Since its inception, the Orlando Museum of Art’s objective has been to benefit the culture of Florida by providing an excellent collection of visual art to the public. This mission is evident not only in the diverse collection of art exhibited in the museum itself, but also in the community outreach initiatives of the institution. An example of one of these initiatives is the 1st Thursdays program. On the first Thursday of every month, local artists showcase their work and the community is invited to come to the museum from 6-9 PM to listen to live music and mingle with the art community. Artists are invited to apply to submit their work for display at 1st Thursdays directly on the museum’s official website, further displaying OMA’s commitment to building a deep connection to the surrounding community. Art camps for kids of all ages are held during the summer and art classes are available for adults as well.

&nbsp;The museum hosts interesting, dynamic, and diverse temporary exhibitions. “All About Warhol”, an example of one of these exhibitions, was featured at the museum from May 10-June 14, 2015. “All About Warhol” is a photographic portrait series of Andy Warhol. This series is the work of photographers William John Kennedy, Christopher Makos, and Paul Solberg, who were all close to Warhol. These photographs offer unique insight into the man who was Andy Warhol, rather than the exaggerated public persona he cultivated as part of his work. These pieces were in storage and nearly forgotten for almost fifty years until, in 2010, these images were published for the first time.

&nbsp;The permanent collection is just as awe-inspiring and, with constant new acquisitions, just as dynamic, as the temporary exhibitions. Highlights of the African Art collection include beautiful objects to be worn in everyday life, such as textiles and beadwork. The Contemporary Graphics collection contains 270 prints, some of which were created by Andy Warhol. The Art of the Ancient Americas collection contains artwork covering a period of 3,000 years, featuring works from the North, Central, and South American regions. The American Art collection contains works from the Colonial period to the present. Highlights include works by Georgia O'Keefe and Will Harnett.

Image from the "All About Warhol" exhibit

Website

Video of different access programs offered by OMA

Video

The Orlando Museum of Art, (OMA) founded in 1924, is located in Loch Haven Park. The museum houses four permanent collections: African Art, Art of the Ancient Americas, Contemporary Graphics, and American Art. All of these are continuously enhanced by new acquisitions.


Orlando Museum of Art

This drive starts in Orlando's historic Parramore district and moves downtown to include the central library and Orange County Regional History Center before moving north to some of the region's leading art museums. After a stop at the city's fire museum the tour continues on to several smaller museums that share the history of neighborhoods and communities before reaching a second cluster of art museums before concluding at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center. There are several other additional museums throughout the metro Orlando area worth exploring along with numerous historic homes and buildings that can be found on Clio. 

<div>During segregation in Orlando, African Americans had limited options for lodging. Upon his arrival to Orlando by way of Georgia, Dr. Wells Built looked to change that. Wells&nbsp;was issued a building permit in 1924 and began construction on the Wells’ Built Hotel to provide lodging for African Americans. He also constructed and owned a nearby casino.The South Street Casino, also built around the same time as the hotel, featured a basketball court and skating rink. By 8pm every night the casino transformed into an exclusive entertainment venue for African American adults. The South Street Casino caught fire in 1987, forcing its demolition.Some artifacts salvaged from the South Street Casino are housed in the Wells’ Built Museum, along with artifacts from Dr. William Monroe Wells, a 1930 period hotel guest room, and some African and African American art.The two buildings are significant because of their association with Dr. Wells, who was one of the few Black doctors in the city (and for a period during WWII was the only one). He not only served the Black community as a doctor but also built the hotel and casino to provide a place for people to gather and socialize. Several famous Black artists (and celebrities like Jackie Robinson) stayed and performed here including Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald. The building also featured a basketball court and skating rink.&nbsp; He was married to Clifford Irene Wells (1895-1989) and died in 1957. He&nbsp;was buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando. As a doctor, Dr. Wells was a strong advocate for his patient's wellbeing and helped deliver 5,000 babies. Wells was both a role model and a symbol of success among African Americans in Orlando.</div>

Located in the heart of Orlando's historic Parramore district, the Wells' Built Museum was established in 2009. It consists of two properties, the Dr. William Monroe Wells historic home and the former hotel he constructed in 1924. The museum features memorabilia, African art, a recreated 1930s guest room, and items from the South Street Casino that was once located down the street but unfortunately burned down in 1987. The museum also has displays about the history of the Civil Rights movement in Orlando. The house was moved to this location in 2004. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. 

Wells' Built Museum

Located in downtown Orlando, the Dr Phillips Center of the Performing Arts was built in 2014. It is the home venue for the Orlando Ballet and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. It features two theaters: the 2,700-seat Walt Disney Theater and the 300-seat Pugh Theater. A third auditorium, which will have 1,700 seats, will open in 2018 and serve as the orchestra and ballet hall (the Walt Disney Theater is geared for Broadway shows). The Center is very focused on extending its reach into the community. To this end if offers a wide variety of arts-related programming such as summer camps, master classes, training seminars, school day performances, and workshops. These programs are held in the Dr. Phillips Center Florida Hospital School of the Arts, located in the same building. 

Dr Phillips Center of the Performing Arts

Orange County Regional History Center includes an exhibit for the tragic mass shooting that occurred at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016. All of the memorial items will end up at the at the Center, that it meticulously being done with dignity. Michael Perkins, the museum manager says that “the memorials in honor of the Pulse victims are slowly coming down, but they are not going far away, we are certainly not working just to take them away from the site, we are working to preserve them, to collect them and preserve them so they can be put to future use.” The history center’s collection team selects items one by one, the chief curator photographs it in its original position and gently takes it away, the items are then logged and cleaned, removing any dirt or candle wax before being boxed and taken away. The team intends to collect everything, even though the weather has taken a toll on some items, plastic or laminate is removed from cards so moisture from the rain can dry out, all of the flowers will be turned into soil and used in gardens throughout the city. So far over 1,700 items have been collected. Perkins says “The Pulse shooting will always be a part of our history, but so is the community’s response. We are collecting and preserving the memories of how the community responded.” As well as being a historically significant building, the Orange County Courthouse was home to one of the twentieth century’s most famous murder cases. This courthouse is where the famous serial killer Ted Bundy was tried for the murder of Kimberly Leach. The trial began on January 7, 1980 and reached a guilty verdict on February 7. Julius Africano and Lynn Thompson, the defense attorneys, unsuccessfully fought for a plea of “not guilty”, arguing that Bundy was insane. Bundy carved his name into the table where he sat during the trial. The Orange County Regional Center tells the story of Orlando outside of the famous theme parks for which it is so well known. The museum tells this story in a variety of ways, one of which is its “Orlando Remembered” gallery. Currently, this gallery tells the story of citrus workers during the Great Depression. Although the Great Depression officially began in the nation with the 1929 Stock Market Crash, Florida receded into a depression, due in part to the end of the Florida Land Boom, as early as 1926. Then, in 1929, the same year as the Stock Market Crash, the citrus industry in Florida suffered a huge loss due to an infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies Migrant workers flocked to South Florida for work during harvest season.  The “Orlando Remembered” gallery also tells the story of the famous Peabody Hotel ducks and the practice of sending friendship dolls between Japan and the US during the late 1920s. The permanent collection also includes exhibits exploring Florida’s natural environment, it Native American history, its industry, and its aviation history. Check the website for latest updates on temporary exhibitions

The Old Orange County Courthouse was built in 1927. In 1989, the courthouse was recognized as a historically significant landmark and a task force was appointed to determine the best possible re-use of the building after a new courthouse had already been in use for many years. The plan to renovate the existing courthouse for use as The History Center was endorsed by the Board of County Commissioners in 1993 and the design process began in 1995, the new courthouse was completed in 1997 and the 1960s annex that stood in what is now Heritage Square Courtyard was destroyed the next year. Renovations to the building began in 1999 and The History Center opened its doors in September of 2000. The current occupant of the building, the Orange County Historical Museum, opened in Orlando’s Loch Haven Park in 1976. Exhibits throughout the museum display nearly 12,000 years of Central Florida history.

Orange County Regional History Center (Old Orange County Courthouse)

The Orlando County Library System (OCLS) is a network of 16 public libraries in Orlando, Florida. The Orlando Public Library is the main building and is located on the site of a previous library building, the Albertson Library. Prior to the Albertson Library, the Sorosis Club of Orlando maintained a circulating library for its 
members, originally located on the second floor of the Old 
Armory Building on Court Street, and later at the Knox 
building at the intersection of Pine and Court Street. On May 11, 1920, Orlando residents voted in favor of a public library. Captain Charles L. Albertson, a retired Police Inspector from New York City and "snowbird," donated his extensive book collection to the City of Orlando, with the condition that the Albertson Library must be constructed to house it. Albertson would serve as the Advisory Superintendent. In 1962, Orlando citizens voted in favor of a new, larger facility. The city acquired properties adjacent to the library, and construction of the current structure began in 1966. The collection was temporarily housed at 905 North Orange Avenue during the demolition of the Albertson building and the construction of the new library. Designed by John M. Johansen, The Orlando Public Library was dedicated on August 7, 1966. Johansen called his
 design a "composition in monolithic concrete."1 In 1985, the building was closed for renovation, and for the purpose of expanding the library. Architect Duane StarkIt was charged with designing an expansion that would blend in with the original design. The Orlando Public Library was reopened the following year. Made from 19,000 cubic yards of concrete, the building is 290,000-square-feet and occupies an entire 
city block. The Orlando Public Library houses several Public Reference Departments including 
Children’s, Genealogy, Library Central and Reference Central. A Technology
 and Education Center offers computer access 
to visitors, and the Dorothy Lumley Melrose Center for Technology, Innovation 
&amp; Creativity features audio, video, and photography studios. Also on site is The
 Friends of the Library Third Floor Bookstore, open daily. See the official website for scheduled events and classes.

The Orlando Public Library located in downtown Orlando, Florida, is the headquarters of the Orange Country Library System (O.C.L.S). Originally known as the Albertson Public Library, it was established in 1923. In 1966, construction began on the site of the former Albertson building for an expanded facility. The 290,000 square foot library occupies an entire city block and is one of the largest public library buildings in Florida.

Orlando Public Library

The organizing effort behind the museum dates back to 1955 and the museum first opened its doors in 1960. At that time, the museum exhibits focused on anthropology and a handful of other fields. In 1973 the museum dedicated the John Young Planetarium in honor of Orlando native and astronaut John Young. The museum changed its name to the Orlando Science Center in 1984 and reflected its goal to include more exhibits related to all aspects of science. Much of the museum's growth was made possible by area foundations and private donations. For example, the Pittsburg Conference, one of the leading science conferences, donated twenty-five thousand dollars to help fund the science center.Today, the Orlando Science Center has become one of the main attractions for families in the Orlando area. With over two hundred thousand square feet of exhibit space, the science center features eight main exhibits that are designed for all ages. The science center also includes two different theaters that regularly play movies of diverse genres. The Orlando Science Center also features various summer camps for kids ranging from kindergarten to high schoolers. This allows for kids around the community to be impacted by the science around them, and this is one of the main goals of the science center. This center is not just open to Florida residents, it welcomes people to come to learn about science from all over the world. There are four floors of interactive exhibits, workshops, halls, theatres, and observatories. All these though, do change with the seasons. Shows might change, exhibits may change, etcetera.  There are over 670,000 visitors yearly, this significant number of visitors annually helps spread the awareness of science to not only the people who visit the Science Center, but also to the people that are told about the experiences of the visitors (Our Center). The existing location in Central Florida was opened in 1997 and has been widely renovated numerous times to help visitors’ experiences be more hands-on and informative. There are many partnerships and associations connected to the Science Center to ultimately spread knowledge of science to the public (Our Center). In order to encourage kids of all ages to engage in the scientific community, there is a science competition held every year for kids, grades ranging from kindergarten to senior year of high school. As the students compete and increase their knowledge of the scientific community, competitions get harder, and cash rewards and even college scholarships are offered (Science Competitions). In 2013, in the 14th annual Orlando Veterans Day Parade, the Orlando Science Center wanted to honor the United States Armed Forces in a big way. The parade was started off with a presentation giving tribute to all the men and women that have risked their lives to fight for the freedom of all American Citizens. The parade also honored the Red Tail Pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen. The tribute was presented in a big way, and continues to celebrate the lives of these Pilots today (Tuskegee Airmen). There was a monument put in front of the Orlando Science Center to express the fact that the Center is not only trying to spread awareness of science, but also our American History as well. The monument is a spiral with the airplanes the pilots flew.The Orlando Science Center lives off a mission, vision, and purpose statement. The mission statement is to inspire science learning for life. The vision of the Science Center is to be the spark that inspires innovation. Last, but not least, the purpose of the Science Center is to create prosperity in our community that enhances lives (Guidestar). Ultimately the Science Center was established so that our community could come together with the knowledge gathered about science and create a better community and world to live in. The Science Center has created and continues to create many opportunities that would otherwise be rare. The center  has changed many lives and will continue to do so.

Founded in 1955 as the Central Florida Museum, the Orlando Science Center is a private museum that offers a variety of exhibits for children, young adults, and families. Exhibits focus on topics such as engineering,  paleontology, biology, and many other topics. The museum also offers a planetarium, two theaters, and special programs for school children throughout the Central Florida area.

Orlando Science Center 

Howard Phillips died in 1979 and was the son of Dr. Philip Philips, who owned a large amount of citrus farmland in Florida. Marilyn Mennello, for whom the museum is in part named, is considered nearly single-handedly responsible for artist Earl Cunningham’s reputation and popularity. Cunningham, who died in 1977, was a self-taught artist. Due to his unique use of vivid color, he is often referred to as an “American Primitive Fauve.” Primitive refers to the fact that he was self-taught. Fauve refers to an art movement that occurred in the early twenty-first century and is characterized by a strong and traditionally strange use of color that ignored any of the characteristics of realism maintained by Impressionism. Interestingly, unlike many other folk artists, none of Cunningham’s works demonstrate any particular or specific religious inspiration.Perceived by most to be anti-social and even rude or gruff, Cunningham was often said to be entirely unaccommodating and unfriendly. When people came to see his paintings. By 1949, he had settled in St. Augustine, Florida and set up a small curio shop where he created and displayed some of his art. Although he was unaccommodating at first, Marilyn Mennello really believed in the importance of his work and began collecting it. As well as preserving his work through her and her husband’s collection, Marilyn promoted his work through word of mouth. Due largely to Marilyn Mennello’s efforts, after his death in 1977 Cunningham’s work began to receive significant attention. He is now considered one of the most important twentieth-century folk artists. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center in Williamsburg, Virginia now all possess pieces of his work.

Established in 1998 and housed in the former home of businessman and philanthropist Howard Phillips, the Mennello Museum of American Art is located in Loch Haven Park in Orlando, Florida. It is dedicated to preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting American art, including paintings, sculptures, and glass art. Paintings by Earl Cunningham make up the core of its collection. The museum’s namesakes, Marilyn and Michael Mennello, donated these paintings. The museum offers special exhibits, publications, and various programs that celebrate traditional and contemporary American art. The museum also hosts an annual folk art festival.

Mennello Museum of American Art 

Orlando was incorporated as a city in 1875 with a population of only 85. In 1881, downtown Orlando built its first railroad station, which quickly increased the population and number of businesses. The first Orlando volunteer squad was established in 1883 by William Sherman – an ex-firefighter from Boston who moved to early Orlando and opened a jewelry shop – as a response to a fire in Mrs. Basset’s dressmaking shop. The department consisted of only 6 men and their equipment consisted of a hose, hose reel, bucket brigade and painter’s ladder on a wagon hauled around by hand. In 1896 the first fire alarm system was established, the Town Hall built by George LeMoyne had a hung bell with two suspended ropes. The person who found the fire had the responsibility of running to the Town Hall and ring the bell so that all citizens would come with blankets, ladders and rope to help kill the fire. Around this time, bricks were used increasingly more often in buildings instead of wood; this was a for safety reasons, since it lowered the risk and potential damage of a fire incident. For example, the Southern Methodist Academy was destroyed in a fire in 1905 and was replaced by a brick school building (Orlando City Government ). With the continuous growth of Orlando city, the fire department became fully motorized by 1915. Venerated Fire Chief William Dean, who served 48 years in the fire department, had been outspoken for years about the need of the fire department for better equipment. In 1914, Chief William Dean said: <blockquote>"Our equipment is inadequate… horses are too slow to save a house when the fire is any great distance from the station. I consider a chemical engine one to the greatest needs of the department, for often the water does as much damage as the fire" (Bryant)</blockquote> In 1923, the entire Orlando Fire Department became a paid department (Bryant). The Orlando Fire Museum was initially fire station number 3, opened in 1926. In 1972, as the station building was in poor structural condition, a new station was built just one mile west, in College Park next to Princeton Elementary School (Orlando City Government). In the following years the inactive station was renovated and turned into a museum. In 1990 the museum reopened and established tours. The Orlando Fire Department took ownership of the museum in 2002. In 2016, the museum was renamed in honor of retired Deputy Fire Chief, Randall R. Tuten. Mr. Tuten was a second-generation Deputy Fire Chief, and served as such from 1974 – 2002, he also served as head of operations at the Orlando Fire Museum from 2004 – 2016. Mr. Tuten’s son, Nick Tuten, is continuing the family tradition and is currently a third-generation firefighter (Orlando Fire Department). The museum has on display the equipment used by the firefighters in the past, including more rudimentary fire extinguishers, hose reel carts, fire extinguishing chemicals, masks, phones, telegraphs, and others (Orlando Fire Department). The museum houses a restored 1926 American LaFrance fire truck. That particular fire truck was purchased by Chief William Dean, it was known as Old Number Six (Bryant). American LaFrance was one of the earliest and most important firefighting equipment manufacturers in the United States. LaFrance is well known for its innovative design, they influenced subsequent car designs such as the forward placed cab. Their production traces back as far as 1832, but in 1903 it officially started production under the ALF brand. Their early fire trucks used steam engines, chemical engines, or even horses (Vaccaro). In 1899, the city of Orlando purchased its first fire truck, a LaFrance carriage pulled by horses, it cost $5,000 (Orlando Fire Department). Some social improvements were achieved in the Orlando Fire Department in the 20th century. In 1953 in Orlando, only white males could apply to be firefighters. Orlando firefighters worked 84-hour weeks, even though other major South cities worked 60 hours, and others like New York and Michigan only 48 hours. In 1968 the first Black firefighters were hired, and by 1973 after continuous advocation and decreases through the years, Orlando firefighters went on a 42-hour week. The first female Orlando firefighters were hired in 1982 (Orlando City Government).

The Orlando Fire Museum is a tribute to the firefighting history of Orlando, Florida. It is located in Loch Haven Cultural Park, among several other museums such as the Orlando Museum of Art and the Orlando Science Center. Open Fridays and Saturdays 10 am – 4 pm. The museum offers educational tours about the Orlando Fire Department History upon contact. The Museum was once a real fire station.

Orlando Fire Museum

The museum is run to showcase not just the art of the African-American community of the area, but also to highlight and educate about the history of the community. Hannibal Square was built around a main railroad in 1881, and many Black families enjoyed relatively decent economic prosperity here, as they found jobs in the railroad and domestic service positions serving Winter Park residents (Hannibalsquareheritagecenter.org, 2016).&nbsp;&nbsp;During this time, Hannibal Square was a place of "muted racism" which was to be found in the general Winter Park area during this time (Rollins College, 2014). The square and the museum are an important part of telling the story of the African-American experience in the early and mid-twentieth century America. Because of the relatively high economic activity and opportunities that were afforded the population that served the Winter Park area, it is a special look into (what we might call, in a time when African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens) middle-class African-American life and families.&nbsp;<div>The Heritage Center hosts the Heritage Collection: Photographs and Oral Histories of West Winter Park, an exhibition of over one hundred&nbsp;pieces that show the lives of Winter Park’s 20th-century African-American community (Crealde School of Art, 2016). The Center also hosts annual urban art festivals, showcasing artists such as&nbsp;Rigoberto Torres and&nbsp;the B-Side Artists Collective (Orlando Weekley, 2015).&nbsp;Other art events are held there throughout the year, such as the exhibit&nbsp;Sewn Together: Photographic Quilts Reflecting the Historic Family Ties of Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park, which celebrated the 125th anniversary of the township of Eatonville (Orlando Sentinel, 2013). </div>

The Hannibal Square Heritage Center was established in 2007 by Crealdé School of Art, in west Winter Park. It is a tribute to the past, present, and future contributions of Winter Park’s historic African-American community.

Hannibal Square Heritage Center

The Winter Park Historical Association Museum is a small local history museum located in historic Winter Park. The mission of the Winter Park Historical Association (WPHA), accomplished through museum exhibits, a free lecture series, and other outreach programs is to:<blockquote>...collect, 
preserve, promote and research the history of Winter Park and its 
surrounding area and to share that history with the public through 
educational programs and the operation of a museum.1</blockquote>The museum, run by the WPHA, acquires, accessions, and maintains 
artifacts and documents related to local history. Many of the objects in the 
collection are donated by current and former residents of Winter Park, 
and are occasionally displayed in the museum's rotating exhibits. The museum building itself is a former railroad freight depot. Special programs at the WPHA Museum include the WPHA Speaker Series, an annual Peacock Ball, and the Penelope, Princess of the Peacocks Children's Show. Visitors to the museum are invited to pick up a brochure for a self-guided, 24-stop walking tour of the area. The brochure is also available for download from the official website.

The Winter Park History Museum, run by the Winter Park Historical Association (WPHA), is a small local history museum. It houses rotating exhibits which focus on some aspect on the history of Winter Park and the surrounding area. The WPHA accessions artifacts and historic documents, which are occasionally displayed at the museum, and partners with other local history organizations to preserve sites in the city. In addition to the rotating exhibits, the WPHA also hosts other ongoing programs.

Winter Park Historical Association Museum

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum is located on the shore of Lake Virginia and is part of the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, Florida. The museum's mission statement is as follows: <blockquote>The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College is a teaching museum 
that stimulates transformative encounters with works of art and 
integrates art learning into daily life for campus and community.1 </blockquote>Opened in 1978, the museum is responsible for the Rollins College collection, which began with a number of engraved prints and oil portraits of individuals significant to the college's history. President Hamilton Holt officially began the school's art collecting endeavours in 1937 with the acquisition of several Italian Renaissance paintings donated by the Samuel H. Kress 
Foundation. In 1981, the American Association of Museums recognized the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, becoming one of the first college art museums in Florida to receive AAM accreditation. Alumni Barbara and Theodore Alfond provided the funds to expand the museum's holdings to incorporate the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. With a collection of over 5,000 pieces, dating from antiquity to the 21st Century, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum houses seasonal rotating exhibits featuring a wide range of artworks. It maintains over 500 paintings from the 14th–21st centuries; more than 1,500 prints, drawings, and photographs dating from the 15th–21st centuries; 1,110+ ethnographic objects and fragments, some from the original Rollins College natural history museum; and over 1,200 watch keys from the 16th–late 19th centuries. Other notable works include works by Pablo Picasso, photographs by Andy Warhol, and The Dead Christ with Symbols of the Passion, by Lavinia Fontana. Much of the collection is on display at The Alfond Inn, a hotel owned by Rollins College.5 In addition, the museum offers visitors free educational programs, such as gallery talks, lectures, panel discussions, 
films, hands-on art activities, special tours, and scavenger 
hunts.

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum is located on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. It is the only teaching museum in the greater Orlando Area. The museum houses a collection of over 5,000 pieces dating from antiquity to the modern day, including rare paintings, prints, ethnographic fragments, and watch keys. Admission to the rotating exhibits and special programs is free.

Cornell Fine Arts Museum

Albin Polasek was born in an area of what is now the Czech-Republic in 1879. His skills as an artist were apparent from early age. His brothers, who had moved to the United States in the late 1800s to attend seminaries to become Catholic priests, encouraged Albin to move as well. He arrived in 1901 and made his way to Minnesota. He attained American citizenship in 1909.&nbsp;Eventually, Albin became the director of the&nbsp;Depart­ment of Sculp­ture at the Art Insti­tute of Chicago and held that position for thirty years before retiring in 1949. He moved to Winter Park that same year and established his home there. Over the years Albin expanded the house and continued to work despite a stroke that left him in a wheelchair in 1950. He decided to establish the&nbsp;Albin Polasek Foun­da­tion in 1961 and opened his house to visitors.

The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens is located in Winter Park, Florida. It was the former home and studio of Czech-born sculptor and painter, Albin Polasek. The museum celebrates Polasek's life and work—comprising over 200 of his sculptures—as well as sculptures of other American artists. The museum offers guided tours of the house and the three-acre sculpture garden. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens

Jeannette Mckean founded the museum in 1942, originally called the Morse Gallery of Art,&nbsp;and it was first&nbsp;located on Rollins College campus. McKean named the gallery in honor of her father Charles Hosmer Morse. It was&nbsp;moved to Winter Park in 1977 and its named was changed to the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. The museum moved to its present location in 1995 and has undergone expansion in 1999 and 2011.

&nbsp;The impressive Tiffany collection is a result of McKean’s efforts to save a vast amount of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s work after his estate home in Long Island, Laurelton Hall, burned down in 1957. Tiffany’s art, had it not been purchased by Jeanette and her husband Hugh McKean, would have been destroyed when the debris from the fire was bulldozed. Hugh McKean was an art student with the Tiffany estate in 1930. The comprehensive Tiffany collection is unique not only in its extensiveness, but also because it includes every medium in which Tiffany experimented and produced art.&nbsp;The world’s Columbian Exposition is what the Chicago World’s Fair that was held in 1893 also known as. It was held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World in 1492. Tiffany’s work at this exhibition, now housed in the museum, internationally established his reputation as one of the leading artists and designers of his time.

&nbsp;The museum is also home to an impressive pottery collection, which includes close to 500 Rockwood pieces. The Rockwood Pottery Company is a famous American ceramics company that was fully active and very successful from 1880 up until the Great Depression. Production has been only intermittent since 1967, and the company is currently located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Founded by Jeannette Genius McKean in 1942, the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art is located in the Orlando, Florida suburb of Winter Park. It houses the most comprehensive collection of art created by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who lived from 1848-1933. The museum also features the chapel interior Tiffany created for the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, which took place in 1893. In addition to Tiffany's works, the museum contains American pottery and late 19th and early 20th-century American paintings, graphics, and decorative art.

Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

Robert
Bruce Barbour, a successful industrialist, came with his wife to Winter Park, Florida, from Massachusetts in
1915.&nbsp;He purchased the North
Interlachen Avenue property (where another&nbsp;structure, the Ergood&nbsp;House, already stood)&nbsp;in 1926. The
Barbours were part of an influx of wealthy Northerners who began arriving in
Florida during the first few decades of the Twentieth Century.&nbsp; By 1932, Barbour had become dissatisfied with the existing house and wanted to build a new one. He spotted a local house that impressed him and inquired of its owner, James Gamble Rogers II, the son and nephew of distinguished architects, who had built it. When Rogers told Barbour that he himself had designed the house, Barbour hired him on the spot to design and build his own new house, provided that&nbsp;the dwelling&nbsp;would have the requisite number of rooms and that it be constructed in the Spanish Revival style; otherwise,&nbsp;Barbour pledged that he would not interfere. Rogers has described this situation as "an architect's&nbsp;dream come true." The structure combines 
Mediterranean style architecture with the Andalusian farmhouse (cortijo) style. Rogers
himself called&nbsp;this&nbsp;the Spanish Eclectic design. Much of the house was constructed from&nbsp;reused materials, including terra cotta for the roofing tiles, hewn and turned wooden members for the balcony, and rough brick and extruded mortar joints for the exterior walls. Distinctive features of the building include a two-story, four-bay-wide, rectangular block covered by a side-facing gable roof, a one-story, front-facing gable-roofed wing with bell tower on the south side, and a rounded turret on the north end.&nbsp;&nbsp; From
its completion in 1933, the Barbour house was&nbsp;significant in the cultural life of the Orlando metropolitan area. In
1938, for example, the house was the site of the two-day Spanish Institute of Florida annual
fiesta honoring the Spanish author,&nbsp;Cervantes. By the 1960s, its owners came to call it Casa Feliz (Happy House), a name that stuck.&nbsp;In 2000, a new owner planned to eliminate the house&nbsp;to construct a new, bigger&nbsp;mansion on the site, and had even begun demolition, when it was discovered that eagles had built a nest nearby. Because the eagle is&nbsp;a protected species and the noise was thought to affect them negatively,&nbsp;demolition was brought&nbsp;to an immediate&nbsp;halt. Since the baby eagles has not yet fledged, this gave locals who wanted to preserve the historic house time to raise the&nbsp;money to save it.&nbsp;The house&nbsp;was then placed on dollies and&nbsp;moved about 900 feet west to North Park&nbsp;Avenue, where it stands today. The house has been fully restored and can be rented for weddings and business meetings. Its preservation has sparked a dialogue on the merits of historical preservation. As
Rollins College President Emeritus Thaddeus Seymour stated in a letter, “Casa
Feliz is one of the treasures of our community, and its preservation is an
eloquent statement of our community's values and priorities....Casa Feliz is
not only an outstanding example of architectural design, but it stands today as
a tangible example and reminder that citizens can make a difference and that
historic buildings can and should be preserved.”

The Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum (formerly the Robert Bruce Barbour House) is a two-story brick dwelling, designed in the Spanish Revival style by the distinguished Florida-based architect James Gamble Rogers II and built in 1933. It is located in Winter Park, which is in the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford statistical area in Orange County, Florida. It was commissioned by Robert Bruce Barbour, a wealthy manufacturer of chemical dyes. 

The Barbour house was originally sited on the east side of North Interlachen Avenue on the shore of Lake Osceola. The house's design combined Mediterranean style with Andalusian farmhouse style, using red brick and terra cotta for the roof, as well as cast stone and leaded glass. From its completion in 1933, the house played a significant role in the architectural and social contexts of Winter Park and continued in that role under subsequent owners, being eventually dubbed Casa Feliz (Happy House). 

When its last private owner had begun to demolish the house to construct a larger mansion, a local movement to preserve the house (assisted unexpectedly by a nest of eagles) led to its being moved approximately 900 feet to the west to its present location, where it is now owned by the City of Winter Park. The house was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.  

Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum (formerly Robert Bruce Barbour House)

Jules Andre
Smith first developed an interest in art during high school. While studying
architecture at Cornell, he enrolled in art classes in 1898. He graduated with
a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1902 and went on to a master in the
Science of Architecture, which he completed in 1904. After graduating from
Cornell, Smith travelled through Europe for two years on a fellowship. When he
returned to the US, he began working for an architectural firm in New York. At
night, he still worked on his art, sharing his work with important figures in
the art world. Eventually, these figures encouraged and endorsed him,
persuading him to leave his architectural career behind. After working for a
few years as an artist, Smith joined the military and served during World War
I. After leaving the military, his artistic style inexplicably changed
drastically, confusing those in the art world that had previously supported
him. Instead of continuing to concentrate on the progressive painting style
that had made him famous, he began working in the theatre world. He designed
sets and stage layouts and painted murals for productions. He ended up in
Maitland out of a desire to build a winter studio in a warmer climate.

&nbsp;For many
years, the building was called the Research Studio and at first it was meant to
be a private place for artists to do their work. Starting in 1940, however,
Smith allowed the public to enter the studio for a small fee.&nbsp;The City of
Maitland bought the property in 1969. It is not clear when the studio
officially became the Maitland Art Center but presumably that occurred sometime
in the 1970s.

The Maitland Art Center is an art museum located in Maitland, Florida. Artist Jules Andre Smith founded it in 1937 to be an artist's village. Smith designed the building in the Mayan Revival style and as such it is a very unique structure. It contains a combination of Mesoamerican, African, and Asian style elements, making it one of the last examples of "fantasy architecture" in the Southeast. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1914. Its collections include works by Smith, Milton Avery, and contemporary artists. The center is one of five other museums known collectively as the Art and History Museums of Maitland.

Maitland Art Center

The&nbsp;Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando and Valencia College&nbsp;sponsored community-wide events on the Holocaust and human rights issues in 1980. Similar events took place in the following years culminating in the construction of the center in 1986. The center was the only one of its kind in the southeast until 1996.

&nbsp;Since those initial community-wide cultural events in 1980, the center has sponsored a multitude of cultural and educational events about the Holocaust and human rights. Notably, the center partnered with the Orlando Museum of Art to host the famous art installation, The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light. This ambitious art project, created by Judy Chicago and her husband Donald Woodman, along with a select number of artisans, served to present the Holocaust as a prism through which to view and attempt to understand present-day injustices and human rights violations. The project, which took eight years to complete, began as a desire on the part of Chicago and Woodman to understand their own Jewish identity. As its name suggests, with a variety of visual stimulation, the exhibit takes the viewer deep into the darkness of despair and injustice of the Holocaust and then into the light of hope.

&nbsp;The center was also once host to a program in which James Carroll was featured. Carroll is the author of the book Constantine’s Sword, which is now also a documentary by the same name. Carroll, a former priest, wrote this book primarily to explore and document the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the history of Europe’s anti-Semitism. The documentary focuses on this topic as well, but also goes on to explore more recent abuse of religion to violent ends. The modern-day topic that the documentary focuses most heavily on is the evangelical conversion attempts at the US Air Force Academy.

Located in Orlando, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida presents stories of the Jewish experience during and beyond the Holocaust. Exhibits relate the stories of resistance and liberation, as well as first-hand accounts by survivors. Displays show what life was like in the concentration camps and throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. In addition to presenting the history of the Holocaust, the center also strives to foster a community that is free of racism and prejudice. It offers various education and outreach programs, permanent and temporary exhibits, and a library of archives.

Museums of Orlando

Orlando Museum of Art

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information