Research material from noted author and historian, Arva Moore Parks McCabe (1939-2020). Born in Miami, Florida, Arva had written countless books on Florida's eclectic history, including The Forgotten Frontier: Florida through the Lens of Ralph Middleton Munroe, Miami, the Magic City, and George Merrick, Son of the South Wind: Visionary Creator of Coral Gables. She also served as chief curator, interim director, and chair of the Coral Gables Museum.

This collection focuses heavily on George E. Merrick, Coral Gables, and other research topics used in her writings. It also features a large assortment of archival material: booklets, books, magazines, posters, photographs, negatives, pamphlets, postcards, maps, ephemera, newspapers, and guides about Miami and other notable cities and famous people related to South Florida.

The collection consists of the CDs donated by various donors.  The topics on the CDs include Martí, poems by Lourdes Simón, Cuban music, afro-Cuban music recorded by Lydia Cabrera and Josefina Tarafa, the Legacy of Lydia Cabrera exhibit, 16 issues of Revista Hispano Cubana published in Madrid, performances of Bodas de Sangre and Fresa y Chocolate, photos of Havana and Vinales Cienfuegos, 169 photographs of Cuba from 2000-2006 taken by L. Edward Tillett, III, four books by Waldo Leyva, copies of one book and several periodicals from the Batista government, including: "El libro de la victoria, 1933-1935; Circulo Militar y Naval: Revista, 1956-1958; Anuario Sin estribos, 1935/1936, 1942; Memorias and Escuela de Cadetes, 1937-1954.

The Coconut Grove Playhouse records contain playbills, promotional/marketing material, posters, press releases, news clippings, financial files, grant files, personnel files, show and production files, play scripts, and audio-visual materials (photographs, CDs, vinyl records, floppy disks, VHS, film reels, betacam tapes, audiocassette tapes) pertaining to the theater's operation from the 1970s to its closing in 2006.

The records contain legal cases, research files, correspondence, audio-visual materials (VHS, CD-ROM, audiocassettes, microcassettes), and trial notes from the Miami Community Justice Project. Topics covered include development for low income housing, gentrification, public housing, and privately run detention centers. In particular, the materials discuss the Scott Homes/Hope VI housing revitalization plan and the Reese v. Miami-Dade County court case; the Sawyer's Walk (Overtown) and Crosswinds (Overtown) redevelopment projects; the Manuel et al. v. city of Lake Worth court case; and the Miami Workers Centers Transit HUB. Other organizations mentioned in the files include Power U Center for Social Change and Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC).

The records document the treatment of political prisoners by the communist regime within Cuban prisons.  The materials consist of 3 CDs: "Presidio Isla de Pinos." (Compiled by Raúl Pérez-Coloma) on February 10, 2010; "La Montaña. Canciones de lucha y esperanzas," by political prisoner, Manuel Villanueva.  Graphic design by Alejandro Deoliveira. Miami 2007; "La Verdadera República de Cuba" by Dr. Andrés Cao Mendiguren, 2009.  The first CD  contains names of more than 10,000 Cuban political  prisoners, case numbers and the place where they were imprisoned. The materials also include manuscripts of letters written in Cuban political prisons in small letter, typescript of "La etica en el camino de revolucion," and post cards created by political prisoners in prison.

This album contains 126 color photographs and 2 CDs that captured the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma on the Coral Gables campus in 2005. The pictures were taken by the University of Miami Department of Risk Management on October 23 and 24, 2005 and donated to the University Archives in 2008.

Joseph L. Herndon (1948-2021) was a historical preservationist who aided in several global restoration projects, including the Old Spanish Fort (1730) in Pascagoula, Mississippi; Qasr Ibrihim (1600's) in Hoffuf, Saudi Arabia; the Old Post Office (1897) in Washington, D.C.; The Rugby Colony (1880's) in Rugby, Tennessee; Union Station (1900) in Nashville, Tennessee; The Germantown neighborhood revitalization (1840's) in Nashville, Tennessee; The Biltmore Hotel (1926) in Miami, Florida. His papers include a large breadth of information and research pertaining to the Biltmore Hotel, the Panama Canal, Turkey, the Deering Estate, resorts, and other areas of interest to Joseph Herndon. Material types represented within include audio-visual materials (CD-ROMS, VHS, photographs, slides), print-outs, administrative files, financial files, travel brochures, ephemera, architectural plans, interior design samples, research files, reports, proposals, periodicals, and 3D objects.

The collection contains audio recordings on 45 CDs, created from original recordings by Reinaldo Arenas and Roberto Valero. The recordings include dictations of Arenas' memoir Antes que anochezca (19 CDs), interviews between Valero and Arenas conducted in 1986 (10 CDs) and 1988 (13 CDs), Arenas' reading from his works (1982), and a joint lecture by Arenas and the poet Heberto Padilla titled "The Cuban Intellectual Today" (1980).