The papers document professional activities of Osvaldo Farrés as a composer who composed both songs and lyrics. The bulk of papers consists of the scores of the songs that were translated into many languages and recorded by top singing stars e.g., "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps) and "Toda Una Vida"(Until Tomorrow). The materials also include photographs, clippings, diplomas honoring Farrés' musical achievements, magazines, programs and a multicultural school calendar for year 1980 featuring Hispanic role models for children.
The records reflect business and artistic activities of Orquesta Típica Cubanakán, a Miami-based group founded in 1968. It cultivated a traditional Cuban genre, the danzón. The orchestra consisted of nine members: conductor and flutist Simon Hernandez Padrino; pianist Raquel Valladares; bassist Juan T. Sanchez; saxophonist L. Borrel; drummer M. Socarras; "guiro" player M. Garcia de la Vega; and vocalists Marta Escauriza and Guillermo Ramos. Other musicians also participated in the Orchestra during its history. The materials document the group's mandate of preserving Cuba's cultural musical traditions, and its involvement in social, festive, religious, and cultural events.
The bulk of materials consists of danzón music scores, both manuscript and published. The materials also include four scrapbooks illustrating the group's history through photographs, clippings, correspondence and business cards. The collection also includes programs, proclamations, a book with annotations and diplomas.
The Natalia Aróstegui Bolognini Collection contains poems, articles, extracts and off-prints, and music scores by important early/mid 20th century Cuban composers. Music scores include autographed manuscript music scores by Gonzalo Roig, an important Cuban musician of the mid-twentieth century; autographed music scores by Ernesto Lecuona, one of the most important and internationally known Cuban musicians of the 20th century; and sheet music by Jorge Anckermann, Eusebio Delfín, Gisela Hernández González, José Marin Varona, Jorge Mauri, and Ernestina Lecuona, Ernesto Lecuona's sister.
This collection also contains manuscript poems by Dulce María Loynaz del Castillo, a renowned Cuban poet and the 1992 recipient of the Cervantes Award of Literature; and documentation about Dr. Gonzalo E. Aróstegui y del Castillo, Aróstegui's father.
The papers consist of popular musical selections from Dominican Republic, including Fantasia by Manuel Emilio Garcia G. This score was based on works by various Dominican composers, and the principal theme came from the song "Maiba" by Diogenes Silva. The materials include four tapes, a manuscript of a score "Selecciones Populares Dominicanas" in 26 parts, Quartet for various instruments, a manuscript of a score titled "Marcha Triunfal" in 22 parts, and a manuscript of a score of Giselle Marie Vals.
These papers document Inés Segura Bustamante's (1919-2002) multiple professional, political and artistic activities. She was a clinical psychologist, member of Directorio Estudiantil, writer, painter, composer and lyricist. Segura Bustamante worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Havana. She left Cuba after the Communist Revolution and she continued her work as a psychologist and writer in the U.S, where she authored several books. Segura Bustamante studied music and piano and wrote a significant amount of songs. She also studied painting and some of her pictorial works are held in the Lowe Art Museum in Miami.
The bulk of the papers consists of manuscripts of musical scores, song lyrics and writings on children's psychological development. The materials also include clippings, typescripts and photographs of the "Directorio Estudiantil Universitario 1930," clippings and reports of "Junta Patriótica Cubana," correspondence, clippings of articles on Cuba and Cuban exiles, articles by Segura Bustamante and about her, manuscripts of her poems, a copy of "Bohemia," books annotated by Segura Bustamante, a manuscript of "Cuba Siglo XX y la generación de 1930" and a manuscript of a book on child's psychology.
The papers document activities of Hortensia Montero (1909-1998), Cuban mezzosoprano and composer. Materials include photographs, autographed notes, programs, diplomas, clippings and music scores.
The Herminio Portell Vilá Papers (1901-1992) include research writings, bibliographic notes, and clippings about events in Cuba and Latin America during his exile time in the United States (1960-1992) . Materials also consist of radio transcripts, audio materials of radio programs, memorabilia and correspondence of the Cuban historian and scholar Herminio Portell Vilá. His primary research interests focused on early U.S.-Cuban relations, but his papers also include materials about those relations in the 20th century and revolutionary Cuba.
The records consists of copies of the Notes taken by Francisco Xavier de Santa Cruz and his associates from Revista Registers and other sources. The notes consist of alphabetically arranged indexes from the provinces of Las Villas, Matanzas, Camaguey, Habana, Oriente and Pinar del Río of marriages. There are also genealogical notes on many surnames.
The collection documents the professional activities of the Cuban singer Celia Cruz from the 1950s until 2003. The bulk of materials in this collection include photographs documenting Celia Cruz's career in Cuba, the U.S. and internationally. The collection also contains an important number of photographs and newspaper clippings about Celia Cruz’s funeral in July 2003. The materials include both old and recent newspaper clippings, as well as posters, magazines, invitations, correspondence, signed postcards, awards, and uncorrected page proofs for the book. The collection also contains important music scores: the instrumental parts for the arrangements of some of Cruz's major hits, written by some of the most important arrangers in Latin music, and one published music score. Additionally, the collection includes an array of items like a shoe, cassette tapes, a fan, CDs and a DVD.
This collection contains a short manuscript and 83 letters written predominantly by Boris Shabliovsky. The earliest letters were written in Warsaw, Poland, and the later ones in Havana, Cuba. Many of the letters are addressed to a Goldie Shapiro in Boston.
This collection contains musical scores and recordings of works by De la Vega (b.1925), an art music Cuban exile composer, along with other documents and his published and unpublished writings. It also includes concert programs, reviews, newspaper articles, interviews, photographs, flyers, press releases, and memorabilia. A remarkable feature of this collection is the 1974-77 series of hand-colored scores that de la Vega elaborated in pictorial music notation. An interesting complement to this collection can be found in the Gaston Baquero papers (CHC5033): "Magia e Invenciones" a composition by de la Vega on five poems by Baquero.
