Florida Department of State to Feature Photographs of World-renowned Photographer Joseph Janney Steinmetz During ‘First Friday’ Event

Free event at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 2, 2012 at the R.A. Gray Building in Tallahassee

Tallahassee, Florida –

The Florida Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services is hosting a First Friday slideshow event featuring the work of world-renowned photographer Joseph Janney Steinmetz at the R.A. Gray Building in Tallahassee on Friday, November 2, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The slideshow will showcase more than 200 photographs from the Steinmetz Photographic Collection, a recent acquisition of the Florida Photographic Collection at the State Library and Archives of Florida.

Recognized for an ability to capture candid moments of everyday life, Steinmetz’s work has been referred to as "an American social history" that documents diverse scenes of American life, from affluent northeasterners to middle-class Floridians. Steinmetz’s photographs have appeared in such publications as The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Look, Holiday, Collier’s and Town and Country. His Florida images in particular document the rapid development of the state and the marketing strategies commonly employed in post-World War II America.

The Museum of Florida History will also be open during the slideshow. Featured exhibits include Forever Changed: La Florida, 1513-1821 and the 31st Annual Capital City Quilt Show: Tomorrow’s Quilts Today.

Food and refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the State Library and Archives of Florida Inc., a citizen support organization for the preservation, promotion and enrichment of Florida’s public and archival heritage. Admission to both events is free and open to the public.

For more information, please visit http://www.floridamemory.com/steinmetzslideshow/.

DATE:         Friday, November 2, 2012
TIME:          6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: R.A. Gray Building
                   500 S. Bronough St.
                   Tallahassee, FL 32399

About the Florida Photographic Collection

The Florida Photographic Collection is a special collection of photographic images administered by the Bureau of Archives and Record Management within the Florida Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services. Of the more than one million photographs housed in the State Archives, more than 174,000 photographs are available on the Florida Memory website, www.FloridaMemory.com. Florida Memory is the most complete visual history of Florida online, providing access to a searchable database containing more than 500,000 digitized photographs, films, sound recordings and archival documents from the collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida.

About the Florida Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services

The Florida Department of State’s Division of Library and Information Services is the designated information resource provider for the Florida Legislature and all state agencies. It also coordinates and helps fund activities for public libraries, provides a framework for statewide library initiatives, provides archival and records management services, and preserves, collects, and makes available the published and unpublished documentary history of the state.