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Roy E. Bazire Florida Environmental Records

 Collection
Identifier: MsC0493

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Scope and Contents

The Florida environmental records of Roy E. Bazire consist of ten and one half linear feet of manuscripts that date from 1955 to 1997. They are arranged in four separate series: 1) Sanibel, Florida; 2) Environmental Confederation of South West Florida; 3) Conservation Organizations; and 4) Documents. The divisions and folder titles are basically those used by Roy Bazire as he collected and organized these records. Material relating to certain subjects and organizations (such as Sanibel Island, the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, the National Audubon Society, etc.) appear in more than one series, as per the donor's original arrangement. The first series relates more or less directly to the conservation efforts on Sanibel Island. The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Inc., was a grassroots organization that set out to preserve the islands and control development. It was the direct successor of the J.N. "Ding" Darling Memorial Committee that worked with the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society as well as the Florida Audubon Society to create the J.N. "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge in the 1960s. The activities of these organizations are well documented with committee minutes and reports, correspondence from such notable people as Marjory Stoneman Douglas, land acquisition records, maps, etc. Roy Bazire's personal papers relating to Sanibel are also included here. The next section concerns the Environmental Confederation of South West Florida (ECOSWF). ECOSWF was organized in 1969 as a five-county coalition to protect the conservation interests in South West Florida. This section makes up the bulk of the collection and traces the coalition's history from the first planning conference, through annual records, by-laws, finances, and membership rolls. Projects, research, and workshops sponsored by ECOSWF are included as well. The third series documents an amazing number of Conservation organizations that formed in Florida during the 1960s and 1970s. Most were citizen environmental groups, ranging from Florida Defenders of the Environment to the Junior Museum & Planetarium of Lee County. The materials gathered in the final section under the title "Documents" consist primarily of published articles, papers, reports, newsletters, etc., documenting the Florida environmental scene. There are also preliminary reports, conference papers, and legislative statements filed in this series. An addendum was added in 1998, which includes a cross section of materials.

Dates

  • Creation: 1955-1997
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1970-1979

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Biographical / Historical

Roy E. Bazire (1917-- 1998) is a 1939 graduate of the University of Iowa. His conservation work began in 1959 when he became president of the Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society. He helped direct the effort to create a wildlife sanctuary that was later incorporated into the Jay N. “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge. He was a founding director and officer of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, serving as chairman of the board and later executive director. He served for at least fifteen years on the board of the Florida Nature Conservancy, and was vice-president for southwestern Florida. Along with Joel Kuperberg, he initiated the Environmental Confederation of South West Florida (ECOSWF) and was its first President. Roy E. Bazire was actively involved in numerous other environmental groups in Florida. Roy Bazire died in Iowa City, Iowa in November, 1998.

Extent

10.50 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Environmental activist in Florida. Subject files, correspondence, minutes, newsletters, by-laws, published articles, etc., relating to conservation efforts and organizations in Southwest Florida . Much of the collection relates to the Environmental Confederation of South West Florida (ECOSWF) and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Federation (SCCF).

Physical Location

n29:4:4-n29:4:7

Moved from n09:02:7-n09:03:4 on 5/11/2019-JS

Method of Acquisition

The Florida environmental records of Roy E. Bazire were donated to the University of Iowa Libraries by Mr. Bazire in 1996 and 1998.

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the University of Iowa Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5921
319-335-5900 (Fax)