Print Archives

The Historical Commission sponsors several projects and collections that preserve the documented history of Brevard County as related through newspaper, maps, and other historic documents.

Newspapers

Already preserved on microfilm are several of the county’s earliest newspapers, including:

  • East Coast Advocate
  • The Florida Star
  • The Melbourne Times

Microfilm copies of these publications have been placed in the stewardship of the Cocoa branch of the Brevard County Library System. The library has reader-printer machines on which you can view and reproduce articles of interest dating back to 1880.

Maps

The commission also recently obtained microfilm copies of the Sanborn Maps, produced for fire insurance records and showing the building layouts of commercial and some residential sections of some Brevard cities, including:

  • Cocoa
  • Eau Gallie
  • Melbourne
  • Melbourne Beach
  • Rockledge
  • Titusville

These maps provide a wealth of information about the location of businesses and structures in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These too have been placed in the collections of the Cocoa branch of the Brevard County Library System so that they might be centrally located for convenient public access.

Other printed documents and records are part of the commission’s preserved archives.

If you have early or historically significant documents or records related to Brevard County and would like to donate the originals or a copy, please contact us.