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City of Tampa honors Frances Henriques, first woman and first Hispanic city clerk
Summary
At an Archives Awareness Week event, the City of Tampa played an oral-history recording and staff speakers commemorated Frances Henriques, who served as city clerk from 1973 to 1993 and established Tampa's municipal archives and records program.
The City of Tampa honored Frances Henriques, the first woman and the first Hispanic elected as Tampa city clerk, during an Archives Awareness Week program where staff played excerpts from an oral-history recording and described her contributions to local records preservation.
Henriques, who the program said died March 19 (year not specified) at age 94, worked for the city beginning in 1954, became deputy city clerk in 1962 and served as city clerk from November 1973 to September 1993. The city said she initiated a records-management program, led an effort to microfilm older municipal records and helped create the municipal archive — the city said Tampa became the first city in Florida to establish a municipal archive during her tenure.
City Clerk (unnamed) introduced the oral-history excerpt and described Henriques as someone who “left behind a remarkable legacy” for the city clerk’s office and the archives. The program included a recorded interview with Henriques in which she recalled early life in Tampa and public service: “It was a very simple life,” Henriques said in the recording.
The city noted institutional recognitions: the Archives and Records Services Building was dedicated in Henriques’ honor in 1993, and she received the Josephine Howard Stafford Award in 2014. Program remarks credited her with expanding records preservation, conducting interviews of elected officials for the city television service, and prioritizing microfilming of older records.
Speakers at the event urged attendees to increase awareness of municipal archives and historic preservation, and to attend other Archives Awareness Week programs listed in the event brochure.
The program presented biographical details from Henriques’ oral history — including her start in a city clerical position in 1954, promotion to deputy city clerk in 1962 (a position she held for 11 years), appointment as acting city clerk following William Stark’s resignation in 1973, and her elected service through 1993 — and emphasized her role in professionalizing the clerk’s office and conserving Tampa’s documentary history.
