The Florida Promotional Materials (1886 to present) consists of a variety of advertising literature used by governmental and private organizations to depict the region as an ideal vacation destination. The collection includes various richly illustrated printed brochures, maps and flyers that provide information on public safety, tourism, art, horticulture, recreation, sport, education, as well as Florida’s famous hotels and rich wildlife, parks and national monuments. The collection also documents the growth of Florida’s cities to attract tourists and residents alike.
The Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) Newspaper Clippings Collection contains newspaper clippings gathered from Florida newspapers that discuss FPL affairs and activities, ranging from 1926 to 1946.
Florida has long been a prime tourist destination, with its tropical environment, natural beauty, and numerous attractions. Postcards are a colorful way to advertise the wonders of Florida and promote tourism. The Florida Postcard Collection includes postcards from throughout the state, capturing both the natural landscape and the built environment.
The Florida Photograph Collection contains a series of photographs and negatives depicting the state from 1886 to 1950. The content of these includes people, scenery, nature, infrastructure, historic areas and landmarks, housing, commerce, tourism, and aerial views. Cities photographed include, but are not limited to, Miami, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, St. Augustine, Key West, Coral Gables. Also of particular notice are photographs of Seminole Indians and villages, and historic photographs by Ed Romer from the 1940s of lower income African-American housing from the Sign Company and Gulf State Properties, Inc. in Overtown (Miami).
The Florida Photograph Album Collection collects assorted photograph albums in which the content predominantly depicts Florida. The photographs range from the 1880s into the 1970s, and depict St. Augustine, Palm Beach, the Everglades, Miami, Nassau, Key West, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Lake Worth, Pensacola, Coconut Grove, and Palatka. Several photographs were taken in Havana, Cuba as well.
The Florida Philharmonic, Inc. Records contain financial records, administrative files, and scrapbooks pertaining to the Greater Miami Philharmonic, which later became known as the Florida Philharmonic under conductor Brian Priestman.
The Florida Menu collection is comprised of both vintage and contemporary menus originating from restaurants all around Florida, which depict a unique part of Florida's culinary, agricultural, and commercial history. Origins of these menus currently include Miami, Miami Beach, Bradenton, Brandon, Coral Gables, Key West, Pembroke Pines, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Hallandale, Kissimmee, and Jacksonville. New menus will be added periodically to the collection as they are acquired.
This collection contains various materials documenting the rich history of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit (2S), and asexual) culture in Florida and its many decades of political and social activism. Included within are periodicals, ephemera, political tracts, general documents, and advertisements pertaining to the LGBTQ+ lifestyle and hailing from both earlier and contemporary eras. The contents of this collection will continue to grow as more materials are purchased and collected.
The collection contains a variety of materials about Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), a grassroots organization working for immigrant rights in Florida. The records include press releases, announcements and events from FLIC's Facebook page (and its linked websites) and pro-immigration ephemera.
The Florida Documents Collection contains correspondence, diaries, military orders, invoices, receipts, and other documents related to various aspects of Florida history dating from 1777-1979. Topics covered include, but are not limited to the Seminole Wars, the Civil War, Fort Dallas, the Indian Key Massacre, Alachua County, the Cape Florida Lighthouse, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse, politics, land, and travel.
The collection also contains six diaries on 19th century community development in Florida authored by town developer, carpenter, handyman, and Civil War veteran Capt. Rufus W. Beaujean of Melbourne Beach in Brevard County, Florida. The diaries provide details of the many aspects of his work to develop his new community, repairing the boats of named neighbors, and socializing with, and executing chores for, named male and female residents.
The Florida culinary history collection contains a wide range of materials related to Florida's rich history of food, its unique restaurants and dishes, and its domestic food production. Items within the collection include pamphlets, flyers, ephemera, periodicals, and other memorabilia originating from Florida.
The Florida Corporations records contains annual and quarterly reports, statements of conditions, and other documents from various Florida corporations from 1955 to 1978. Particularly represented are the Florida Gas Company, Florida National Banks of Florida, Gulf Life Insurance Company, Keller Industries Incorporated, Sikes Corporation, Storer Broadcasting Corporation, Tropigas (Tropical Gas Co.), United States Sugar Corporation, and Wometco Enterprises.
The Florida Audubon Society records contains photocopies of minutes from 1900 to 1910, as well as original leaflets published by the society from the same time period.
This collection contains documents, reports, historic memorials, newsletters, periodicals, yearbooks, and other materials pertaining to various organizations and governing bodies around Florida, including the State Board of Education in Florida, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Coral Gables Garden Club, the Florida National Group of Banks, the Coral Gables Women's club, and so on.
The Florence Brigham Papers consist of four boxes of material totalling two cubic feet of files. The Papers include research materials Brigham compiled from numerous primary and secondary sources including articles and books, diaries, notes and other materials. Brigham also conducted interviews with early Keys residents, including many employees of the Federal East Coast Railroad Company. Newspaper clippings dated 1935-69 detail local history, "pioneers," hurricanes and other topics. In addition to these records, the files include correspondence with a number ofarchives and libraries, and photostats of original documents and maps. Brigham also collected prints of Marathon dated 1906-1960.
The Papers include notes on Keys deer, birds, reptiles and other animals, as well as clippings and notes on schools, churches, fishing, libraries and other institutions and activities in the Keys. Historical material includes copies of early maps, records tracing the title of Keys lands, and materials documenting the construction of the "Overseas Railroad" and the development of Marathon.
The Firefly Zine collection is a collection of zines donated to the University of Miami Libraries by former residents of the Firefly, a local Miami collective house and important part of Miami's punk rock and activist subcultures. There are over 2,000 zines held in the collection.
Zines are typically independent and self published booklets popular in underground subcultures. The first zines were fanzines, started in the early 20th century by science fiction fans documenting the genre. The format truly took off with the punk rock movement of the 1970s, as a do-it-yourself spirit inspired legions of underground punk fans to start raw but vibrant journals documenting the nascent music scenes in their communities. Zine topics would broaden throughout the 1980s and 1990s to cover a variety of subject areas, from comics to anarchist politics to women’s rights, to more mundane subjects like dumpster diving, alternative fashions, tattoo art, and much more. Despite the expansion of topics, the format usually remained the same—self-published booklets printed in limited editions and typically produced with a photocopy machine.
The Firefly Zine collection in particular is significant for its materials documenting political beliefs and causes such as anarchism, direct action, women's rights, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) rights and environmentalism. There are also many zines about the punk rock music scene and subculture, the rights of indigenous peoples, and alternative forms of transportation such as bicycles. As with many zine libraries, there is also a strong collection of zines that are of a more personal nature. Zines about South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean regions—important collection areas of University of Miami Special Collections—are also significant in number.
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 Fidelia Righi papers contains a notebook of poetry, a series of handwritten pages on architecture with accompanying architectural sketches, six photographs from the Intercollegiate Cosmopolitan Club of the City of New York, a 1922 address by Harry E. Edmonds to the club called "The Ideals of International House," and a 1922 program for "European Night" held at the club.
The Felix Jay Papers consist of the manuscripts of over 40 unpublished research papers by Dr. Jay on Latin American history and culture, with an emphasis on the Spanish presence in the New World. The folder numbers used by Dr. Jay are retained here.
