This collection contains 26 bound and paginated 16th-century manuscripts describing contemporary conditions and military operations in the Canary Islands. It consists of a series of letters (15 items) and an assortment of other official documents (11 items). Twelve letters bear the imprimatur of King Philip II of Spain.

Primarily, the collection documents the administration of Lázaro Moreno de León, who served as governor of the islands of Tenerife and La Palma for two years (1582-1584). The last two items in the collection mark the end of Moreno de León's tenure and reference his successor, Juan Núñez de la Fuente, who served until 1589. Moreno de León appears in 18 of the items in the collection, either as subject or recipient (in the case of correspondence). However, the collection includes only one item bearing his signature: Item 18, authored by Diego de Ayala y Rojas, conde de la Gomera, and signed by Moreno de León as a witness.

During Moreno de León's tenure, an epidemic broke out on the island of Tenerife, causing considerable loss of life (documented at length in Item 22). The collection also reflects historical events following Spain's conquest of Portugal. During the dynastic crisis that followed the death of Portugal's King Sebastian in 1578, the throne was claimed by António, Prior of Crato, who was defeated by Philip II in 1580. By 1582, António had relocated to the Azores, where he attempted to establish a government in exile with the support of France. Item 3 provides a set of instructions for a dispatch boat that was sent to the Canary Islands that same year, after word of a possible attack by António. In early 1583, ships loyal to António did attempt an attack on the island of Gomera, but were repelled by local forces under the command of Ayala y Rojas and Moreno de León (documented in Items 18 and 19).

Henry Reich, Jr. was a poet and author, member of the American Literary League, a previous New York secretary of the Rebel Poets, and a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines. The collection predominantly consists of Reich's correspondence, and his poetry and articles. The form of these poems and articles range include manuscripts, typescripts, clippings, scrapbook compilations, and periodicals and books in which Reich's poetry appeared. Notably, four issues of The Jewish Forum from 1927 in which Reich was published are included.

Also included are several photographs of Reich.

Manuscripts, typescripts, galley proofs, research files, books, and correspondence related to the literary career of Les Standiford.

A lengthy and informative letter from S.P. Anderson to United States Navy Captain David Conner, congratulating him on the birth of his son and offering insight on the prospects of finding a winter home in Florida. After some hearty and cheerful words of encouragement and advice to the new parents, Anderson offers a verbal tour of the homes around St. Augustine that might be for sale.

Anderson goes on to provide similar descriptions of several other homes, noting that "Houses are very much in demand" around St. Augustine. The demand for housing in Florida is perhaps surprising given the ongoing Second Seminole War – which at this early point had been progressing rather poorly for the United States military. Anderson alludes to the war briefly at the close of his letter, when he notes that he will "send the latest Herald, for I am always afraid to say anything about the war, one report contradicting another so quickly." The latter part of Anderson's letter discusses the election of Charles Dowling as Florida representative "by a very large majority," which meets with Anderson's approval as he considers Dowling "the only man in this territory worthy of succeeding [Joseph] White....He is employed in almost all the claims for losses in 1812-13 as well as those of the Indian war." Anderson himself appealed for losses sustained in 1812, and expresses a cautious optimism for their redress.

The recipient of this letter, David Conner, was a noteworthy figure in the United States Navy in the early 19th century. During the War of 1812 he served on the HORNET and saw considerable action, eventually suffering grave wounds and capture as a prisoner of war. He returned to service after a prisoner exchange, and in the years between the war and this letter was steadily promoted until becoming a Captain. He is most well known for commanding the Home Squadron during the Mexican-American War, which included the unprecedented landing of 10,000 soldiers during the siege of Veracruz. His wife, whom Anderson affectionately refers to as "Mrs. C," was the daughter of Dr. Philip Syng Physick, known as the "Father of American Surgery." Appropriately enough, a slightly later pencil note on the address panel labels the contents as "Congratulations on my birth – PSPC;" that is, Philip Syng Physick Conner, the very child discussed in the letter. Philip would fight briefly for the Union during the Civil War as part of a Pennsylvania volunteer artillery regiment.

An interesting and informative letter to an important American figure, with much content on Florida real estate and politics at the start of the Second Seminole War.

The Historical Documents Collection includes letters, deeds, bonds, receipts, orders, position appointments, writings, and other documents that are individual in nature and do not belong to any particular collection. The materials represent a number of prominent figures in the areas of art, literature, music, science, scholarship, business, law, military, politics, diplomacy, and religion. The items range in date from 1642-1977, but the bulk date from the 1760s through the 1920s. Most of the materials are American in origin, although some are from Mexico and Europe, particularly Great Britain.

Individuals represented in the collection include, but are not limited to:  Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), Charles Dickens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Washington Irving, Aldous Huxley, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound, John Muir, Sigmund Freud, and Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Butler, James Longstreet, Edmund Gaines Pendleton, Matthew Perry, William Tecumseh Sherman, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben, John Quincy Adams, Napoleon Bonaparte, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses Simpson Grant, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, James Madison, James Oglethorpe, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Thomas Paine, Woodrow Wilson, and King Louis XVIII.

Jesse Wooley was a professional photographer from New York who visited Florida in 1896. Wooley used his trip to create a stereopticon or lantern-slide lecture about Florida. Several of these lantern slides were colored.

The Eugene Provenzo Collection contains a manuscript by Provenzo and William E. Brown titled "From Ice to Snow to Flowers and Fruit: Jesse Wooley's 1896 Tour of Florida." The manuscript by Provenzo and Brown aimed to reproduce this lantern-slide lecture with the original lecture notes, as well as to provide a historical analysis of lantern slide lectures and a biographical essay on Jesse Wooley. The collection also contains correspondence regarding the manuscript, duplicate pages of the manuscript, research documents and notebooks, photographs and photographic slides taken of the surviving lantern slides, clippings, articles, and other documents.

Henri Verbinnen was a diplomat at the Belgian consulate in New York, supervisor for the Florida Works Progress Administration (WPA), and independent essayist. During the years after the Great Depression, he wrote a number of essays and letters on New Deal unemployment and relief policies. The collection contains letters, notebooks, drafts, essays, reports, memorandums, statistical reports, sketches, photographs and clippings.

Julia Dawson is a feminist activist and retired lawyer born and raised in Miami, Florida. Through correspondence, documents, ephemera, and other records, this collection documents Dawson's activism, organizational work, and campaigns from the 1970s through the 2010s around feminism, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Organizations and campaigns represented in this collection include: National Organization for Women (NOW); Dade County Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers; SAVE Dade (LGBTQ+ rights activism); American Civil Liberties Union Miami Chapter (ACLU), including the ACLU Miami Chapter’s Police Practices Committee (PPC); Miami Clinic Access Project (reproductive rights); Miami Workers Center (MWC); and Serve the People.

The collection contains family correspondence from Eliana S. Rivero, Professor Emerita of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona.

The Carlota Caulfield papers consist of personal and professional correspondence, literary materials including typescripts, manuscripts, poetry, video cassettes, DVDs, cassette tapes, and floppy discs, and various ephemera like clippings, pamphlets, flyers, postcards, photographs, and publications that document Caulfield's career as a poet, scholar, and cultural figure.

Photographs, posters, books, and other archival materials that belonged to James William Hipp (1934-), Dean of the Frost School of Music.

The collection contains slides, pre- and post-revolution photographs of Havana, correspondence, and tourism ephemera, such as a golf score card and postcards, collected by the family of John Olson while living in Cuba from 1952 to 1960. Mr. Olson's father worked for the Royal Bank of Canada in Cuba during this time.

The Urban Environment League is a non-profit organization originally created in 1996 under the leadership and guidance of Gregory Bush, a professor at the University of Miami's History department and the Institute for Public History. The organization is dedicated to promoting safe and responsible practices in urban development in Miami-Dade through education and by advocating for environmental reform and legal protections for historical landmarks. Their records contain several issues of their internal newsletter, the Urban Forum; membership lists; minutes; correspondence; pamphlets; flyers; brochures; periodicals; research files on historical landmarks in Greater Miami, and urban planning; financial records; administrative files; ephemera; audio-visual materials (floppy disks and negatives); and legal files.

This collection contains materials created and collected by the Otto G. Richter Library's Administrative Office, including past position descriptions, search committee records, documents on past library faculty appointments, letters of commendation, curriculum vitae, evaluations, and correspondence.

This collection contains materials related to University of Miami's 1970 celebration of Earth Day. Materials contained with include filmed coverage of the event for both radio and TV, correspondence, clippings, and press releases.

This collection contains the historical records of the University of Miami's Phi Lambda Pi, the honor society for married women. These records include correspondence, clippings, newsletters, reports, yearbooks, and minutes dating from the 1970s to the 1990s.