 813-770-5976 or via email at bhaps@yahoo.com.
