Primary records for New Mount Olive A.M.E. and St. Mark Missionary Baptist are not digitized
An exhaustive search across the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives has established that foundational primary records for Avon Park’s two oldest continuous Black congregations—New Mount Olive A.M.E. Church (organized 1919/1920) and St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church (established 1916)—are currently not available in major public digital repositories.
While these institutions are widely cited in secondary historical summaries (such as the Florida Black Heritage Trail) and early twentieth-century denominational journals, the direct primary materials (including architectural drawings, original deeds, historic photographs, and Works Progress Administration church schedules specific to New Mount Olive) have not been digitized or accessioned by these state and federal agencies.
Because these institutions predate the town’s first public school for Black children (Hopewell School, 1926) and serve as the earliest continuous anchors of Black Avon Park, closing this documentary gap requires consulting the congregations directly for their own internal archives.
References
- florida-black-heritage-trail — Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources. Florida Black Heritage Trail. https://dos.fl.gov/historical/preservation/heritage-trails/black-heritage-trail/
Related
- Finding: the record of Black Avon Park is almost entirely missing
- Report: The churches of Avon Park
- Report: The Black churches of Avon Park in 1938
Where this comes from
- Evidence
- corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
- Review
- unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
- Rights
- society
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