Julia Cousins Laning and Dale Laning Archives & Research Center

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Archives and Research Center

Open Monday through Friday by Appointment

224 Milan Avenue West                                                                                                                                Venice, FL  34285                                                                                                                                            (941) 882-7229

Archives & Research Center 

Dairy Queen

The Julia Cousins Laning and Dale Laning Archives & Research Center is devoted to the organization, preservation, and storage of the city of Venice’s historical collection.

The city of Venice has a long and interesting history worth preserving and sharing with future generations. The collection consists of records, books, photographs, objects, architectural drawings, maps, newspapers and many other materials relating to Venice and its neighboring communities. Some highlights include:

Venice News

 

  • Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus memorabilia 
  •  Venice News & Venice Gondolier newspapers
  •  Kentucky Military Institute materials
  • Venice Army Air Base history
  • Photographs of the Venice Area from the pioneer era to present
  • Tax records from 1927-1967
  • School yearbooks from KMI, Venice High, Middle, and Elementary

 

Circus Program   Soldiers at Air Base

Accessing the Collection

Access to the materials is available at no charge to all in the Archives & Research Center’s reading room. Due to limited space and required staff assistance, the reading room is open to the public by appointment only. Because of the rarity, source, condition, and/or format of materials, the historical collections are non-circulating.

The digital portion of the collection is always accessible:

The online collections database of our collection.

Kentucky Military Institute yearbooks can be found on flickr

For appointments, image requests, or research inquiries:

 

Donations

To donate items to the historical collection, please contact Jon Watson, Curator & Collections Manager at 941-882-7229 or jwatson@venicefl.gov.

 

 Who were Julia Cousins Laning and Dale Laning?

julia and dale

Julia Cousins Laning was born in 1921 in Norton, Virginia.  Her family moved to Florida in 1926 to find work in the booming land and housing industry and eventually settled outside of Venice (now currently within the city limits) a year later.  Her family would eventually move into the Triangle Inn (currently the Venice Museum) where her mother worked.  Mrs. Cousins Laning attended Florida Southern College where she took classes in English, Science, and Art.  Soon after graduating, she moved to New York landing a job as an illustrator for Reader’s Digest.  Mrs. Cousins Laning retired from her work and moved back to her hometown of Venice in 1970.

Dale Laning was born in St. Louis, Michigan in 1915.  He was an accountant and veteran of General MacArthur’s headquarters in the Pacific during World War II.  After 33 years of service and years of successful investing, he retired with his first wife to Venice in 1982 where she eventually passed away.  Dale and Julia met in their 60s and were soon married.

Mr. Laning passed away in 2008.  After his death, Mrs. Cousins Laning added philanthropy to her volunteer work supporting and assisting many historical and cultural organizations in the community.  Mrs. Cousins Laning was a long-time volunteer with the Venice Museum and Archives while also supporting the museum with the Triangle Inn’s facility needs. Her philanthropy made possible a new facility to collect all of Venice’s historical records in one place.  She passed away in 2022.