From Minorca to Florida

Project Description

From Minorca to Florida: A Digital Archive of Diaspora and Memory in St. Augustine is a digital humanities initiative in its very early stages focused on recovering and making accessible the archival documentation surrounding the eighteenth-century migration of Mediterranean settlers brought to Florida by Andrew Turnbull. This project turns attention to the documentary record of the journey itself, from the organization of the Mediterranean expedition, through the harsh years of labor in New Smyrna, to the settlers’ flight and petition for refuge in St. Augustine in 1777. The materials will include petitions, correspondence, administrative records, ecclesiastical documents, and legal texts dispersed across various archives.

How the Project Began

In 2018, I watched a documentary titled Els menorquins de la Florida and was immediately captivated by the story of the 1,000 Minorcans who left the island in 1768. Being a Minorcan myself—and now a Florida “expatriate,” I felt an instant connection to this history.

In April 2022, during a Digital Humanities conference in St. Augustine, I became aware of the continuing presence of Minorcan descendants in the region. There, I met Professor Darien Andreu, who so generously shared her research, her personal ties to Minorca, and valuable materials. On that same visit, I met the Digital Collections Librarian at the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library, Nicole Diehm, who provided me with a comprehensive PDF catalog of all items related to the Minorcans (available here).

Since then, this project has lived in the background, among other scholarly commitments, administrative responsibilities, and the demands of daily life. Yet, the idea never left me. I now see From Minorca to Florida as both a scholarly initiative and a bridge between institutions in Florida and the University of Miami, creating an opportunity for collaboration and student engagement with the Florida’s cultural heritage through the approaches of the digital humanities.

The Minorcan Journey to Florida

In 1768, more than 1,400 settlers from across the Mediterranean—including Greeks, Italians, Corsicans, and a large group from Minorca—were recruited by Scottish entrepreneur Andrew Turnbull to establish an agricultural colony in New Smyrna, Florida. Promised land and prosperity, they instead faced years of disease, forced labor, and harsh treatment.

By 1777, the colony collapsed. The surviving settlers walked nearly 70 miles north to St. Augustine, where they petitioned the British governor, Patrick Tonyn, for refuge. There, they established a new life and became a vital part of Florida’s multicultural fabric.

Today, many Floridians trace their roots to these early Minorcan settlers. Their legacy endures in the city’s culture, cuisine, and Catholic traditions—and now, in this digital archive.

How the Project is Build

This site is generated using CollectionBuilder-GH, a digital platform designed to create simple, sustainable, and open-access digital collections. It uses a minimal set of components:

• A CSV file containing structured metadata about each item in the collection.
• A folder of JPG images, PDFs, or other media files
• Static web hosting via GitHub Pages, which requires no server infrastructure.

At this early stage, the digital archive includes only basically the list of items related to the Minorcans provided by the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library. As the project advances, it will gradually incorporate references, digitized documents, transcriptions, and expanded metadata from additional archival sources, such as the Diocesan Archive and other repositories in Florida and Minorca.

This approach is grounded in the principles of minimal computing, which emphasize accessibility, transparency, and longevity. Rather than relying on complex databases or proprietary software, the project uses plain-text, human-readable formats that can be easily versioned, shared, and preserved. This gives us the peace of mind that our project remains usable across time, platforms, and institutions.

Minimal computing also makes the project more inclusive and collaborative. Its low technical barriers make it an ideal framework for student involvement, hopefully allowing undergraduate and graduate researchers to engage with metadata creation, document encoding, and digital storytelling. As the project grows, I hope it will serve as both a research tool and a pedagogical environment, inviting new voices to participate in the recovery and interpretation of Florida’s colonial documentary history.

Credits

Susanna Allés-Torrent, Associate Professor, University of Miami

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