Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Thomas J. Wood papers
Date(s)
- 1943-1966 (Creation)
- 1953-1965 (Creation)
Extent
18.00 linear feet (36 document cases)
Name of creator
Biographical history
Professor Thomas J. Wood graduated from Williams college in 1932 and completed graduate study at Harvard University in 1947. In the same year, Wood joined the University of Miami faculty as a professor of government. As a member of the Government Department, Wood participated in the University of Miami "Impact Study" of local governments in Greater Miami which the University of Miami conducted for the Miami Metropolitan Municipal (3M) Board. The Board, founded in 1953, drafted legislation for the reorganization and consolidation of local county and city governments.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Thomas J. Wood was professor of government at the University of Miami. The Wood Papers document the move to consolidate the city of Miami and Dade county governments. Legislation introduced in 1945 represented the first effort to combine local governments and alleviate conflicts and confusion resulting from overlapping city and county functions. The various municipalities, however, opposed the bill. Although a similar effort was made in 1947, no change occurred until 1953 when the Metropolitan Miami Municipal Board organized to draft a new plan for municipal and county government in Dade County. As the Board's initial step, it hired the University of Miami Government Department to supervise a survey of Greater Miami governments. The university contracted a firm of professional government consultants, the Public Administration Service of Chicago, to begin research. Members of the Government Department reviewed the findings and reported to the 3M board. A special Charter Board of the 3M board drafted a charter and legislation to reorganize local government and initiated a campaign to promote metro government.
The Wood papers include political advertisements, correspondence, minutes of meetings, clippings, transcripts of radio broadcasts, survey forms and government reports.
System of arrangement
The Thomas Wood Papers contain, in SERIES I, Miami local government papers including political advertisements, correspondence, minutes of meetings of the Board of County Commissioners, Board of Public Instruction and of organizations such as the Metropolitan Miami Municipal Board, the Dade County Research Foundation and others. Newspaper clippings, transcripts of radio broadcasts and other documents, survey forms and reports on the governments of greater Miami also comprise a portion of the papers.
The files contain correspondence, memos, financial and membership records of the Dade County Research Foundation, the 3M Board and other organizations, as well as forms and reports of data on cities including statistics on housing costs, and on local governments including information on services and expenditures. Drafts of bills, budgets, statements to the 3M board, propaganda, records of supporters and opponents of metro government and a record of metro government activities 1956-58 also appear in SERIES I.
SERIES II contains newspaper clippings from major and neighborhood newspapers and provides a chronological record of Miami local government and its development through the period 1953-65.
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
Thomas J. Wood Papers Finding Aid © 1994 University of Miami. 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