Major George R. Fairbanks was elected president at the organizational meeting of the Florida Historical Society in Jacksonville.  Although originally founded in 1856 in St. Augustine, the Civil War and Reconstruction forced the Society into a hiatus.  Fairbanks and others realized the need for the creation of the Society to “collect, preserve and publicize documents relating to Florida history.”  Florida did not have a state archive until the 1960s and until that time the Society performed the job of collecting documents, artifacts etc. Charter members included former Florida Governors, William D. Bloxham and Francis P. Fleming. One of the first books donated to the Society’s library collection was a 1605 edition of La Florida del Inca, given to us by none other than Henry M. Flagler. Fairbanks enunciated the need for a standalone library back in 1902, a task that was finally achieved in 1997 when the Library of Florida History opened in Cocoa.