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.
Dr. Robert M. Levine (1941-2003) was the Gabelli Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences, Director of Latin American Studies, and professor of history at the University of Miami. Throughout his career, Dr. Levine exhibited a strong interest in Brazilian cultural and political history, Jewish Diasporas in Latin America, Cuban history, and Latin American history in general. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests in the form of video cassettes, periodicals, clippings, photographs, photocopies, notebooks, microfilm, microfiche, articles, and other materials.
Included in the collection are photocopies of a collection of records from the Jewish community of Curaçao in the 18th century; production materials and photographs pertaining to Dr. Levine's "Hotel Cuba" documentary on the Jewish Diaspora in Cuba; a dozen reels of microfilms of Brazilian newspapers from the 1930s; notes, photographs, and documentation from Dr. Levine's research on the Vargas period in Brazil; and two large, hand-drawn maps indicating Jewish establishments in the major commercial district of Old Havana during the pre-1959 period.
The Plymouth Congregational Church records contains historical records created and maintained by the church from around the 1910s through 2010s. The collection contains (but is not limited to) church records on baptisms, weddings, and funerals; architectural drawings of the building and grounds (including the Little Schoolhouse); church bulletins; educational materials; organizational records, including minister files, records maintained by church organizations (eg. Music Committee, Women's Fellowship Circles), and information on governance; ephemera related to events; press clippings; scrapbooks, photographs; and sermons and memorial tapes.
This collection contains six stereographs (stereo-view photographs) of the construction of the Panama Canal dated 1912-1913, and three cassette tapes of news commentary regarding the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty between Panama and the United States of America.
The Virginia Spencer Carr Collection contains correspondence, research notes, interviews (transcripts and audio tapes), photographs, manuscript drafts of publications and other materials compiled and created by Virginia Spencer Carr in the course of her research and writing of John Dos Passos: A Life. John Dos Passos, a noted American literary figure of the "lost generation," published a number of important works, including the trilogy U.S.A.
Among important materials in the collection are the personal reminisces of family members, colleagues and contemporary figures of Dos Passos (notably, letters by Simone de Beauvoir, William F. Buckley, William Slater Brown, Frances Scott Fitzgerald, and family members of both Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck are included). The collection also includes extensive research files on the life and publications of Dos Passos and family members.
This collection contains typed manuscripts, drafts, poems, periodicals, publications, correspondence, news clippings, photographs, slides, negatives, VHS tapes, audiocassette tapes, CDs and other archival materials from the local South Floridian poet, Jeffrey Knapp (1949-2011). Also included in the collection are photographs and research materials on the South Floridian artist, Betti Bernay (also known as Betty Godlfarb; 1926-2010).
This collection contains an array of materials that document the history and legacy of the University of Miami Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Contained within are photographs, audio-visual materials, publications, news and magazine clippings, sports statistics, contracts, questionnaires, and topical files.
Dr. Charles A. Bicking was an award-winning mechanical engineer active in the fields of Industrial Engineering, Industrial Statistics, Engineering Statistics, Operations Research, and Quality Control. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Techology, Bicking has held numerous posts as an engineer, consultant, and lecturer in a number of countries. Bicking also published and presented dozens papers in the above fields. Bicking was an official U.S.A. delegate for the 1953 session of the International Statistical Institute in Rome. He won the ASTM Award of Merit in 1962. Some of the organizations, corporations, and associations that Bicking worked with include the American Society for Quality Control, the American Statistical Assocation, A.S.Q.C., Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry, White Sands Missile Range, Carborundum Company, Hercules Powder Company, NASA, Nashua Corporation, Tracor Jitco, the American Society for Testing and Materials, and the Control Data Corporation.
The Charles Bicking Papers contains documents spanning across the entirety of Dr. Bicking's career, as described above.
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.
This collection contains articles, screenplays, research notes, drafts, and other writings by John Underwood, as well as research files, audiovisual materials, and clippings. His research topics included former Florida State Senator George A. Smathers, sports, Disney, and South Florida. His collection also contains correspondence, his personal files, photograph albums, scrapbooks, his University of Miami files, and ephemera.
The William Calhoun “Bill” Baggs Papers includes thirty-one boxes of correspondence, memoranda, clippings, photographs, diaries and other materials relating to the professional career of Baggs, a newspaper journalist, editor, and political commentator from the 1940s until his death in 1969. As a columnist and editor for the Miami Daily News, Baggs developed relationships with many prominent figures. The Baggs Papers, arranged in six series, totals thirteen cubic feet of materials. In addition to incoming correspondence, the files include hundreds of carbon copies of outgoing correspondence from Baggs to a variety of local, regional, state, national, and international politicians, journalists, and others.
Born in New York City, Evan H. Rhodes (1929-2010) is a noted Key West-based author who penned many novels over the course of his lifetime, including the novel, The Prince of Central Park, which had been adapted into both a feature-length film and a musical. He graduated from New York University with a Master of Arts degree and then worked as a screen reader for Columbia Pictures and Universal International before settling down in Key West to write novels. He was also a member of the Author's League of America, the NYU Alumni Federation, and the Library of the British Museum and had exhibited his own sculptures at the Washington Square Gallery in New York City.
His papers contain a wide arrange of material documenting his noteworthy literary career, including manuscripts, playscripts, drafts, notes, research files, promotional materials, news clippings, reviews, correspondence, poetry, audio-visual materials, photographs, and ephemera.
The Richard Forbes Papers contains research documents for Richard Forbes's 1984 University of Miami dissertation titled Arya Samaj in Trinidad: An Historical Study of Hindu Organizational Process in Acculturative Conditions. The description of the dissertation is as follows: "Arya Samaj is a democratic Hindu reform movement founded in 1875. Though reflecting Western and Christian methods, it aims to revive ancient Vedic ideals. Brought to Trinidad after 1910 by Indian Missionaries, the Samaj spearheaded a Hindu renaissance and socio-religious reforms while also provoking an orthodox counter-reformation in the 1930s. While retarding assimilation of Hindus into the dominant Trinidad culture, the Samaj promoted inter-communal dialogue and was an effective and unified pressure group. Yet, despite emphasis on constitutional rule, the "Aryas" eventually suffered the same factionalism as other Hindus. Differential acculturation between competing groups within the movement was found to be the immediate source of conflict. Opposing factions differed significantly in their members' average educational level, exposure to Christianity, proximity to urban centers and acceptance of secular values."
Contained in the collection are a number of audio cassettes (and corresponding transcripts) of interviews with members of the Arya-Samaj, articles, typescripts, manuscripts, notebooks, reports, bibliographies, pamphlets, and photocopies.
Formed in 1959, World Wings International is an association of former Pan Am flight attendants that now dedicates itself to charitable activities. This collection includes the administrative records of the organization as well as scrapbooks, photographs, membership and annual meetings files, correspondence and financial records.
The John W. Bennett collection contains two audiocassettes titled "Alistair Cook speaks of H. L. Mencken from the tape of Mrs. R. R. Bennett, 6/15/80" and "Conversation - H. L. Mencken and Dr. Donald Kirkley. June 30, 1948," two newspaper clippings on H. L. Mencken, and a photocopy of a book titled "Roosevelt and the Republic" by John W. Bennett.
Hy Gardner was a longtime Broadway and gossip columnist who worked for the New York Tribune, hosted a television show Glad You Asked That, and appeared as a panelist on To Tell the Truth. The collection consists of various documents from his work in the above ventures, correspondence, interview transcripts and cassettes, photographs, publicity, articles, memorabilia, and other archival materials.
This collection contains materials regarding University of Miami Women's Equity initiatives. Materials housed within the collection include the following: news articles, correspondence, bibliographies, curriculums, reports, evaluations, brochures, guides, newsletters, programs, inventories, surveys, publications, and audio-visual materials (audiocassettes, beta max tapes, reel-to-reel tapes).
The Antonio Arias Papers consists of circular letters, proclamations, statements, press releases, and other correspondence sent to Antonio Arias during the 1960s and 1970s by Cuban exile organizations. Some of these groups were paramilitary organizations engaged in subversive activities, such as Comandos Omega 7 and Joven Cuba Nacionalista. The collection also includes a copy of "Acta final de los diálogos celebrados entre el gobierno de la República de Cuba y personalidades representativas de la comunidad cubana en el exterior - los días 20 y 21 de noviembre y 8 de diciembre de 1978."
These materials were received and collected by Antonio "Cuco" Arias while a radio journalist at WFAB La Fabulosa, a Spanish-language radio station in Miami, Florida. Mr. Arias worked at various radio stations and went on to serve as an executive producer for television with Univisión, the Spanish-language media company.
This collection consists of archival materials acquired that relate back to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the well known environmentalist who was a major force in the fight to preserve the Everglades.
