George Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was a famous and well-renowned playwright, producer, and director who worked out of New York City for most of his life until he retired and passed away in Miami Beach, Florida. Over the course of his career on Broadway, he received many awards and accolades for his work, including several Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1960), and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director (1983). To celebrate his vast contributions to the world of theater, George Abbott also had both a theater building, which was unfortunately demolished in 1970, and a street in New York Times Square, George Abbott Way, named after him.
His papers feature photographs, playscripts, playbills, financial documents, official records, music sheets, and other materials associated with his life and work on Broadway.
The Cronin papers consists primarily of Spanish poetry in manuscript form. However, there is also a notebook with personal reflections, a catalogue of "Teatro del Siglo XVI" (or 16th century theater), a list of authors and poems, cards with authors and poems, and a piece of sheet music.
The Thomas de Valcourt and Michael Lerner collection contains materials concerning 19th century New England poets and authors, most prominently Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but also Henry David Thoreau, Washington Irving, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, and minor figures. Much of the materials - which predominantly consists of prints, photographs, clippings, photocopies, newspapers, periodicals, postcards, reprints, poetry, and other formats - concerns their famous New England homes and their families' homes, and other literary landmarks in the vicinity. Most of the materials date from the late 19th and early 20th century.
Also included are a scrapbook of clippings of poetry, a 1962 plaster cast bust of Henry David Thoreau by Melvina Hoffman, an 1864 ceramic bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by M. Milmore, two paperweights with depictions of the Longfellow house, a brick noted as "being used by Thoreau when adding to the family house on Virginia Road in Concord," and one copper ashtray.
The Harold Bauer Papers consist primarily of correspondence between the University of Miami School of Music and Bauer regarding his master piano classes. The letters are primarily between Bauer and Bertha Foster, Dean of the School of Music until 1944, and Joseph Tarpley, School of Music Secretary from 1944 to 1951 and Assistant Dean until 1967. Correspondence files also include memoranda amongst University administration regarding Bauer's classes as well as with prospective students.
The collection also contains a few photographs, concert programs, and clippings.
Dr. Lee Kjelson, a longtime Coral Gables resident, was director of choral activities at the University of Miami from 1967 until 1993, when he became professor emeritus. He also founded the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami in 1970, and served twice as its conductor.
The collection contains one phonographic record titled "Miami Beach Rhumba," assorted sheet music and lyrics, a document titled "Decreto Supremo No. 21060" by Victor Paz Estenssoro, former president of Bolivia, and an article titled "Les Marranes Espagnols et Portugais Les Communautes Juives Issues du Marranisme dans L'Historiographie Recente (1960-1975)" from Revue des Etudes Juives, vol. 136, regarding Jews in Latin America.
The Mark F. Boyd Collection contains materials relating to Florida and United States history as well as to natural history and medicine. The collection, arranged in six series, includes maps, newspapers, prints, photographs, pamphlets, original documents, copies of historical documents, reprints of articles and other materials.
