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Transformative Transportation: The Early Twentieth-Century Railroad on the Southwest Florida Frontier

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Abstract

The Venice Train Depot is a case study for an archaeology of transportation, an examination of new places and more rapid travels over the modern period. The goal of this approach is to capture the dynamics of landscapes, agency, and movement. There have been productive discussions of transportation networks and national integration; methodological discussions have noted the need to account of the movement of things in the analysis of the material record. The case study exposes the dynamics of change for the Florida frontier in the twentieth century focused on the construction of a railroad line and station in Venice, Florida.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Lynda Carroll and Maria O’Donovan for inviting me to contribute to this volume, and for their comments. Susan Lynn White, as Sarasota County Archaeologist, co-directed the excavations at the Venice Train Depot; Erin Westfall, as a New College undergraduate, helped to organize the archaeological materials. The staff at the City of Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection, the Sarasota County History Center, and New College Cook Library helped with the archival research; Rollins Coakley provided a wealth of insights into the train depot. The many visitors to the archaeology’s open house made clear the significance of the depot to the heritage of Venice. The argument is the sole responsibility of the author.

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Correspondence to Uzi Baram.

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Baram, U. Transformative Transportation: The Early Twentieth-Century Railroad on the Southwest Florida Frontier. Int J Histor Archaeol 15, 236–253 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-011-0139-9

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