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.
This collection contains yearbooks, photographs, and notebooks pertaining to Florida history and Marmaduke N. Dickson, II (1845-1912), his wife Mary Gammon (Dickson), who had settled in Marianna, Florida in the 19th century, and their families. Dickson was a soldier from the 4th Infantry Regiment in Florida who fought for the Confederate States in the American Civil War until 1865 when they surrendered.
