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 collection contains brochures and programs of the annual music event Festival Miami, which has been hosted by the University of Miami's Frost School of Music since 1984. The collection was donated by Dr. William Hipp, former Dean of the School and founder of Festival of Miami, in June 2015.
The Fernando Ortíz Papers principally contain original manuscript and typescript notes taken by Fernando Ortíz (1881-1969) on vernacular Cuban architecture and the history of Cuban architecture. Ortíz was specifically researching the indigenous, African and other folk influences on architecture and building construction. Other materials related to his research, such as pamphlets and clippings, represent a small part of the collection.
The collection also contains preservation photocopies of the original manuscript material and one folder of scholarly research on the work of Fernando Ortíz.
The Fernando Mendigutía Collection contains photographs, geneaological information, a Cuban Refugee Center operating procedures manual, Cuban Refugee Emergency Center papers and official documents, and Cuban Information Service periodicals.
The Fernando López Fernández Collection contains the photographs, clippings, correspondence, curriculum vitae, and memorials of Dr. Fernando López Fernández (1907-1975). It also includes articles on American nurse Clara Maass, who died in Cuba in the early 20th century.
The collection contains portraits and family photographs, obituary clippings relating to Dr. López Fernández, and letters from him written to his son and daughter-in-law in the 1960s. There are also research materials related to Clara Maass, a nurse who volunteered in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
The Fernando Fernández-Cavada Collection consists primarily of the correspondence of Federico, Adolfo, and Emilio Fernández-Cavada, as well as of Emilio Fernández-Cavada Suárez del Villar. Many of the letters are written in code and have been transcribed. A large number of letters in Series I and II from Federico and Adolfo are addressed to "Netts," the code name for their brother Emilio in Philadelphia. Series III contains letters from leaders of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in the United States to Emilio. The correspondence in this collection deals primarily with the insurrection in Cuba and particularly with the activities of Cuban exiles in support of the war. Also included in this collection are clippings and three photographs of the Fernández-Cavada brothers, as well as Emilio Fernández-Cavada Suárez del Villar’s war diary from 1896 to 1898 (Series III).
The Fermín Peraza collection includes clippings, articles, and other archival material written by and about Cuban librarian Fermín Peraza (1907-1969). These clippings were sent to him from Cuba by his secretary, Juana Fonollosa de Peris, and donated to the University of Miami Libraries in 1969. The collection also includes documents, reports, photographs, correspondence, honors and awards donated by his wife, Elena Peraza.
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.
The Félix Cruz-Alvarez Papers contain a collection of personal papers, consisting of articles, essays, and studies; conference papers; correspondence; illustrations; manuscripts of published and unpublished works; and vita. The papers cover Cruz-Álvarez's life as as a writer and academic in the United States.
The Felipe Préstamo collection consists of 75 slides of Cuba, including the slides of the following seven villages founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuellar: Havana, Baracoa, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spiritu, Puerto Principe and Trinidad, which were taken from the photographs and postcards held in Cuban Heritage Collection.
