SETH BRAMSON

By Seth Bramson, August 30, 2024 

Seth Bramson

He likes to refer to himself as “just an ol’ South Florida hillbilly,” but in truth and fact, Seth Bramson is a great deal more than that!

Besides being Adjunct Professor of History at three South Florida universities, Seth Bramson is America’s senior collector of Florida East Coast Railway, Florida transportation memorabilia, Miami memorabilia and Floridiana, he having begun collecting, as he likes to refer to it as “all this junque,” in May of 1958, when he walked into the F E C Railway’s city ticket office in the Ingraham Building in downtown Miami and asked for timetables. 

His collection of F E C Railway and Florida transportation memorabilia is the largest in the world: it is larger than the state museum’s collection and larger than the Flagler Museum’s collection, but, and in addition, his collection of Miami memorabilia and Floridiana is the largest in private hands in the country, and, at that, larger than many of the smaller, local libraries, archives and museums. 

Among the superlatives, the largest collection of black Miami memorabilia in white hands in the country; the largest collection of restricted clientele memorabilia in public or private hands in America (if you are unsure of that term, feel free, as he says, to ask him); the largest collection of historic Florida postcards in the country, now numbering 46 at least shoebox-sized boxes of same; the largest collection of Florida hospitality industry memorabilia (restaurants, clubs, hotels) in public or private hands in America. And those are just for starters! 

Several years ago he made the largest single purchase of historic Florida memorabilia ever made by a private individual in the state’s history when he purchased the William, George and Lansing Gleason (no relation to Jackie) collection, not of thousands of documents but of tens of thousands—the huge bulk related to Florida—going back to the late 1870s. 

In addition to all that he is America’s single most-published Florida history book author, now working on numbers 34—38, none self-published, and, yes, there is more! 

Seth is “Number One in a field on One,” the only person in the country who bears the official title of Company Historian with an American railroad, and his book, SPEEDWAY TO SUNSHINE: The Story of the Florida East Coast Railway is that fabled company’s official history.

(His books can easily be found on amazon.com: don’t click on “Books” and don’t click on “Authors,” just put his name—Seth Bramson—on the home page search line, hit “Enter” and watch what comes up.) 

He gives 15 different talks on South Florida local and Florida transportation history, seven of which are what he refers to as his “adult show and tell” talks to which he brings the related memorabilia.

He is the only person in the country who gives the talks titled “The History of Discrimination in South Florida,” which is half Jim Crow and segregation and half restricted clientele and “Debunking the South Florida Myths,” in which he, as the title of the talk states, takes apart and dismantles so many of the total falsehoods, fol-de-rol, fairy tales  and absolute fables spewed by certain other so-called “historians” (which they are not, but they are story tellers).

The most shameful of all is “Oh, Julia Tuttle sent Mr. Flagler some orange blossoms, so he extended the railroad to Biscayne Bay!” Really? How did she send them? By Fed Ex? By Postal Service Overnight?

No, neither, it never happened and she never sent them and in this talk Professor Bramson explains the facts and truth about how and why the great Henry Flagler decided to extend the railroad to what, on July 26, 1896, would become the City of Miami. 

Seth is very approachable and if you want to get in touch with him, please do so by emailing him at sbramson@bellsouth.net.