Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
César A. Mena Collection
Date(s)
- 1914-1991 (Creation)
Extent
3 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
César A. Mena Serra was born in Güines, province of La Habana, Cuba, in 1914. He graduated from the University of Havana with degrees in medicine and dentistry. Dr. Mena was a professor of pharmacology and physiology, of the School of Dentistry at the University of Havana until 1959. When Castro seized power in Cuba, Dr. Mena left to Miami as an exile.
Dr. Mena was a founding member of the Cuban Society of the Medical History, member of the American Society of Medicine, the Society of Medical History in Venezuela, and member of the American Academy of the History of Dentistry. He served for four terms as secretary of Retiro Odontológico in Exile. Dr. Mena was the executive director of dental services for Miami-Dade County’s health department until his retirement in 1991.
Dr. Mena has published articles in many scientific journals of Latin America and the United States. He is the author of several books: Historia de los dentistas que lucharon en las Guerras de la Independencia (History of the dentists who fought in Cuban Independence Wars); Historia de la odontología en Cuba, 1492 1980 (History of Dentistry in Cuba 1492 1980); Historia de la medicina en Cuba (History of the Medicine in Cuba; and Santa Apolonia: Patrona dental (Saint Apolonia: Dental Patron).
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The César A. Mena Collection contains the documentation and research notes used by Dr. César A. Mena Serra to write his work Historia de la medicina en Cuba (History of Medicine in Cuba), which was published in two volumes by Ediciones Universal in Miami, Florida. The first volume, Hospitales y centros benéficos en Cuba colonial (Hospitals and charity centers in colonial Cuba), was published in 1992, and the second volume, Ejercicios y enseñanzas de las ciencias médicas en la época colonial (Exercises and teachings of the medical sciences in colonial Cuba), was published in 1993. Dr. Armando F. Cobelo was co-author of these works.
This collection also contains the galley proofs and illustrations of volumes one and two; the original manuscript of volume two; and an invitation to the presentation of the volume one in March 1992.
System of arrangement
The César A. Mena Collection is organized into two series.
Please see the Finding Aid/Inventory section of this guide for more detailed information.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is unrestricted.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Requests to publish or display materials from this collection require written permission from the rights owner. Please, contact chc@miami.edu for more information.
Preferred citation: César A. Mena Collection, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Languages of the material
- Spanish
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of César Mena, 1993.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Mena Serra, César A. (Subject)