Permanent Exhibitions

The Heritage Collection:
Photographs and Oral Histories of West Winter Park

The cornerstone of the Hannibal Square Heritage Center is The Heritage Collection: Photographs and Oral Histories of West Winter Park—a unique approach to telling history modeled after similar efforts conducted by the Los Angeles County Library. The first collection of its kind in a Central Florida community, the collection depicts hardships and triumphs of Winter Park’s African-American community from 1900 to the present. This permanent exhibition is the result of six Community Heritage Days, begun in 2002, wherein a Crealdé team of historians, cultural anthropologists, and documentary photographers collaborated with intergenerational members of the historic Hannibal Square neighborhood who shared their family photographs and related personal stories during an interview session. New archival prints were made from the original photographs. A contemporary portrait was taken of the resident sharing the story, and text was created from the recorded oral history. These three elements were matted and framed together; making an archival work of art that shares a piece of history as part of The Heritage Collection.