The Finlay B. Matheson collection includes more than 2,411 photographs; 112 maps, surveys, and architectural plans; and 13 books related to William John Matheson and his immediate family. Estate documents and other documents containing historical and biographical information pertaining to the Matheson family and their various business ventures can also be found within this collection, as well as drawings, postcards, and some of the first aerial view photographs of Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, the Miami River, and the Florida Keys. Florida's landscape during the early 20th century is captured throughout the various albums and scrapbooks and attests to a more leisurely lifestyle before the advent of skyscrapers and multi-lane highways. Furthermore, the collection provides an in-depth glimpse into the burgeoning social life of early inhabitants who gathered at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.
The M.S. Mishler Collection consists of two account books of Mr. M.S. Mishler and one account book of the Little River Mutual Telephone Co. of Little River, Florida. Mr. Mishler and his family moved in 1899 from Chicago to Little River, an area south of Opa-Locka and east of Hialeah in Miami-Dade County. The account books also contain notes and clippings regarding South Florida weather and the hurricane of 1926.
