Knight Collection doubles in size

The Tampa Bay History Center is delighted to announce a major expansion of the Charles L. Knight Collection, one of the most significant collections of Seminole artifacts outside of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. The Knight family has generously donated more than 250 additional objects to the collection, including patchwork clothing, dolls, everyday tools, and art. Decades in the making, Charles Knight began buying objects from his Seminole friends and neighbors in the 1940s when he was still a teenager.

Charles L. Knight was a real estate property appraiser by trade, and he played an important role in the acquisition of nine acres of land off Interstate 4 that became the Tampa Seminole Reservation. After the acquisition, Seminole Chief James E. Billie asked a tribal matriarch, Ruby Tiger Osceola, to relocate to the new reservation with her 17 family members. Knight spent a lot of time on the reservations, and he collected Seminole patchwork designs, carefully labeling them with the pattern name and the seamstress who created them. Many of these women had the last name Osceola. When the Seminole built the wildly successful Hardrock Hotel & Casino on the Tampa Reservation, most of the Seminole families relocated to Lakeland.

Knight was a trained anthropologist and a longtime friend of many Seminole people, including Frank Shore and his wife Lottie, the great-granddaughter of Polly Parker. The two men were close and went on camping trips together with their sons, sharing stories around the campfire. Knight even gave cows as a gift to honor Shore.

Knight and some of the tribal elders with whom he had decades-long friendships shared a passion for preserving and passing on Seminole traditions and culture. Knight had an insatiable desire to learn about Native Americans and Seminoles in particular. He amassed a considerable collection of ethnographic and anthropological works during his lifetime. The Knight Family has recently donated Charles L. Knight’s personal library to the University of South Florida. The extensive collection will be housed at their Tampa and St. Petersburg libraries. These sister collections of the Tampa Bay History Center and the University of South Florida will benefit generations of scholars, historians, and Floridians.

The Knight Collection includes patchwork clothing, weapons, cooking utensils, carvings, and artwork. The Tampa Bay History Center is working in consultation with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, and would like to thank them for their continued support. The Seminole presence in the Tampa Bay area predates the founding of Fort Brooke and the city, and they are a fundamental part of our shared history. Come visit the Knight Gallery to learn more about Seminole history.