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 features an array of scrapbooks, many of which are homemade, from the 19th and 20th centuries. Subjects covered in these scrapbooks include fashion, advertising, history, Robert Louis Stevenson, Pat Cannon's congressional run, garden clubs, cruises, and more. These scrapbooks are comprised of portraits, photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, programs, brochures, maps, drawings, telegrams, and more. Some of the creators are unknowns or names without renown, but these scrapbooks highlight their personal tastes and interests, offering some unique insight into their lives.
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 collection documents Georgina Shelton's involvement in Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, Havana, Cuba are the most important ones in this collection. Materials also include articles about and by Hilda Perera, postcards of Mexico from 1920, programs from John J. Koubek Memorial Center, clippings, correspondence and newspaper from 1876.
The James Baxter collection contains Florida related materials. Included are a deed of sale and title of a house in Flagler; theater publications from the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the Miami Summer Star Theater, and the Dade County Auditorium Playgoer; postcards from Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Fort Myers, Palm Beach, and Miami Beach; a series of photographs of historic sites in Florida, largely lighthouses; a 1903 periodical titled "Liberty Boys of '76: The Liberty Boys in Florida, 1903"; an 1883 Vol XIX issue of Dime Beadle's New York Library, subtitled "Alligator Ike; or The Secret of the Everglade. A Tale of the Outlaws of the Okeechobee"; and a photocopy of the latter periodical.
Charles Deering was a collector of art and a friend to many notable artists including John Sargeant and Augustus St. Gaudens. Painting, scrulpture, prints, rugs and many other items combined to decorate and furnish the Deering Estate in Florida. He collected a wide range of artwork, and the Print Department of the Art Institute of Chicago received his fine collection.
The Charles T. Simpson collection contains photographs, account statements, letters, minutes, contracts, typescripts, articles, certificates, membership cards, manuscripts, notes, photocopies, and a plant specimen, which document the lengthy botanical and zoological career of the early 20th century naturalist.
The A. Curtis Wilgus Papers document the pioneering efforts by historian and author A. Curtis Wilgus (1898-1981) in the area of Latin American studies and the emergence of "Pan Americanism." The correspondence, writings, research files, photographs and other materials also document the evolution of a trend in higher education during the 1920's and the 1970's, an increase in global awareness reflected in the introduction of "area studies" programs at many universities.
The Theodore Spicer-Simson Collection contains the Spicer-Simson medallions as well as photographs, correspondence, typescripts and other related material.
The bulk of the collection consists of the Spicer-Simson medallions. These are portrait medallions cast in bronze of major world and literary figures from Spicer-Simson's lifetime. All of these were sculpted from life. Notable among these are David Fairchild, Padraic Colum, Henry Ford, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sherwood Anderson, Theodore Dreiser, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and other important figures in addition to person friends and family members of Spicer-Simson.
The collection contains many other examples of Spicer-Simson medals in the form of medals, awards, and sculptings that Spicer-Simson created. Included in these are medals sculpted for the National Academy of Sciences, Princeton University, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the U.S. Congress. The collection also contains clay and plaster molds of medallions, including some small pieces of sculpture. In addition to all his sculpture and medallions, the collection contains examples of Spicer-Simson's other artwork in the form of sketches, drawings, and bookplates.
Spicer-Simson's autobiography, A Collector of Characters is held in the collection, along with the typescripts of the book. The collection's correspondence includes correspondence from Hervey Allen, Padraic Colum, H.L. Mencken, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The photographs include mostly photographs of medallions and sculpture, including some not in the collection, but also contain many photos of Spicer-Simson's subjects, some of these mounted and autographed.
Dr. José Agustín Balseiro (1900-1991) was an award-winning author, poet, and scholar of Latin American Studies and Hispanic literature. He was also a professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Miami from 1946 to 1967.
Throughout his career, Dr. Balseiro exhibited a strong interest in Latin American and Hispanic-American studies, Latin American and Spanish literature, and Puerto Rican history and literature. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests and range in date from his earliest activities as a writer in Spain to his final days working as a consultant to the University of Miami Libraries starting in 1974. Much of the content consists of correspondence, clippings, typescripts, and periodicals in which Balseiro’s writings were featured. Also included is sheet music belonging to his father, Rafael Balseiro, who was a Puerto Rican composer.
Of special note are three bronze medallions: (1) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el primer Centenario del Natalicio de Luiz Muñoz Rivera (the centennial of the birth of Luiz Muñoz Rivera); (2) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el Centenario de la Abolición de la Esclavidud in Puerto Rico (the centennial of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico); and (3) from the University of Panama commemorating the first 25 years of the University’s existence.
The Aviation ephemera collection contains posters, reports, postcards, brochures, programs, pamphlets, and other ephemera from all parts of the globe relating to the subject of aviation and its vast history.
Michael J. Maxwell was an architectural consultant whose firm, Michael Maxwell Associates, Inc., consulted the city of Opa-locka in the mid-80s on appraisal and restoration matters. This culminated in a Master Plan for the Restoration of Historic Opa-Locka City Hall, and a Nomination Proposal of several historical sites in Opa-Locka to the National Register of Historic Places. These two documents, as well as the planning materials, are held in the Michael J. Maxwell collection.
The collection also contains other Opa-locka related materials. Included are 1926-1927 Opa-locka price lists, a 1953 charter, copies of the Opa-locka Times from 1926 and 1927, letters including a 1926 letter petitioning for the establishment of a Post Office at Opa-locka, a history of Opa-locka brochure and preparation materials for the brochure, and other items.
The Spencer Family papers contains a number of personal items pertaining to various members of the Spencer family, in the form of books, clippings, journals, manuscripts, memorandums, news bulletins, newspapers, notebooks, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, poetry, postcards, reports, and scrapbooks.
The Randy Liebermann Collection contains five photo albums and one scrapbook of Pan American World Airways materials. The materials primarily concern the Latin American Division, but also airplane models and company policy at large. The Scrapbook contains newsletters, pamphlets, clippings, certificates, letters, envelopes, stickers, postcards, stamps, and other materials.
The Mildred Merrick collection consists of administrative documents, organization reports, ephemera, correspondence, postcards, travel photos, audio tapes, and other items collected by Mrs. Merrick, who was a former reference and acquisition librarian at the University of Miami Libraries.
Samuel Hirsch was a theater professor, producer, and theorist who produced a number of plays in the Miami area. The collection consists of many photographs, clippings, programs, and correspondence of various plays that Hirsch produced from the 1940s to 1960s. The collection also contains a scrapbook with clippings, cards, and programs regarding the Musicomedy Series of theater productions directed by Hirsch, which was held in Miami in 1957. Included is an issue of the English Leaflet, Winter 1964, Vol. LXIII, No. 4 which contains an article by Samuel Hirsch titled "The Theatre of the Absurd," and an audiotape titled "Prof Samuel Hirsch, 'Some Thoughts on the Theatre of the Absurd,' the English Lunch Club, 3/14/1964."
The Nicaragua collection documents the Nicaraguan diaspora living in Miami during the 1980s and the political and social conditions in Nicaragua from the 1979 Sandinista revolution onward until their loss of power in 1990.
Many of the materials falling into the latter category are from the United States in origin, such as anti-Soviet propaganda endorsing the anti-Sandinista "Contra" Freedom Fighters, pamphlets that describe the Sandinista government and Central America in general from an American perspective, and periodicals and reports about Nicaragua written to an American audience. The materials that document the Nicaraguan diaspora are mostly fliers, menus, calendars, brochures, and other genres that were from local Nicaraguan businesses, restaurants, clubs, and other organizations. Some of the materials transcend these two categories, as many that concern the political conditions are addressed to or produced by Nicaraguan exiles.
A large part of the collection consists of photocopies of news articles.
Writers that are especially represented by the collection include Ruben Dario, Esteban Duque-Estrada, and Luis Mejia Gonzalez. Associations and organizations that are especially represented include Alanzia Revolucionaria Democrática (ARDE), American Defense Foundation, American Defense Lobby. Asociación Nicaragüenses en el Exilio, Asociación Nicaragüense pro Derechos Humanos, Bloque Opositor del Sur (B.O.S.), Council for Interamerican Security, Fundación Ruben Dario, Nicaraguan American Solidarity (NICAS), Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters, Partido Conservador de Nicaragua, Partido Socialcristiano de Nicaragua en el Exilio, Resistencia Nicaragüense, and Unidad Nicaragüense Opositora (UNO). Materials from some of these were grouped together in a series titled "Associations."
Also of notice are brochures advertising tourism to Nicaragua during the Sandinista regime, and memorabilia such as a handmade Nicaraguan crest, Nicaraguan paper money from the Sandinista era, and a pin that says "If you like Cuba you'll love Nicaragua."
Simón Daro Dawidowicz was a businessman and art collector who resided in Miami, Florida. A long-time resident of Colombia, Dawidowicz had a strong interest in Latin American liberator Simón Bolívar and his lasting influence on Latin America. Dawidowicz was a member of several Bolivarian societies, president of the Bolavarian Review, and founded the non-profit organization Darien Action Committee, which sought to promote the completion of the Panamerican Highway from Panama to Colombia. Dawidowicz had strong connections with several prominent Latin American artists including Leopoldo Richter and David Manzur. He was a curator as well as a collector of their and others' work, and donated a number of their pieces to museums and institutions including the University of Miami. A mural titled "Bolívar and Humboldt" by Leopoldo Richter was donated by Dawidowicz to the University, and currently stands in front of the Otto G. Richter Library.
The Simón Daro Dawidowicz Bolivarian collection contains items pertaining to all of the above pursuits and interests. Much of it is correspondence and official records, or newspapers clippings and photographs that document his activities. There are a number of audiocassettes and film reels, and a single videocassette as well.
Of particular interest are a bust of Simón Bolívar that Dawidowicz had commissioned as a gift for former President Lyndon Johnson, as well as a box containing photographs, photographic prints, brochures, periodicals, and other forms of material depicting the works of a number of Latin American artists. These include David Manzur, Leopoldo Richter, German Tessarolo, Marlene Hoffman, Enrique Grau, Edgar Silva, Armando Villegas, Patricia Tavera, Ràmon Carulla, and Miguel Rojas Niño. Some of these items are signed by the artists.
Two family members of Dawidowicz, Miriam and Sylvia, were curators and donors of Latin American art as well, and several documents detailing their efforts are held within the collection.
Finally, the collection contains assorted personal photographs and several short stories written by Dawidowicz.
Dr. Granville Fisher was the head of the Psychology department at the University of Miami, and an independent artist. He founded the Granville Galleries on Ponce de Leon and Bird Road in 1959. The Granville Fisher Collection contains materials documenting his work as a psychologist and as an artist. The collection holds two scrapbooks as well as periodicals, pamphlets, programs, certificates, awards, letters, postcards, photographs, negatives, clippings, and one illustration with poetry dedicated to his son.
The majority of the collection consists of official publications documenting a variety of facets of Perón's political career, including his involvement in the 1943-1946 military government, his first two presidential terms (1946-1955) and his third (1973-1974). Most of these official publications are reports on his policies and political activities, his own writings, or transcripts of speeches. Several of these record conjoined efforts by Perón and Eva, his well-known first wife, as well as with Chilean president Carlos Ibáñez Del Campo.
Also contained in the collection are pamphlets and other materials which treat Peronism (or Justicialism) and its critics; two series of satirical pro-Peronist periodicals called "Alpargatas Humorísticas" (6 issues) and "Descamisada" (31 issues); 8 postcards which depict aspects of Eva Perón's social work; two paper masks of Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Perón; two autographed photographs of Juan Domingo Perón and Eva Perón; and other ephemera.
