Dr. P. A. Phillips was a history professor at the University of Miami.
The P. A. Phillips Collection contains materials from three of his history courses - two undergraduate and one graduate - where students were asked to interview a World War II veteran and compose an oral history report based on that interview. The materials include essays, transcripts, audio recordings, and videocassettes.
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 records contain legal cases, research files, correspondence, audio-visual materials (VHS, CD-ROM, audiocassettes, microcassettes), and trial notes from the Miami Community Justice Project. Topics covered include development for low income housing, gentrification, public housing, and privately run detention centers. In particular, the materials discuss the Scott Homes/Hope VI housing revitalization plan and the Reese v. Miami-Dade County court case; the Sawyer's Walk (Overtown) and Crosswinds (Overtown) redevelopment projects; the Manuel et al. v. city of Lake Worth court case; and the Miami Workers Centers Transit HUB. Other organizations mentioned in the files include Power U Center for Social Change and Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC).
