Kitschy, vintage Florida souvenirs often reflect the history and trends of early Florida tourism. Rarely tasteful, mostly whimsical and often just plain tacky, these souvenirs were popular gifts for children and as reminders to the folks back home of how much better life was in sunny Florida. Wish You Were Here is the first guest-curated exhibit at the Venice Archives, a new tradition we plan to implement each September. Our first guest curator is Nancy Eaton, a Nokomis resident whose partial collection of vintage Florida memorabilia is on display here through November 23.

The Venice Archives, part of the Venice city government, can be accessed here.

If you love historic Florida tourist stuff, you absolutely MUST take advantage of the wonderful e-postcards offered free by the gentlemen of SarasotaHistoryAlive.com.  They are especially fun to send “back North” as the weather up there deteriorates. (The postcards, not the gentlemen. We’re keeping Larry and Lee right here.)