Internal Improvement Fund

This collection consists of digitized versions of the recorded proceedings of the Board of Trustees of Florida’s Internal Improvement Fund (IIF). This state government publication represents over a century of history chronicling development in Florida. The volumes in this collection span from Volume 1, 1855 to Volume 39, 1974. They have been digitally reproduced and made full-text searchable to provide a rich and detailed source of Florida history for scholars, students, and the interested citizen.

The Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, as an agency of Florida Government, was created in 1855 to oversee the management, sale and development of public lands granted to the State through various Congressional acts. Among the internal improvements arranged through this agency were construction of canals, railroads and land drainage and reclamation. The Trustees also had say in the governing and sale of Seminary Lands, School Lands and other lands granted for specific purposes.

The Minutes of the Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund series provides detailed records of the Board’s deliberations, communications and transactions. Reflected in these minutes are details of such wide-ranging developments as the Hamilton Disston land purchase to negotiations with the Florida East Coast Railway. A detailed keyword index at the back of each volume provides a valuable guide to the contents.

Today the Internal Improvement Fund is a component of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, currently under the joint management of the Governor and the Cabinet. Through the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, the Department of Environmental Protection oversees all state owned lands. The Department also manages one of the most extensive environmental land purchasing programs in the United States.