The O, Miami collection holds memorabilia associated with the literary organization and their events and publications. The materials document many of the inventive techniques used to promote poetry during their annual O, Miami Poetry Festival, including poetry parking tickets and poems in the form of lottery scratch off tickets. Other events documented include the organization's visiting writers series, and their collaborations with Pages and Spreads, another local literary organization. The collection also includes chapbooks/zines that collect poems and writings from local Miami writers.
Dr. José Agustín Balseiro (1900-1991) was an award-winning author, poet, and scholar of Latin American Studies and Hispanic literature. He was also a professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Miami from 1946 to 1967.
Throughout his career, Dr. Balseiro exhibited a strong interest in Latin American and Hispanic-American studies, Latin American and Spanish literature, and Puerto Rican history and literature. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests and range in date from his earliest activities as a writer in Spain to his final days working as a consultant to the University of Miami Libraries starting in 1974. Much of the content consists of correspondence, clippings, typescripts, and periodicals in which Balseiro’s writings were featured. Also included is sheet music belonging to his father, Rafael Balseiro, who was a Puerto Rican composer.
Of special note are three bronze medallions: (1) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el primer Centenario del Natalicio de Luiz Muñoz Rivera (the centennial of the birth of Luiz Muñoz Rivera); (2) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el Centenario de la Abolición de la Esclavidud in Puerto Rico (the centennial of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico); and (3) from the University of Panama commemorating the first 25 years of the University’s existence.
This collection contains manuscripts, poems, journals, printouts from online chapbooks and collaborations, reviews, clippings, promotional posters and fliers, audiovisual materials, and other writings by the well-renowned and award-winning poet and writer Michael Hettich (1953-).
