Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Tomás Estrada Palma Collection
Date(s)
- 1880-1999 (Creation)
Extent
2 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Tomás Estrada Palma was born in Bayamo, Cuba on 9 July 1835. He studied law, and joined the rebel forces during the revolution of 1868-1878. After nine years of service, he was captured and imprisoned in Spain until the end of the insurrection. After his release, he went to Honduras, where he became postmaster of the republic. Later he moved to the United States and opened a school for Latin American students at Central Valley, New York. With a new revolt in Cuba in 1895, Estrada Palma was elected delegate-at-large and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba in arms and took charge of the well known council in the United States which purchased arms, organized filibustering expeditions and otherwise aided the army in the field. In 1901, he was elected president of the Cuban republic and was inaugurated on 20 May 1902. On 23 September 1905, he was again elected to the office of president but resigned 28 September 1906. Estrada Palma died on 4 November 1908 and is buried in Santiago de Cuba.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Tomás Estrada Palma Collection contains materials from a scrapbook donated by the great-grandson of TEP, Tomás Douglas Estrada Palma III. Items that were preserved in the scrapbook include photographs, letters, personal documents, and newspaper clippings. They document primarily the Tomás Andrés Estrada Palma II branch of the Estrada Palma family tree, including some materials related to his wife, Helen Douglas Browne, and her family.
Correspondence includes letters written by TEP, TEP II and other members of the Estrada Palma family. Clippings largely cover the 1906 resignation of TEP from the Cuban presidency and the consequent US military occupation, TEP's death in 1908, as well as events honoring TEP in the years after his death. Also amongst the clippings are articles relating to TEP II's marriage to Helen Douglas Browne in 1910. Other items include documents such as TEP II's report card, marriage certificate, and passport. There are also photographs of TEP, TEP II, and TEP III, as well as photos of other members of the family such as Genoveva Guardiola de Estrada Palma, Candelaria "Candita" Estrada Palma, and Helen (Douglas Browne) Estrada Palma. Of special interest is a photograph of the presidential convoy that traveled with TEP from Bayamo to Havana for his inauguration in 1902 and photographs of the Presidential Palace in Havana taken during TEP's presidency.
Included in this collection is the citizenship certificate of José Guimunde y Martínez, which was signed by TEP. This document was donated by Mirtha Alberto in August 2000 and added to the Tomás Estrada Palma Collection at that time.
System of arrangement
The Tomás Estrada Palma Collection is organized into four 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: Tomás Estrada Palma 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 Tomás Douglas Estrada Palma III, 1995
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/chc0460
Related archival materials
Cuban Heritage Collection Manuscript Collections:
CHC0347 Cuban Manuscripts Collection
Folder 16: Letter from TEP to Antonia Gavin in Buffalo, NY, 1904.
Folder 17: Copy of letter by TEP, Oct. 1906.
CHC0398 Cordovés and Bolaños Families Collection
Folder 5: Letter on Cuban Revolutionary Party letterhead from TEP to José María F. Aguirre, 9 July 1896.
Selected published materials in CHC and/or the University of Miami's Otto G. Richter Library:
Collazo, Enrique. Desde Yara hasta el Zanjon; apuntaciones historicas . Habana: Tip. de "La Lucha," 1893.
Corzo Pi, Daniel. Historia de Don Tomás Estrada Palma [microform], su juventud y estudios, revolucionario y delegado, presidente de Cuba, ultimos años de una vida laboriosa en la miseria, espistolario, documentos . Habana: Impr. de Diaz y Castro; Guantanamo: Medano y Ricardo, [193-?].
Cuba. Departamento de Estado. Documentos internacionales referentes al reconocimiento de la república de Cuba. Habana: La Moderna Poesía, 1904.
Estrada Palma, Tomás. Mensaje del presidente Tomas Estrada Palma al congreso de la República de Cuba al inaugurarse la 2 legislatura de 1904 . Habana: Imprenta, Papeleria y Encuadernacion de Rambla y Bouza, 1904. [Signed by Tomás Estrada Palma]
Iznaga, R. Tres años de república, folleto político, por R. Iznaga Tomás Estrada Palma El gobierno y la administración pública desde 1902 á 1905. El estado actual del pueblo cubano. Por la paz y por la república . Habana: Rambla y Bouza, 1905.
Martínez Ortíz, Rafael. Cuba: los primeros años de independencia . Paris: "Le Livre libre," 1929.
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
María R. Estorino and Pedro A. Figueredo, 30 May 2001. Encoded by Pedro A. Figueredo and Jeff Barry, August 2001. Retrospectively converted from HTML to EAD XML September, 2008 by Lyn MacCorkle and Kyle Rimkus based on a crosswalk by María Estorino. Revisions to the collection-level record made by Beata Bergen, June 2009. Container list added from Legacy PDF container list, February 2014. Updated by Rebeca Gonzalez, May 2021.
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Estrada Palma, Tomás Andrés, 1884-1960 (Subject)
- Estrada Palma, Tomás Douglas, 1911-1999 (Subject)
- Estrada Palma, Tomás, 1835-1908 (Subject)
- Estrada Palma, Tomás, 1835-1908 -- Correspondence (Subject)
- Estrada Palma family (Subject)