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.
Roy Keeler was a Miami-based long-term captain and pioneering flying boat pilot with the Pan American World Airways. The Roy Keeler Collection consists of documents from or pertaining to his time with the Pan American World Airways, in the form of correspondence, notes, telegrams, bulletins, passenger manifests, clippings, photos, receipts, handbooks, manuals, maps, charts, plans, certificates, and identification cards (including ones from Canada and Cuba).
Ronald Lee Perry was a Miami poet and University of Miami alumnus. The Ronald Perry Poetry collection consists of books of his poetry, periodicals containing reviews of or essays about his writings, manuscripts, correspondence, and miscellaneous materials.
Gareth and Janet Dunleavy were historians of Irish literature and culture. The Gareth and Janet Dunleavy Collection was donated by Gareth and Janet Dunleavy in memory of Bernard Benstock, a colleague who served the University of Miami in many capacities.
The collection contains typescripts and articles by Gareth and Janet Dunleavy, as well as research materials for projects by both authors. Prominently featured are research materials on Mary Lavin, an Irish short story and novella writer who died in 1996. Of special interest among these research materials are copies of Lavin's working manuscripts, obtained by Professor Janet Dunleavy in the 1970s with the permission of Mary Lavin. Janet Dunleavy had planned a critical study of Lavin's work based on these materials, but had abandoned the idea. The collection also contains notes, letters, and other documents assembled during Gareth and Janet Dunleavy's preparation of their Douglas Hyde: A Maker of Modern Ireland (1991) and O'Connor Papers (1977).
The papers document professional activities of Andrés Nóbregas, theater director and playwright staging his plays in New York Theater of The Americas and at the Hispanic Theater Festival in Miami. He also wrote for television. The bulk of material includes manuscripts of plays and libretti either written or directed or acted by Andrés Nóbregas. Materials also include some invitations and clippings regarding Hispanic Heritage Week.
The Cuban Historical and Literary Manuscript Collection is comprised of original manuscripts from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Acquired as individual pieces or in small groups, this collection includes literary manuscripts, slavery sales and property documents, wills, and correspondence.
The papers document Helio Nardo's activities as a writer. The bulk of materials includes correspondence to Nardo from Cuban prominent exiled figures. The materials also consist of extracts from some published articles, and clippings. Some letters discuss the topics of Castro's regime in Cuba and political situation in Chile.
This collection consists of the papers of H. E. Kilmer, Secretary of the San Jose Fruit Company of Alliance, Ohio, which was formed in April 1903 to establish fruit growing operations in Camagüey, Cuba. The Company built Palm City on the north coast of that province. The collection includes approximately 160 items, principally letters to Reverend Kilmer but also maps and incorporation documents.
The Walter Tennyson Swingle Collection contains research material and correspondence of Walter T. Swingle as well as translations and correspondence of Michael J. Hagerty. The Swingle portion of the collection is comprised of his articles, manuscripts, diaries, and most of Swingle's correspondence between 1885 and 1951.
The correspondence gives an overview of his botanical and plant introduction work as well as his personal life and travels. The bulk of the correspondence are letters from distinguished colleagues such as Herbert J. Webber, Dr. Beverly T. Galloway, W.A. Kellerman and others from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Also included in this group are correspondence between Swingle and David G. Fairchild, noted Florida naturalist and one of the men who conceived of a sub-tropical garden in Florida and for who Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, Florida is named. Their correspondence details an account of their collaborative work and friendship.
Swingle's research material includes notes, notebooks, and large number of first accounts of citrus in the Original Citrus Literature, containing a number of articles by Carolus Linnaeus.
Of special interest to the University of Miami is material dealing with Swingle's tenure as Consultant in Tropical Botany at the University, as well as some interesting material dealing with his U.S.D.A. work in Brazil in the 1930's.
The Hagerty portion of the collection consists most importantly of translations made by Hagerty of Chinese accounts on botany for the Swingle's work in the Department of Agriculture. It includes a very large translation of the Chinese accounts of citrus from the Chinese Imperial Encyclopedia which is over 500 pages long and very important to Swingle's study of citrus. Also in this portion are found a very large amount of correspondence between Hagerty and Swingle which details most of their work together for the U.S.D.A.
The Humberto Piñera Llera papers contains the personal papers of Humberto Piñera Llera, Cuban philosopher, essayist, literary critic and educator. Documents in the collection include correspondence, manuscripts of articles written by Piñera for Diario de las Américasand other periodicals, along with newspaper and magazine clippings of articles on literature, philosophy and Cuba. The collection also contains manuscripts of his conference speeches, class lectures and syllabi and outlines of courses taught by him from 1961 to 1986. The working papers for two of his major works, Idea, sentimiento y sendibilidad de José Martíand Sastre y su idea de la libertad, can be found in the collection, along with original manuscripts of books authored by others. A section of the collection houses papers relating to Piñera’s brother, playright Virgilio Piñera Llera (1912-1979). A series of diplomas, commendations and certificates of merit awarded to Humberto Piñera round out the collection.
The Augusto Montenegro papers document activities of historian Augusto Montenegro, a Cuban exile living in Venezuela. Materials include manuscripts and typescripts of pastoral letters signed by Monsignor Boza Masvidal; academic journals; and a copy of the book Historia de América published by Montenegro.
The papers document activities of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista Zaldivar and his son Fulgencio Rubén Batista. The papers include records and rosters of Batista Zaldivar's army, speeches given by president Batista, and letters from Batista Zaldivar to his son and to other correspondents. Batista Zaldivar founded the Institutos Cívico-Militares in Cuba and the collection includes many accounts of rural military school teachers and their experiences.
The records also include speeches, programs, invitations, and photographs from the "10 de marzo" and the "4 de septiembre" annual celebrations. Included are also articles, poems, clippings, and publications about Batista Zaldivar's resignation, exile, death, and funeral. The materials also include Fulgencio Rubén Batista's funeral memorial programs and clippings and articles and letters of interest to F. Rubén Batista.
This collection consists of documents, books, and other materials written and collected by Cuban poet and writer Eugenio Florit. Materials include personal correspondence, along with professional correspondence pertaining to his work as a writer, translator, and professor at both Columbia University and Middlebury College. It also includes published and unpublished works by Florit, clippings of newspaper articles by and about Florit, and research notes. Travel is a recurring theme in Florit’s work, and this is visible in the abundant slides he has of his travels, and the travel diaries he kept. Mementos such as photographs, cassettes, awards, diplomas and memorabilia also make up a portion of the collection.
The papers document activities of Abelardo Estrada Hall, president of "La Comunidad Cubana en Jamaica" in 1982, as well as activities of other leaders of the group, aiming at gaining entrance into the United States. The papers include records about anti-communist Cuban refugees in Jamaica who fled Cuba to escape the communist regime and reunite with their families in the United States.
The materials in this collection include articles and accounts written by Abelardo Estrada Hall and lists of Cuban immigrants in Jamaica with personal information such as passport number, occupation, and residence. There are many letters from "La Comunidad Cubana en Jamaica" to many different individuals and institutions such as the Jamaican government, the United States government, and the United Nations. The materials also include newspaper clippings, photographs, memorabilia, and audio-cassettes.
The papers consist of the manuscripts of Cuban songs written by Juan Valdés Terán in Cuban prison where he was held as a political prisoner for many years, correspondence, clippings, memorabilia and photographs.
The Luis Felipe Mencía papers contain correspondence, clippings about medicine and hospitals, as well as the Cuban Medical Conventions in Exile etc., one illustration of the Hospital Mercedes in Cuba, a roster and invitations to various events of the Cuban Society of Surgery, and pamphlets about surgery in Cuba. It also contains historical issues of periodical publications related to medicine in Cuba and Cuban physicians. The most important materials of this collection are a lecture offered by Mencía at the special session of the Ninth International Cuban Medical Association Congress, Miami, 1987, and the manuscript of Dr. Mencía's book: Recuerdos de la Cirugía en Cuba, published in Miami in 1990. In this collection we also find a photocopy of one speech by Dr. D. González Marmol.
The papers include correspondence mostly regarding homage to Lydia Cabrera, photographs of Giulio Blanc with Lydia Cabrera and a typescript of a poem by Virgilio Piñera.
The Grupo Artístico Literario Abril (G.A.L.A) was founded in 1977 in Miami with the purpose of bringing together members of the literary and arts community. It became an official non-profit organization in 1982 in the state of Florida. G.A.L.A recognized many different Cuban and Latin American writers, poets, and artists from 1978 until 1997. G.A.L.A. was comprised of world renowned writers and they often paid tribute to their accomplishments. They awarded the "Agustín Acosta"award for poetry and the "GALA" award for short stories. Many newspapers around the world recognized and documented G.A.L.A.'s cultural events, lectures, conferences, recitals, and expositions held mostly in Miami, Florida.
The collection consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, circular letters, press releases, lists of award recipients, photographs, and audio cassettes. Official records also include a constitution, by-laws, meeting minutes, and financial records.
The José Miró Cardona Papers consist of 21 boxes the administrative records of the Cuban Revolutionary Council (Consejo Revolucionario Cubano) under Miró Cardona’s presidency in the 1960s. Central to this group of documents are those that relate to the Brigade 2506 and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Papers also include 36 boxes of Miró Cardona’s personal and professional correspondence, his writings and speeches, clippings, photographs, memorabilia and materials related to his career as a law professor.
