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December 2003 - January 2004

Ambitious Web project captures history of St. John’s River basin

William Bartram, from the portrait by Charles Wilson Peale, now in Old City Hall, Philadelphia.

The world’s newest technology is being used to capture some of the oldest historical records of Northeast Florida for use by anyone with access to the Web.

UNF history professor Dan Schafer is leading the ambitious project, which is becoming a notable example of not only collaboration between colleges and departments but also community outreach.

Known as the Virtual St. Augustine project, the scope of the initiative is much broader. The first two “chapters” of the Web history delve into the exploration of the St. Johns River basin by John and William Bartram and the establishment of plantations during the British Colonial period.

Through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council and two gifts from the Lewis and Sybil Ansbacher Foundation, Schafer has been coordinating the project that involves students, faculty and staff across UNF, as well as individuals at museums, historical societies and archives.

Schafer said he hopes to broaden the scope of the project to include students and staff at Jacksonville University, the University of Florida, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Flagler College and other educational institutions.

“I view this as an outreach program in applied history that perfectly fits UNF’s mission of providing service to the community,” he said.

The first two chapters have been completed and sent to the University of Virginia, where they are being prepared for the Web at the Virginia Center for Digital History. They are expected to be “live” on the Web in December.

The project mixes new with the old in a way that gives users a unique tool to bring history alive. For example, in one chapter that deals with rice plantations established in the St. Johns River basin, historical maps are combined with current aerial photos. The technique not only shows how the area has changed, but leads the user to a better understanding of surviving geographic features that are visible today.

But probably the most fascinating aspects of the early part of the project are the entries in the first chapter that contain the diaries of the father and son team of John and William Bartram as they explored about 250 miles of the St. Johns River.

While William Bartram’s writings are known throughout the world, his father’s notes and diaries are less well known. The elder Bartram was 66 when he and his son traveled to St. Augustine on horseback to begin their historic river exploration.

Schafer and his team have identified every campsite the Bartrams used as they traveled by dugout canoe up one side of the river and down the other. The diaries describe encounters with alligators, as well as coming across plants and colorful birds never before seen. The original drawings of their discoveries also are reproduced in the project. In some cases, Schafer has secured permission from the Natural History Museum in London to use the artwork.

The second chapter deals with the British plantations and the cultivation of indigo and rice. The chapter not only describes the locations of plantations but also goes into detail explaining the process used in planting, harvesting and preparing these crops for shipment.

The next phase of the project will deal with St. Augustine proper and trace its history through the English, French and Spanish eras. That will be followed by a chapter on New Smyrna and history of that settlement.

Another aspect of the project will take students to the National Archives during spring break. They will examine the histories of slaves and free blacks from Northeast Florida who joined regiments of the Colored Infantry during the Civil War.

Schafer believes that the existence of so much historical information of the area on the Web will be an invaluable resource for history students at all levels, as well as providing a timeless service to the community.

When active, the project will be found at www.virtualstaugusine.org.