Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Herman Beller Photograph Collection
Date(s)
- circa 1925-1950 (Creation)
Extent
2 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Herman L. Beller (1899-1972) was born in Komonitz Padosky Gobernia, Russia and moved to the United States as an young child. Shortly after his marriage to Jennie Engler, the young couple moved to Cuba for work. Beller began his career in Cuba working on machinery in sugar mills, where he manufactured dies to cast replacement parts for machinery. Deciding to move into the art world, Beller began producing bronze works for the City of Havana and for other commissions with his company, Industrias Unidas de Cuba.
Beller was actively involved in the Cuban-Jewish community and joined the efforts to help German and Austrian refugees seek safety in Cuba during WWII. After the war, Beller returned to New York and continued his work in the metal foundry business. He settled in Florida in the 1950s with his family and died there at age 73 in 1972.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Herman Beller Photograph Collection contains photograph of metal works done by Herman Beller's (1899-1972) Havana, Cuba-based company, Industrias Unidas de Cuba. The photographs detail works in parks, schools, and public areas and buildings all installed during the 1920s to 1950s. Several small examples of metal pieces cast by Beller are also included in the collection.
System of arrangement
Photographs are in Box 1 and the metal pieces are in Box 2.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
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: Herman Beller Photograph Collection, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Languages of the material
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Name changed from Herman Beller Collection to Herman Beller Photograph Collection in July 2013.
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Natalie B. Lyons, 1994.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Selected materials from this collection have been digitized.
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/chc0400
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
Other Information:
Rights Statement:
The text of this webpage is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Processed by Natalie Baur and Martha Gónzalez, May 2013. Revised by Natalie Baur, July 2013. Updated by Rebeca Gonzalez, May 2021.