Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Ross Beiler papers
Date(s)
- 1958-1979 (Creation)
Extent
7.00 linear feet (14 document cases)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Professor Ross Beiler graduated from Allegheny College in 1937, and completed graduate study at the State University of Iowa in 1950. He taught at Wesleyan University, the University of Vermont, Lawrence College, and joined the University of Miami
government department in 1945. Beiler also acted as consultant to radio station WCKT, providing election predictions and analyses of returns, and also served as a panelist for the Florida Forum.
Beiler's research interests included relations between social aggregates and government in southeast Florida as well as the role of media in politics. Beiler published "Links to Government in
Greater Miami: The Experience of Three Ethnic Aggregates," a study conducted through the university of Miami Urban Studies Center. Beiler also wrote "The Use of Local Facilities in Political Science
Research" published in The Polls and Public Opinions, and several of Beiler's articles appear in journals and other publications.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Ross Beiler papers include published studies and research files on politics in south Florida, 1958-68. The papers, which include polls, articles and papers, newspaper clippings, political advertisements, correspondence, course outlines, and other materials, consist of five series.
System of arrangement
SERIES I: URBAN COUNTY GOVERNMENT FILES contains University of Miami studies and research files. Polls, questionnaires, notes, and a published report pertain to a 1968 federally funded study of ethnic groups in south Florida and their interaction with local government. Beiler collected data from 6 persons in 110 white, 43 black and 43 Latin neighborhoods and reported to the Florida State Planning Agency and Budget Commission in 1969.
The University of Miami Urban Studies Center conducted a second study appearing in SERIES I. The 1958 interdisciplinary study on the "The Creation of Metropolitan Government in Greater Miami" explores the forces affecting the demand for metropolitan government in Miami, centralizing and decentralizing forces affecting its implementation, and the impact of metro decisions and administration on the economy and on socio-political relations. The papers include project outlines and proposals, questionnaires, results and analysis of polls, newspaper clippings, notes and reports.
Files in this series also relate to a 1968 study on urban unrest conducted by the University of Miami and eight other universities, supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Memos and correspondence, a project proposal and drafts of Beiler's report on the seminar detail the study of "Psychosocial Dynamics in Miami."
The Dade County Data Sources Project, completed by University of Miami graduate students in the government department, provides a guide and evaluation of research facilities in Greater Miami. Materials relating to a 1965 University "Self Study" include a faculty questionnaire, tables of responses, and a final summary, as well as a student questionnaire and code key.
Research files in SERIES I include bibliographies, papers, articles, and newspaper clippings dealing with general political and social issues such as African American sociology, urban politics, Mass Society, violence and other topics. Files also concern local government including current Metro (Metropolitan Dade County government) administration and general attitudes towards metropolitan government, Miami city government, Miami Beach, local organizations, community leaders, and water and land management.
SERIES II: WRITINGS includes several of Beiler's articles on politics, media, and metropolitan government in greater Miami.
SERIES III: FILM REELS includes speeches recorded from Democratic and Republican party national conventions for the years 1956, 1960, 1968 and 1972.
Course outlines, articles and other materials from government courses appear in SERIES IV: TEACHING MATERIALS.
SERIES V: CORRESPONDENCE relates to the Better Government Association, headed by University of Miami professor Thomas Wood.
Correspondence also pertains to the Ford Foundation funding for University of Miami urban studies, well as to research on Metro government, publishing and the University of Miami government department.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
Physical access
This collection is kept in an off-campus storage facility. Please contact Special Collections at asc.library@miami.edu with the boxes you are interested in prior to your visit, and allow up to 1 week for delivery of materials.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Ross Beiler Papers Finding Aid© 1994 University of Miami. All rights reserved. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
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Notes element
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Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Beiler, Ross (Subject)