Dr. Robert M. Levine (1941-2003) was the Gabelli Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences, Director of Latin American Studies, and professor of history at the University of Miami. Throughout his career, Dr. Levine exhibited a strong interest in Brazilian cultural and political history, Jewish Diasporas in Latin America, Cuban history, and Latin American history in general. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests in the form of video cassettes, periodicals, clippings, photographs, photocopies, notebooks, microfilm, microfiche, articles, and other materials.
Included in the collection are photocopies of a collection of records from the Jewish community of Curaçao in the 18th century; production materials and photographs pertaining to Dr. Levine's "Hotel Cuba" documentary on the Jewish Diaspora in Cuba; a dozen reels of microfilms of Brazilian newspapers from the 1930s; notes, photographs, and documentation from Dr. Levine's research on the Vargas period in Brazil; and two large, hand-drawn maps indicating Jewish establishments in the major commercial district of Old Havana during the pre-1959 period.
Richard A. Kahn was a lawyer and economist who taught
economics and business law courses, published numerous articles and held a variety of positions in the United States government. The Richard A. Kahn Papers, arranged in three series, contain correspondence, newspaper clippings, book manuscripts, copies of published articles, and marketing research. Much of the content of this collection concerns his work with various fishery institutions, such as the U.S. Branch of Commercial Fisheries and the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute.
The papers consist of documents, correspondence and clippings of Cuban exile associations, materials related to the "Municipios de Cuba en el Exilio" and a list of prisoners of the Virginus.
Between August 1964 and December 1968, the Rand Corporation, under contract to the U.S. Department of Defense, conducted approximately 2,400 interviews with Vietnamese who were familiar with activities of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. Reports of these interviews, totalizing approximately 62,000 pages, constitute a rich source of information about political and military upheaval in a developing country, Vietnamese rural life, the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese armed forces and many related subjects. The documents describe conversations with prisoners captured by South Vietnamese or U.S. forces, defectors who voluntarily left the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese Army as well as refugees from battle areas. Many of the reports have a poignant, human quality; nearly all are informative about conditions in Vietnam. In December 1971, action was initiated to make these interview reports available to the public. The decision to provide access to these documents entailed a scrupulous double reading of all the reports and blocking out of information that might enable identification of the respondents.
The University of Miami holds approximate 1,780 (48,000 pages) out of the 2,400 interviews conducted under this study.
The Polita Grau de Agüero Papers document two aspects of Polita Grau’s life and family. The correspondence, writings, and memorabilia primarily document Polita’s time as a political prisoner in Cuba as well as her activities in exile on behalf of political prisoners. There are many clippings related to Polita’s experiences in prison, her life in exile, and Operation Pedro Pan. The photographs in this collection document Polita’s family from her parents to her own grandchildren, as well as the life of her uncle, Cuban president Ramón Grau San Martín.
Of special note in this collection is Series II where can be found biographies of Cuban women political prisoners. These biographies detail the experiences of these women in Cuban prisons. Series IV contains handicrafts created by Polita Grau and other political prisoners while serving their sentences.
Born in Cifuentes, Cuba in 1861, Julio A. Domínguez was a member of the Cuban rebel army better known as Mambises o Ejército Libertador. After the Spanish American War, he held many positions in the Cuban government under American jurisdiction and later when Cuba became a republic. The collection is comprised of documents related to his activities during the Cuban Independence War against Spain. Letters signed by General José J. Monteagudo, documents from "Ejército Libertador de Cuba" from the late 1890s, and photographs are some of the materials gathered in this collection.
Hy Gardner was a longtime Broadway and gossip columnist who worked for the New York Tribune, hosted a television show Glad You Asked That, and appeared as a panelist on To Tell the Truth. The collection consists of various documents from his work in the above ventures, correspondence, interview transcripts and cassettes, photographs, publicity, articles, memorabilia, and other archival materials.
The Fuchs Baking Co. bakery in Miami, colloquially known as the Holsum Bakery, was founded in 1913 and closed in 1994. The Holsum Bakery Collection contains reports, minutes, certificates, brochures, appraisal reports, and other official files, documents, and memorabilia pertaining to the bakery.
The Florida Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) Records document activities at the University of Miami in the Rare Books Project, a statewide effort initiated by the W.P.A. in 1940 to provide every library in the state with copies of rare books pertaining to Florida.
The Florida W.P.A. Records contain correspondence and transcribed copies of 13 monographs prepared by W.P.A. personnel. Most of the typewritten manuscripts bear the name of the W.P.A. worker that transcribed the monograph, along with information on the source library or sponsor. Some books that are represented in this collection may have been given to the University of Miami Library by the source library in exchange for books the University made available to the Rare Books Project. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, bibliographies, reports, transcripts, and public records.
The Cuba: Capitania General Collection contains the “bandos” (edicts), “Reales Ordenes” and official forms from the governments of Valeriano Weyler and Ramón Blanco.
This collection includes various types of documents pertaining to the historical and cultural production taking place in the Caribbean. Materials include correspondence, diaries, ledgers, property transactions including slave registers, reports, typescripts, from the various islands of the Caribbean such as Antigua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, St. Christopher, Trinidad and Tobago from the 16th to the present. The collection is further enhanced by the acquisition of antique maps from cartographers such as Linschoten and Sanson.
The papers of A.S. Houghton (1866-1948) numbering approximately 4500 items consist of articles, printed matter, newspaper clippings, by-laws, legislative matter, and pamphlets. The material extends from 1905 to 1948 with the bulk of the papers falling within the period of 1929 to 1948.
The papers deal primarily with Augustus Houghton's work as a conservationist. The material is broken down into the different organizations with which he was involved. There is a large section of material dealing with the American Game Association, the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, and the
Camp Fire Club of America but they are not a major part of the collection because Houghton corresponded and kept files on a diverse number of conservation and wildlife organizations.
The correspondence to and from August S. Houghton is varied and he had several principal correspondents, all of whom shared with him their interest in conservation. His principal correspondents were: John B. Burnham, President of the American Game Protective Association, which later became the American Game Association; Carlos Avery, President of the American Game Association; Seth Gordon, President of the American Game Association; William Greely, leading member of the American Game Association; Erl Roman, Fishing Editor of the Miami Herald; Merlin Mitchell, Executive Secretary, Florida State Fish and Game Association and later secretary of the Florida Wildlife Federation; Jay N. (Ding) Darling, famous cartoonist and leading Florida conservationist; Dr. W.T. Hornaday, Zoological Gardens, N.Y.; Lithgow Osborne, Conservation Commissioner, State of New York; Raymond Torrey, Camp Fire Club of America; and Karl Frederick, President of the New York State Conservation Council. Houghton also corresponded with F.G. Walton Smith, Director of the University of Miami's Marine Laboratory (now the Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences) and with Spessard L. Holland, Governor of Florida in the early 1940's.
The American Association of University Women records contains the records of the Florida Division from the years 1928 to 1991, in the form of minutes, reports, correspondence, press releases, charters, scrapbooks, and other documentation.
The Alpha 66 Records document the political, propaganda, paramilitary, and administrative activities of the organization as collected by Andrés Nazario Sargén, one of it's founders and longtime leaders. The Records include correspondence, circular letters, financial records, clippings, maps, photographs, press releases, proclamations, programs, propaganda, and reports.
The Abner T. Allen Papers consist primarily of Allen's correspondence with family in New England during the mid- to late-1800s.
The papers of Abner T. Allen reflect his life as a farmer and merchant in the state of Ohio during the 1800's. The correspondence is typical of this period as the letter itself is folded to form the envelope, the address is printed on the outside, and the fold sealed with a wax seal. The majority of the correspondence was to Abner T. Allen from his parents, brothers and sister. These letters concerned all aspects of family affairs and travel between Chagrin Falls, Ohio, South and Western Warren, Massachusetts and New Hartford, Connecticut, where each of the families resided. The collection includes the following documents: leaf of cash transactions, booklet of expenses and revenues, an award. and two Last Will and Testaments; also included are invitations to social affairs.
