In order to view the priceless paraphernalia housed inside the vault below, a bearded and bespectacled man needs to insert a special key into an elevator panel. Somewhere in the building it's recorded that a "Carl Van Ness" used the key at 1:26 P.M.

The vault's temperature has to be maintained at a cool 69°F in order to protect the delicate documents from deteriorating over the years. He leads me past rows of cases monitored by video surveillance and takes out a box containing what he says to be the archive's most interesting item. He slowly and carefully lifts up the lid of the box to reveal… a biscuit.

The security may be more befitting of the Pentagon rather than the collection at the Smathers Library overseen by UF archivist Carl Van Ness. His eyes light up when he shows me the biscuit from the UF mess hall sent to someone in Georgia, dating back to 1913. Among the other artifacts in the archive are the infamous Rat Caps that freshmen were subjected to wear. The heightened interest in the university's archives from alumni and publications can be attributed to UF's 150th Anniversary.

"Nobody knows [the UF archivist] even exists until some sesquicentennial, and then all of a sudden I'm Mr. Popular," jokes Carl, who has held the title since 1997. "But this is a good time for me. It's my time to go out there and impress people with my knowledge."

-- by Nate Millado