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 Pedro Hernández Lovio Papers consist of the personal and professional documents of Diario de la Marina secretary Pedro Hernández Lovio. They include biographical and geneological information, photographs, clippings, newspaper articles, professional certifications, correspondence, scrapbook and handwritten notes.
The A. W. Kopp autograph collection contains three books of autographs and various loose autographs. One book is dated 1909 to 1910 and contains an autograph of Gustav Mahler and Sergei Rachmaninoff (with an accompanying musical quote), one is dated 1914 to 1917 and contains an autograph of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and one is dated 1917 to 1921 and contains an autograph of Harry Houdini, Edgar Lee Hay, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Among the loose autographs, there are ones of Daniel Webster and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Also included are a book of receipts from New York dated 1784 to 1786, a book of poetry from residents of Danzig dated 1833 to 1853.
The Lemuel Adams Papers contains a ledger belonging to Lemuel Adams. There are logged transactions from 1792 to 1804, mostly from Hartford, Connecticut; however, the ledger also contains letters written by Adams, a genealogy of the Adams family, and a few dozen poems by Adams with titles ranging from "On Life" to "Description of the Tea Party."
Thomas Jefferson (1742-1826) was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), the first Secretary of State (1790-1793), second Vice-President of the United Sates (1797-1801), the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the founder of the University of Virginia (1819), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers.
The Thomas Jefferson collection includes four letters by Thomas Jefferson, three official documents, an entry of merchandise, a biography, and twenty-six printed portraits.
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 Johann Heinrich Hesse Papers contains a 1791 manuscript of Johann Heinrich Hesse (1712-1778)'s "Anweisung zum General-Baß," or "Guide to Thorough-Bass."
A growing collection of documents, photographs, and correspondence pertaining to the capture, purchase, bargaining, and freedom of enslaved people in Europe, Africa, and the Americas from the 18th to the 20th century. The collection contains a variety of petitions, contracts, estate settlements, and ephemera that record the activities of enslaved people during that era and illustrate the relationship between enslaved people and the people who enslaved them, as well as local government policy regarding enslavement and ownership in various parts of the Americas. Also included the collection are images and ephemera that feature racial caricatures, which were prevalent during their time of printing.
The Edward Spalding Papers document the commercial and personal activities of Edward Spalding, a shipping agent who worked in Cuba during the early nineteenth century. The Papers include correspondence, receipts, bills and other documents. Correspondence, arranged chronologically, documents Spalding's efforts on behalf of New England merchants and ship owners.
The Leon Robbin Collection contains two full-color prints of two similar engravings from the work Marriage À-La-Mode by William Hogarth. The prints are designed by William Hogarth and engraved by Thomas Cook. They are dated February 1st and October 1st, 1978, and are noted to be published by G. G. & J. Robinson, Pater-noster Row. They are sized 17 x 22 inches. Each is noted as being "fine original impression, proof before the title."
The journal of Aaron Thomas is a 374 page leather-bound volume containing approximately 367 pages of handwritten material. The journal begins on June 15, 1798 and concludes on October 26, 1799, and chronicles the experiences and adventures of a British seaman serving in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Lapwing in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary wars. The journal contains insightful, first-hand accounts of naval operations, customs of the day, and humorous, detailed anecdotes involving shipmates and superiors. Thomas, who joined the navy in 1793, includes entries regarding the health and punishment of the men aboard ship, as well as his personal views on slavery, religion, and morality. With the exception of the final three pages, all entries are written in Thomas's hand.
The American Play Company collection includes approximately two thousand and five hundred (2,500) play scripts from the American Play Company of New York City. The files include published and unpublished plays from the nineteenth century through the 1950s. The collection is a donation of Sheldon Abend, President of the American Play Company. Playwrights represented in this gift include sir James M. Barrie, David Belasco, Clare Boothe, George M. Cohan, John Colton, Clyde Fitch, John Galsworthy, Ruth Gordon, Oscar Hammerstein, Moss Hart, Ben Hecht, George S. Kaufman and many others.
The play scripts include original typescripts, carbon copies of typescripts, and printed texts of plays. Many scripts contain handwritten annotations such as dialogue insertions, corrections, and deletions. The play scripts includes productions of all genre and type, for a period of approximately one hundred and fifty years. Scripts contain production annotations for stage, lighting, sound, and casting purposes. The collection offers scholars and students the opportunity to examine play scripts with the personal annotations of production personnel, facts that provide unique information on the original production of plays. Notations for costumes, sets, and stage props offer insights to production styles and techniques, information not generally available in many published versions of plays.
Contains ten issues of Mexican, Honduran, and Argentinian newspapers from the 19th century, and one cache of Mexican letters from the 19th century, including one signed by Porfirio Díaz, the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911.
The J. Lipscomb photograph collection contains photographic reproductions of paintings of the city and harbor of Havana by famed artist Frédéric Mialhe, 1810-1881.
The collection contains a document titled "The O'Fallon Story," describing the history of the O'Fallon family in Santiago de Cuba from 1915 through the death of Esther O'Fallon in Los Angeles, California, in 1993. The collection also contains photographs, documents, and family ephemera, as well as a metal box that was used to collect money for the Cuban War of Independence in New York.
Ione Wright, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Miami, researched the development of Pan American Airlines' Transpacific service. The Ione Wright papers contain documents, oral histories, photographs, operations manuals, maps, and other materials related to the history of Pan American Airlines, including materials related to Victor Wright and materials documenting the establishment of routes in the Pacific.
The topical files document a variety of subjects related to Pan American Airlines, dating from 1920-1986. Ione Wright compiled many of the files during her research on the airline’s activities in the Pacific, including correspondence with former Pan Am employees and oral history transcripts. Also included are photographs, files related to the China Clipper, and a variety of Pan Am publications.
The collection also contains navigation manuals and operations manuals for Pan Am airplanes, including the B-727, the DC-4, the DC-6, and the DC-7, as well as operations manuals for Pan American Airlines’ Latin American Division.
Also included a variety of maps and aviation charts for parts of the United States, South America, and the Caribbean, as well as route maps for Pan American Airlines, and a map of the United States by John Melish from 1816.
The papers consist of correspondence including two letters of Tomás Estrada Palma, the first president of the Republic of Cuba and one letter of Generalísimo Máximo Gómez. The materials also include a photograph of the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in El Cobre, Oriente and a photograph of "El Salto del Hanabanilla", which are placed with Cuban Photograph Collection, as well as, clippings, an album with drawings and poetry, Don Miguel Alberti's family tree, genealogy documents and the drawings of coats of arms.
