Special Area & Studies Collection’s Florence M. Turcotte received the Rembert Patrick Award for a scholarly book on a Florida History topic for their book, Marge and Julia, The Correspondence Between Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Julia Scribner from the Florida Historical Society. Named in honor of the late Rembert W. Patrick, longtime University of Florida history professor and author of the acclaimed book “Florida Under Five Flags” and other important works. This category is open to authors or presses for a scholarly book on a Florida history topic published during the calendar year Jan.1-Dec. 31 preceding the award.
Florence M. Turcotte is the Literary Manuscripts Archivist and Curator of the John D. MacDonald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the Zora Neale Hurston Papers at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries. She also curates a wide variety of archival collections, including environmental and African American history papers, women’s and religious collections, and LGBT collections. Turcotte holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgetown University, and received her Library and Information Science degree from the University of South Florida. She published 2 books of correspondence from her literary collections, and an award-winning article about Rawlings in the Florida Historical Quarterly, and often makes presentations in the community about UF’s manuscript holdings.