Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, Inc.

Research

Hoch Heritage Center
Research Hours
Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

The Hoch Heritage Center houses our collections and research departments. It was built as a post office annex in 1949, and this warehouse structure has been the home of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, Inc. since 1978.

The Fort Lauderdale History Center is committed to expanding knowledge of the past. The Hoch Heritage Center is where visitors and local residents come to expand their own knowledge, by perusing the reference library, conducting research in the history files, or shopping for photographic prints from our historic image collections.

Photograph and Image Collections
The History Center’s outstanding photographic collections contain 250,000 images relating to the history of Broward County. In addition to photographs, the History Center also has notable collections of postcards and slides. Most of these images are available for reproduction.

Visit our image gallery.
See more ordering information.

Archival and Manuscript Collections
In addition to three-dimensional and photographic collections, the History Center cares for an extensive collection of archival materials related to to the history of Fort Lauderdale. Links to avaliable finding guides in PDF format are provided below. More will be added as they become available.

X-91: Edith Lewis-American Legion Auxiliary Collection
1971.0001: Stranahan Collection
1977.0023: Juliette Lange Collection
1978.0048: August Burghard-Nova Southeastern University Collection
1978.0060: Bruno and Ruth Schmidt Collection
1978.0067: Major William Lauderdale Collection
1979.0089: Mrs. Lauderdale Pension Application
1979.0143: Forman's Sanitary Dairy Collection
1983.0066: History of Law and Lawyers in Fort Lauderdale, 1900-1930
A1985.0032: Jones Family Collection
A1988.0082: Broward County Civil Air Patrol: Some History
1997.0043: 1914 Riparian Rights Case

History Files
These are the reference collections of the History Center and contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures and ephemera. These files encompass vast amounts of information relating to the history of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County (up to the present day), from biographical files to local environmental concerns. A finding aid is available. Click on the link below for a list of subjects covered in the history files.

History Files Table of Contents (PDF Format)

Property Research
In conjunction with the City of Fort Lauderdale Historic Preservation Board (HPB), the Fort Lauderdale History Center has developed a database for property research. The Hoch Heritage Center provides services for the HPB, homeowners, realtors, environmental auditors and other researchers.

5 Steps to Historically Designating Your Property
(PDF Format)

For more information contact
Collections Manager Christopher Barfield at 954-463-4431 ext. 20.
Research Director Merrilyn Rathbun at 954-463-4431 ext. 11.

The Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, Inc. is a non-profit charity as defined within section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.

This project has been financed in part with Historic Preservation grant assistance provided by the Bureau of Historic Preservation, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State, assisted by the Florida Historical Commission.

Funding for this organization is provided by our members and by the Broward County Board of Commissioners as recommended by The Broward Cultural Council.

Site Redesigned By Zahra Jafferjee..