The papers reflect professional activities of Agustín Castellanos, one of the most important figures in Cuban and international medicine who was nominated to receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1960. His contributions to medical science include research in the areas of cardio-vascular diseases, radiology and pediatrics. The materials consist of correspondence, Curriculum Vitae, medical articles, awards, papers from medical conferences, research papers and reports.
The records document activities of Asociación Cubana de Mujeres Universitarias. The materials include minutes, financial reports, by-laws, correspondence, election advertisements, newspaper clippings, invitations and photographs.
The records document official activities of Cuban Committee for Democracy (CCD), which is association of Cubans committed to promotion of democratic dialogue in the US and to non-violent transition to democracy in Cuba. CCD is based in Miami. The materials include clippings, memorandums, official correspondence, invitations, pamphlets, financial reports, documents, Articles of Incorporation and meeting agendas.
The records document the activities of Cuban Information System, which was created as part of the North-South Center at the University of Miami as a resource for information on Cuba. The materials consist of outputs from two databases of the Cuban Information System which are Granma, Newspaper Index, and Comprehensive Cuban Data Base, as well as, correspondence including, faxes and memoranda, clippings, financial records, descriptions of Cuban Information System and administrative reports.
The Cuban Refugee Center Records include correspondence, reports, publications, photographs, and clippings created and collected by the Cuban Refugee Center (CRC), in Miami in 1960 as part of a federal program to assist Cubans arriving at the United States as political refugees.
This collection contains working papers, publications, and reports pertaining to the Ethnography of Cuban Drug Use, a research project funded by U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. The research team comprised of two University of Miami anthropologists, a sociologist and a demographer. Kirby was one of the two anthropologists and the project's research assistant in charge of collecting information about Cuban women.
The 1978-1981 project was funded to study patterns of drug use among a sample of Cuban men and women living in Miami, Florida. The research methods used by the research team included participant observation and the administration of structured and open-ended interview schedules. Life and drug histories were recorded on tape, transcribed, and coded using the Human Relations Area Files Outline of Cultural Materials for ease of retrieval and data analysis.
The researchers focused on patterns of legal and illegal drug use among a sample of Cuban refugees who had been living in the United States since Castro's rise to power in 1959. Kirby's contribution to the study was in conducting life history interviews with sixty women and in compiling statistical data on women's use of minor tranquilizers and herbal remedies. Patterns of drug use and abuse were placed within the context of stressful life events such as the exile experience, acculturation, and downward socioeconomic status.
The Fort Chaffee Collection brings together two sources of materials relating to Cubans who arrived in the U.S. during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift and were detained at refugee camps at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
Barbara Lawson was director of the Cuban-Haitian Task Force from 1980 to 1981, and she donated reports, correspondence, memoranda, artwork by Cuban refugees, and recordings of news interviews she gave during her tenure with the Task Force. These materials document the operations and policies of Fort Chaffee from 1980 to 1981, discussing, among other topics, security issues in Fort Chaffee and difficulties in placing entrants who were considered not suitable for sponsorship. Lawson donated additional materials in 2018, including correspondence, postcards, newspaper clippings, greeting cards with artwork by Cubans held in Fort Chaffee, and press and Army Public Information photographs related to the Boatlift.
Gastón A. Fernández donated the research materials he collected and used for his book The Mariel Exodus Twenty Years Later: A Study on the Politics of Stigma and a Research Bibliography (Miami: Ediciones Universal, 2002). These materials consists primarily of photocopies of reports and interagency correspondence of the various U.S. government agencies responsible for the processing and settlement of Mariel refugees and for administering Fort Chaffee and other camps. The Fernández donation also includes photographs by the U.S. Army and snapshots of refugee activities at Fort Chaffee. The photocopied documents seem to have been obtained by Fernández primarily from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, although they are not clearly identified as such.
Issues of La Vida Nueva, a newsletter published by the Cubans detained at Fort Chaffee with the support of the 1st Psychological Operations Battalion of the U.S. Army, and Crossroads, a newspaper published for Fort Chaffee personnel were transferred to the CHC Exile Journals collection.
