Last updated: 11/27/2023
Pensacola, Florida
Street Address
120 Church StreetPensacola, FL 32502
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 12866Pensacola, FL 32591
phone: 850-595-5985 x100
fax: 850-595-5989
e-mail: wdavis4@uwf.edu
web: www.historicpensacola.org

Hours

All facilities operated by WFHPI
Tuesday - Saturday
10 AM - 4 PM
Sunday
12 PM - 4 PM
All facilities closed Sundays, Mondays and all State Holidays: New Years Day, MLK's Birthday, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Nov. 11th, Thanksgiving Day & Friday, Christmas Eve & Day. Administrative Offices and Historic Pensacola Village also closed Dec. 24 through Jan. 1.

Admissions

Historic Pensacola Village (ticket good for 1 visit to each museum/historic building over a period of 5 days): Adults $6.00, Seniors & active military with ID $5.00, Children (4-16) $3.00, (Under 4) Free, Members Free; T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum: Free; Arcadia Mill Historical Site: Free; Pensacola Historical Society Museum: Free; Pensacola Historical Society Resource Center: Members & Univ. of W. FL students Free, Other researchers $5.50 per day.

Staff

Rob Overton, Jr.
phone: 850-595-5985 x106
Ross Pristera
phone: 850-595-5985 x115
Amy Eve
phone: 850-595-5985 x101
e-mail: aeve@uwf.edu
Lori McDuffie
phone: 850-595-5840
Richard Rodriguez
phone: 850-595-5840
Jacki Wilson
phone: 850-595-5840
Brenda Turnage
phone: 850-595-5985 x100
Phillip Mayhair
phone:
Wendi C. Davis
phone:
Description

The UWF Historic Trust manages the University of West Florida's 8-acre downtown campus, Historic Pensacola. Historic Pensacola is a living laboratory providing University students the opportunity to live, work, and study in a National Register Historic District.

Mission

The University of West Florida Historic Trust is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and sharing the history of Northwest Florida.

History

Florida Statute created the Pensacola Historical Preservation and Restoration Commission in 1967. The State legislature defined the purpose and powers of the Board and assigned it a variety of tasks. These tasks included the acquisition, restoration, preservation, maintenance, reconstruction, reproduction, and operation of certain ancient or historic monuments, locations, remains, buildings, and other objects of historical interest to the city of Pensacola. The name was changed in 1970 to the Historic Pensacola Preservation Board (HPPB). As time passed, the organization became one of eight Preservation Boards under the supervision of the Florida Department of State, designed to foster preservation activities throughout Florida. By the 1990s, State priorities had changed, and preservation activities were supported mostly through a State-funded grant program, making most of the Preservation Boards obsolete. Meanwhile, thanks in large part to the 1983 acquisition of the T. T. Wentworth, Jr. Collection, the HPPB had evolved into a major museum complex, operating a series of theme museums and historic houses set for different time periods, known collectively as Historic Pensacola Village. The Wentworth Museum opened in the old Pensacola City Hall building in 1988. By the year 2000, the HPPB was the last remaining Preservation Board in the State of Florida, and there was a lot of political pressure to discontinue it also. In 2001, the Historic Pensacola Preservation Board became a Direct Support Organization of the University of West Florida, and changed its name to West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc. (WFHPI). In 2007, the University added the Arcadia Mill site in Milton to the properties under WFHPI's administrative control, and in 2009, the Pensacola Historical Society merged with WFHPI, more than doubling WFHPI's archival holdings, and greatly enlarging the artifact collections, too.

Artifact Collections

The current scope of WFHPI’s collection is very broad, covering nearly every type of historical material, including hundreds of paintings by local artists Emma Chandler and M. G. Runyan, lithographs, thousands of local photographs, broadsides, autographed letters & books, newspapers and periodicals, scrapbooks, political & governmental items & documents, civilian & military weapons, hardware, commercial packaging & equipment, farming equipment, personal & household items, collectables, furniture, costumes & textiles including an impressive collection of quilts, currency, coins, stamps & tokens, musical instruments, paleontological materials, large vehicles and rolling stock, industrial-business machines and equipment, military items, and sawmill machinery and equipment.

Governance

WFHPI has dual governance. At UWF, it is part of the President’s Office Division, with WFHPI’s Executive Director hired by and reporting directly to the UWF President. For its public museum functions, and to provide funding for operations not covered by university funding, WFHPI is also a not-for-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors, a volunteer group of history-minded individuals appointed by the UWF President.

Library
Access: General Public, Students, Scholars, Members
Appointment required: No
Publications

Magazine: "Pensacola and Northwest Florida History Illustrated"; Bi-monthly newsletter: "Pensacola History Today"; Monthly calendar.

Services
Gift Shop
Group Tours
ADA

The Wentworth Museum, the Pensacola Historical Society and Arcadia Mill are Wheelchair accessible. Some buildings in Historic Pensacola Village are not.

Wheelchair Accessible
Parking
Restrooms
Exhibitions
Museum Events
DISCLAIMER
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MUSEUM CONFERENCES

Museum Trustee Association Spring Forum 2024

April 10 - 14, 2024

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Texas Association of Museums 2024 Lubock Annual Conference

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2024 Colorado-Wyoming ANNUAL MEETING

May 1 - 4, 2024

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West Virginia Association of Museums 2024 Conference

June 6 - 8, 2024

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