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The University of Miami Friends of the Library (known later as the University of Miami  Friends of the Libraries) is a library support organization founded in 1960 by a group of University of Miami faculty, alumni, and community leaders. The first president was the renowned Everglades preservationist and author Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The Friends play a vital role in supporting programs, securing gifts, and funding projects for the Libraries and are instrumental in ensuring the University of Miami remains one of the foremost research institutions in the world.

Evelyn Frink, wife of former Miami Beach mayor Herbert A. Frink, was a member of the Miami Beach Woman’s Club and the Miami Beach Tropical Garden Club. Inspired by a Garden Club exhibit at a state convention, Mrs. Frink and the presidents of the four garden clubs, Tropical, Miami Beach, Palm-Hibiscus and Mt. Sinai, led a successful campaign for the construction of the Miami Beach Garden Center and Conservatory.

Time line:

1958: Formation of the Garden Center Committee, under the chairmanship of Evelyn Frink of the Tropical Garden club with representatives from the other garden clubs.

1959: Voters approve the $150,000 bond issue for the construction of the Miami Beach Garden Center and Conservatory that will occupy 6 acres of land north and west of the Miami Beach Convention Hall.

1960: Mrs. (Evelyn) Herbert Frink and The Garden Center-Conservatory Committee are awarded the “Miami News Community Service Award”.

1961: The City Council and the Garden Center Committee approve the plans for the construction of the Miami Beach Garden Center and Conservatory.

1962: Mrs. (Evelyn) Herbert Frink is awarded lifetime membership to the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.

1962: Opening of the Miami Beach Garden Center and Conservatory at 1900 Garden Center Drive.

1963: As early as January, the Center features a number of events open to the public: classes in flower arrangement and holiday decorations, nature documentaries with “color and sound” as well as guest speakers from the National Audubon Society.